Exorcising Ghosts of BPL

NK SINGH

The State pays its poor and underprivileged citizens a subsistence pension of Rs 300 per month. If the beneficiaries of the largesse are very old, over 80 years of age, they get Rs 500. But till now, they had to struggle to get even this paltry amount. “Often, money did not reach their bank accounts in time, causing confusion and hardship,” says Ashok Shah, principal secretary of social justice department.

The main reason behind the delay was that babus used to raise 800 different bills at district level, where the money was parked, from where it would go to treasury for payments. With more than 36 lakh names in pension lists, it resulted into long delays between making paper bills, getting it signed by a drawing and disbursement officer and depositing those 800 bills in treasury. It was a logistic nightmare, with beneficiaries spread over 54,903 villages. No official had a real time picture about disbursement. “The government,” says Shah, “used to receive 6,000 complaints every month.”

On October 1 last year, MP Government launched its “single click pension disbursement scheme”. A single click of computer mouse electronically transfers pension directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts in banks or post offices. That means transferring, seamlessly, an amount of Rs 1,400 crore every year. Social justice department prepares online a single e-payment file of 36.63 lakh pensioners, certifies it with digital signature, and transfers the amount through National Payment Corporation of India.  Money reaches each pensioner’s account on the first day of every month.

According to Shah this is the largest one time financial transaction in the country. Shah, who had taken over reins of social justice department just last August, is happy: “It is transparent. We can find in real time whether pension has reached a beneficiary’s account. It also ensures effective utilisation of budget and financial resources up to gram panchayat level.” It is soul satisfying moment for a man, who enjoys the reputation of being pro-poor in bureaucratic circles as well as outside it.

The best part of the reform is that the portal now captures Aadhaar numbers of 96 per cent pensioners, in an effort to exorcise ghosts of fake BPL (below poverty line) cards. In the second phase, social justice department intends to do biometric verification of beneficiaries by linking its data base with that of Unique Identification Authority of India.  In the last six months social justice department has removed 95,000 names from its list for various social security pensions.

Exorcising ghosts of fake BPL cards as well as other beneficiaries of various welfare schemes pose a big challenge before authorities. Limited resources must be used judiciously to avoid its siphoning. Fraud in BPL cards as well as other welfare scheme is quite rampant. Food and Civil Supplies Minister Omprakash Dhurve revealed in 2016 that MP government had cancelled eight lakh BPL cards. State Food Security Commission chairman RK Swain said last year that the commission had asked government to remove another 3.25 lakh names. Apparently, one hand of the government keeps removing fake beneficiaries and the other hand keeps adding it.

There is a design behind it. In its attempt to garner popular support by awarding financial aid from public coffers, MP Government had, over the past few years, enrolled over 3.98 crore beneficiaries under its various welfare schemes. When New Delhi threatened to stop payment without proper scrutiny, harried officials unearthed about 70 lakh ghost or ineligible entities. In Ratlam district, for example, the then collector Chandrashekhar Borkar, found last year that married men were getting widow pension. He discovered 2,500 bogus cases, many of the accounts functional since 2012!

Any reform needs strong political will. That seems to be lacking in MP, Powers that be often tweak parameters to suit their short-sighted political goals. For example, the state government had earlier introduced the system of disbursement of pension through bank or post office accounts on the ground that cash payment led to corruption and irregularities.

In November 2016 government reintroduced, out of blue, pension in cash in four districts that included Shahdol and neighbouring Umaria and Anuppur.  Shahdol Lok Sabha constituency was scheduled to go for a by election at that time. Officials pronounced that they had done it because senior citizens and disabled had to stand in lengthy queues to collect the paltry amount of their pension. On 10^th of November, just before the by election, government disbursed pension in cash in lump sum for several months!

Reforms probably need a paradigm shift. A study by Atal Bihari Vajpayee Institute of Good Governance and Policy Analysis reveals that every BPL card holder gets entitlement worth Rs 80,000 per year as various subsidies. Around 20 different departments release more than Rs 46,225 crore as subsidy to different state owned companies. Other departments transfer the amount directly to BPL card holders’ accounts. What will happen if the entire amount is released at one go, instead of paying them money that can just buy a cup of tea in a day?

My column in DB Post of 8 Jan 2018

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