By Somesh Jha:
The Direct Cash Transfer (DCT) that the Government is planning to implement can prove counter-productive. The system which will act as a ‘replacement’ to the subsidies is meant to plug the leakage in the system. For that to happen, they must create an appropriate mechanism in which things will flow in the right direction.
DCT will only be beneficial when the poor can make effective use of the banking system which has to cater to both cities and the remote areas. Moreover, it will become difficult for the beneficiary to actually keep a check on the money which does not reach his account on time as the bank may or may not be situated within his reach.
Currently, Congress banks upon the Aadhar cards which lack reliance as experts have repeatedly pointed out that biometric identification for manual workers has a high 20 per cent margin of error as fingerprints of such workers change. The Centre has been already attacked by the opposition parties who term this as “bribing the voters”. The Election Commission, which has questioned the timing of DCT, has also sought a report from the Cabinet Secretary.
So many questions arising out of the proposed system, which will take place in 51 districts across 15 states from January 1, 2013, clearly portrays that the Government should not haste and make things crystal clear before going in with its implementation.