The Karnataka State Level Bankers’ Committee (SLBC) is all set to implement the Direct Cash Transfer Scheme (DCTS) to be undertaken on a pilot basis in Tumkur, Mysore and Dharwad districts from January 1.

Addressing the 123rd meeting of SLBC Karnataka in Bangalore on Monday, SLBC Chairman M G Sanghvi said that all banks in association with line departments in the three districts had taken steps to open the accounts of beneficiaries under different schemes on a camp approach. The banks had also begun the process of linking their Aadhar numbers to the accounts, he added. Besides this scheme, the meeting also
reviewed the performance of banks in the priority sector as on September 2012.

According to the scheme guidelines, subsidy, wages, scholarships and social security pensions under various government-sponsored schemes will be directly credited to the beneficiaries' accounts to avoid delay, plug leakages and ensure more transparency.
He said that under drought relief measures in 157 drought-hit taluks, banks had converted 18,552 crop loans into term loans involving  Rs 179.69 crore and re-phased 66,434 term loan accounts with a total credit of Rs 807.07 crore. Banks have also lent fresh crop loans to 4,223 farmers with credit limit of Rs 44.89 crore and extended 1,662 fresh term loans involving credit limit of Rs 59.58 crore, Sanghvi said. Sanghvi said that under Bhoomi-Bank Integration, banks had carried out 22,720 online transactions up to December 24 during the year.

On the theme of SLBC “Comprehensive Financial Inclusion” for the current fiscal, Sanghvi said the banks had achieved 100 per cent coverage of all the 3,395 unbanked villages of over 2,000 population.

Under population group of 1,600 to 2,000 as per 2001 census, 1,562 villages in the State under Swabhimaan Financial Inclusion Plan had been allocated to the banks based on Gram Panchayat model. Here, the banks had already appointed Business Correspondent Agents for 272 villages up to December 20, he added.

Launch in Mysore

Chief Executive Officer of Mysore zilla panchayat and in-charge deputy commissioner Ajay Nagabushan said 14 district-level schemes would be initially brought under the DCTS.
Scholarships from the departments of Social Welfare, Minority Welfare and Tribal Welfare, university scholarships and honorarium under Janani Suraksha Yojana will be directly transferred to beneficiaries’ accounts. A total of 34,000 people in Mysore district will benefit from the scheme.

With in a week’s time, payments under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) will be brought under DCTS. All gram panchayats in the district are collecting Aadhar cards details of beneficiaries and linking them with their respective bank accounts for cash transfer.

Savings account in any nationalised bank, cooperative banks, private bank and regional rural bank with core banking solutions can be used for DCTS, said Lead Bank manager M B Chinnappa. He said all the beneficiaries under various schemes had a bank account. However, some beneficiaries are yet to get their Aadhar cards.

The district witnessed 95 pc enrolment for Aadhar cards and 40 per cent of the applicants
have got their cards. DCTS, when fully operational, will cover beneficiaries under 34 schemes from 14 departments.

In Dharwad

In Dharwad district, although 34 schemes were meant for coverage under the DCTS. But, in the first phase, beneficiaries of 10 schemes are being brought under the scheme.
Of 40,320 beneficiaries of these schemes, 15,478 have already enrolled for Aadhaar card and have got the enrolment number. The bank account coverage is about 80 per cent and Aadhaar coverage is around 47 per cent in the district at presen, officials said.