PM constitutes National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers

The Prime Minister has constituted a coordination committee called the National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers, as a mechanism to coordinate action for the introduction of direct cash transfers to individuals under the various government schemes and programmes.

The National Committee will be headed by the Prime Minister and will have its members as eleven Cabinet Ministers, two Ministers of State with independent charge, the Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, the Chairman UIDAI, the Cabinet Secretary with the Principal Secretary to the PM as the convenor. The Prime Minister may invite any other Minister Officer Expert to any meeting of the Committee.

The National Committee on Direct Cash Transfers would engage in providing an overarching vision and direction to enable direct cash transfers of benefits under various government schemes and programmes to individuals, leveraging the investments being made in the Aadhaar Project, financial inclusion and other initiatives of the Government, with the objective of enhancing efficiency, transparency and accountability.

Further it will identify Government programmes and schemes for which direct cash transfers to individuals can be adopted and suggest the extent and scope of direct cash transfers in each case.The National Committee on Cash Transfers will be assisted by an Executive Committee on Direct Cash Transfers chaired by the Principal Secretary to PM and the Secretaries of the concerned Ministries and the DG UIDAI. The Secretary Planning Commission will be the convenor.

Further in order to finalize the operational and implementation details relating to the design and implementation of the direct cash transfer system, and for ensuring a smooth roll-out of direct cash transfers in an orderly and timely fashion, Mission Mode Committees will be constituted such as:

a) Technology Committee to focus on the technology, payment architecture and IT issues.

b) Financial Inclusion Committee to focus on ensuring universal access to banking and ensuring complete financial inclusion.

c) Implementation Committees on Electronic Transfer of Benefits at the Ministry Department level to work out the details of cash transfers for each department such as data bases, direct cash transfer rules and control and audit mechanisms.