New Delhi, Nov 30: The government on Friday rejected BJP's allegation that the direct cash transfer scheme is a violation of the code of conduct of election, saying that the announcement was made in the Budget speech in March.
Government sources said the first announcement about Direct Cash Transfer was made by the then Finance Minister (Pranab Mukherjee) in his Budget speech on March 16 and a statement from the PMO on September 28, well before the announcement of elections in Gujarat.
In a complaint filed to the Election Commission on Thursday, BJP's Gujarat State unit had said the direct cash transfer announcement is a poll code violation as four of the 51 districts selected fall in poll-bound Gujarat.
Gujarat goes to polls in two phases on December 13 and 17 and the model code of conduct is in force in the State.
The government proposes to roll-out the Aadhaar-enabled cash transfer for 29 schemes from January 1 in 51 districts, spread over 16 States. It also plans to cover the entire nation by the end of December 2013. Later, the cash transfer would cover all the 42 welfare schemes.
While presenting the 2012-13 Budget, the then Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had said the government will extend the UIDAI's Aadhaar enabled payments for various government schemes in at least 50 selected districts within the next six months.
Under the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)'s Aadhaar enabled payments, subsidies are directly transferred into the beneficiaries' bank accounts.
“This will be rolled out nation-wide during 2012. Direct transfer of subsidy to the retailer, and eventually to the farmer will be implemented in subsequent phases.
This step will benefit 12 crore farmer families, while reducing expenditure on subsidies by curtailing misuse of fertilisers.
“It will be our endeavour to scale up and roll out these Aadhaar enabled payments for various government schemes in at least 50 selected districts within the next six months,” Mr Mukherjee had said.
