New Delhi, December 31
The Manmohan Singh government will usher in the New Year by rolling out the first phase of its plan to directly transfer cash into the bank accounts of beneficiaries of its various social welfare schemes. The move aims at avoiding delays and plugging leakages in such cases.

While the scheme, rechristened as Direct Benefits Transfer, will begin in 20 of the 43 identified districts in nine states and Union Territories, including one each in Punjab and Chandigarh, from tomorrow, the government today said the subsidy on food, fuel and fertilisers would continue as per the existing system.

“Direct transfer of subsidies on food, fertilisers and kerosene/cooking gas is not being contemplated at present. This will take more time as the issues of entitlement are more complex,” Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram said.

Declaring that the new system would be a “game changer”, he said since the cash subsidies would be directly delivered into the bank accounts of the intended beneficiaries, even the state governments could utilise the mechanism to deliver their subsidies to the people.

The original plan to roll out the scheme across 51 districts was cut short by eight districts due to Assembly polls in HP and Gujarat.