Bangaru Talli funds to be released thro Green Channel:CM

Hyderabad, August 16 : Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy today directed that incentives and funds for the Bangaru Talli scheme be released through Green Channel. He has directed the Finance Department in this regard.

The Chief Minister also directed that incentives should be given to the mother of the girl child through banks only. He said that bank accounts for all the eligible mothers under the Bangaru Talli scheme should be opened immediately. The Chief Minister however directed that the I instalment under the Bangaru Talli scheme would be given to all the eligible women beneficiaries straightaway and from II instalment onwards bank accounts would be mandatory positively connected to Aadhar cards.

Kiran Kumar Reddy said that sustainability and absolute transparency should be ensured at every stage in implementing the scheme. He also said that there should be a monthly review of the scheme by the Ministers and top officials and that its implementation should be constantly monitored. The Chief Minister also wanted a monthly digital report about the progress of the scheme to be sent to him.

The Chief Minister on Friday reviewed in detail the progress of the Bangaru Talli scheme with the Ministers and top officials at Secretariat. Women and Child Welfare Minister Sunita Laxma Reddy, Social Welfare Minister Pithani Satyanarayana and Tribal Welfare Minister P Balaraju also attended the meeting.

Principal Secretaries – V Bhasker (Finance), R Subramaniam (Rural Development), Raymond Peter (Social Welfare), Neelam Sawhney (Women and Child Welfare), Ajay Sawhney (Family Welfare), Vidyasagar (Tribal Welfare), Women and Child Development Commissioner Chiranjiv Chowdhary, SERP CEO Murali and other officials attended the meeting. The Chief Minister asked the officials to develop an integrated software for all the related welfare schemes under the SERP, NREGA, Pensions, Bangaru Talli etc. and start the project on a pilot basis in a couple of Mandals including Tribal areas like G.K.Veedhi. There should be cross-checking by related departments and transparency of its implementation should be ensured.

The Chief Minister also directed that new hospitals should be started in the tribal areas to encourage institutional delivery by the women. It may be recalled here that the Chief Minister launched the Bangaru Talli scheme on 2nd July. ‘Bangaru Talli’ was conceived to check falling female child sex ratio and ensure the empowerment of the girl child through education. More importantly, it will give confidence to parents that the girl child is no longer a burden. The government gave a legal status to the scheme to give girls their right and for the cash incentives given by the government- Rs.2,500 soon after her birth and Rs.1 lakh after graduation at 21 years of age.

Officials informed the Chief Minister that BTIDS (Bangaru Talli Input Data Sheet) is already hosted to receive applications online. One day orientation training imported to all the field staff. e-FMS system is positioned to effect electronic payments. Information and Education material printed and sent to the districts. So far 51,929 beneficiaries (Girl Children) are registered online (SERP – 46,319 and MEPMA – 5,610). However out of these, Mothers with no bank accounts are 23,360, Mothers with invalid accounts–5,130, Mothers with all documents uploaded–215, Incentives transferred to V.O. accounts– 144. EFTS (Electronic Funds Transfer System) is positioned for incentive transfer until APBS (Aadhar Payment Bridge System) is developed. The incentives are transferred by DBT (direct benefit transfer) to the accounts of mother (temporarily through VO account). Commissioner, WCDSC released Rs.42.16 crore to SERP on August 13. Funds will be transferred to PD account of SERP by August 17.

It was decided that a rule may be included in the notification to accept and consider “twin/triplet girl child born in the second delivery for Bangaru Talli scheme”. Obtaining Birth certificate within 21 days is difficult and hence provision may be given to process in documentation after 21 days also. It was also decided that registration on Central registry without Aadhar during first one year up to 31.03.2014, for second and successive incentives to make Aadhar/EID mandatory.

A relaxation to authenticating authorities at birth either by ANM or Medical Officer. A relaxation to SERP to transfer the incentives by DBT using NEFT or RTGS until the SERP migrates to Aadhar Payment Bridge system up to March 31, 2014. A relaxation will be given to SERP to start Banking Correspondence (BC) model for distribution of incentives directly to the beneficiary door step from April 1, 2014. It was also decided that institutional deliveries in border districts where the date of birth in other languages be accepted. Change of names of mothers after marriage and registered new name in Aadhar will also be considered. INN