Baijayant tables Bill to check leakage in PDS

BHUBANESWAR: Senior BJD leader and Lok Sabha Member from Kendrapara Baijayant Panda on Friday tabled the phased incorporation of Cash Transfer in Public Distribution System Bill, 2012, in Parliament.The Bill, which is intended to provide for a system of cash transfer to the persons who are beneficiaries of the PDS to ensure better delivery of the goods, extends to whole of India. It will come into force once notified by the Centre.The cash transfer system stipulates direct transfer of cash to the bank account of the beneficiaries and it will be equivalent to the current monthly entitlement per family at market price. The eligible persons are from BPL families and identified under the Antyodaya Anna Yojana and issued ration cards. In cases where the beneficiary does not have a bank account, the money shall be given in cash to the head of the household.To ensure transparency and implementation, the Bill stipulates that the scheme be linked to Aadhar so that monitoring will be easy.  In the past decades, several countries have successfully adopted the system which ensures beneficiaries better access and less leakage in PDS. In 2005, Planning Commission had reported 70 per cent leakage in PDS.