[Reader-list] Govt fund disbursal to get IT empowered- 189

[Taha Mehmood]

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/Economy/Policy/Govt-fund-disbursal-to-get-IT-empowered/articleshow/4855461.cms

Govt fund disbursal to get IT empowered
4 Aug 2009, 1227 hrs IST, Pankaj Mishra, ET Bureau

BANGALORE: The ministry of Panchayati Raj is set to flesh out a
technology-led project for transforming its fund distribution system
for schemes
such as National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA) as well as
other subsidies provided by the ministry of health, as the country
seeks to ensure timely and legitimate disbursal of over Rs 90,000
crore across the country.

The e-Panchayati Raj Institutions (e-PRI) project is among several
mission-mode projects (MMP) being considered by India for breathing
life into projects suffering from grassroots-level corruption. The
project will involve development of a portal for tracking
disbursements made by the ministry of health and NREGA every year.
Earlier this year, the ministry had proposed spending Rs 4,240.6 crore
over next three years on this project.

“Apart from the Planning Commission, several other ministries are
interested in this technology-led transformation. Recent criticisms
about NREGA’s inefficiencies regarding fund disbursal are among
triggers for the government to seek an integrated solution,” said a
senior government official involved with the project. He requested
anonymity because he is not authorised to speak with media.

The CAG in its report last year had criticised the NREGA scheme for
delayed payment of wages and non-payment of unemployment allowance at
several locations. “By empowering villages with access devices, along
with a centralised software, a lot of these issues can be solved,”
said an expert at a top consulting firm, which advises government on
several e-governance initiatives. He requested anonymity because he is
not authorised to discuss these projects with media.

Long criticised by industry experts for inefficient handling of
several e-governance projects, the government, which plans to spend up
to Rs 40,000 crore over next few years on information technology,
sought private sector help last month when it appointed Infosys
co-founder Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of the Unique
Identification Authority of India, the first in a series of such
transformation projects being evaluated by the government.

The new technology system will capture data about a wage seeker under
NREGA scheme, manage different projects, monitor funds and even do a
social audit at different intervals of time. “Right from the time a
village register is maintained to fund disbursal and even beyond, this
system will help us do an effective monitoring ,” the government
official added.

Each village household will be given a unique registration number,
along with a card, which will maintain records about the work allotted
and money earned by a worker. “By linking it back to a savings
account, a corruption-free and cashless disbursal of wages can be
ensured,” the official said.