Aadhaar based DBT results in over Rs 83,000 cr disbursals; SC ruling on privacy leaves scope for biometric usage in social schemes

Amidst the debate on possible fall-outs of the Supreme Court judgement pronouncing privacy as fundamental right, on Aadhaar related government schemes it is noted that the biometric cards have facilitated as much as Rs 83,184 crore to beneficiaries of the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes, without the notorious leakages of the past.

Real benefit of Jan Dhan and Aadhaar is finally reflected in the number of beneficiaries of government DBT schemes. The amount of funds transferred under DBT schemes between 1st January 2013 and 31st March 2017 is Rs 83183.79 crores but the real achievement lies not in the amount disbursed, rather in the fact that these amounts were disbursed with minimum leakages or malpractices and that is important in terms of good governance it generally felt.

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes have resulted into weeding out 3.34 crore duplicate consumers under PaHAL and a further 2.33 crore ration cards being deleted, bringing transparency in governance of subsidy. Total savings under DBT has been  Rs 49,500 crores till December 2016. DBT savings have been highest under the PaHaL scheme, amounting to Rs 26,408 crores till December 2016.

On the Supreme Court judgement the general feeling is that it is a landmark verdict by the 9-judge Constitution Bench which provide a window for the Aadhaar related government schemes. While commending to the Union Government the need to put in place a robust regime for data protection and a sensitive balance between the individual interests and legitimate concerns of the state, the judgement  clearly stated that “ the legitimate aim of the state  would include for instance , protecting national security….. and preventing the dissipation of social welfare benefits”.

According to some experts when the apex court talks about prevention of “dissipation of social welfare benefits”, therein lies a window for Aadhaar cards, in so far as its applicability on the DBT and other welfare measures is concerned. 

Total subsidy paid under DBT in 2016-17 is  Rs 74,502 crore. The new target is to cover 534 schemes in by March 2018, out of which 300 are cash schemes and more than 200 are in-kind schemes. Hence, Cash Subsidy paid under DBT is expected to increase to  Rs 1 lakh crore subsequently.

On the Performance Matrix,  as a scheme with“ Significant Progress Made”,  the ‘Prime Minister Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY)’ is considered as the back bone of financial inclusion, and the first step of creating bank accounts for hitherto uncovered population has been done quite efficiently within a short span of time.  Even the Brookings Institute in its Financial and Digital Inclusion Report has rated India with among the top countries on score with high government commitment and regulatory environment but in their view adoption of financial and digital inclusion needs to be enhanced.

Indian mobile services market to touch US$ 103.9 bln by 2020: study

Indian mobile services market is expected to reach $37 billion in 2017, growing at 10.3 per cent year-on-year to cross US$ 103.9 billion by 2020, according to an ASSOCHAM-Resurgent India joint study.

As on March 2017, the service sector grew 7.74 per cent year-on-year to Rs 21.43 trillion (US$ 332.74 billion). The Indian digital classifieds industry is expected to grow three-fold to reach US$ 1.2 billion by 2020, driven by growth in horizontal classifieds like online services, real estate and automobiles. Out of overall services sector, the sub-sector comprising financial services, real estate and professional services contributed US$ 305.8 billion or 20.5 per cent to the GDP, reveals the joint study on ‘Service Sector in India’ released today at New Delhi.

Service sector employs nearly 40% of the population in the economy. It has the capacity to absorb the need of the growing population. The emploiyment in the service sector has increased from 23.7% in 1999 to 29% in 2016-17. State-wise, there are wide differences in the share in employment of different sectors in rural India. It is found that some work-eastern states like Sikkim, Tripura and Manipur have a high share of employment in the services sector and again some city states like Chandigarh and Delhi also have very high shares of employment in services like 826 and 879 respectively out of 1000 employed people.

In urban India the shares of employment in services in most of the states varied like 833 in Assam, 877 in Meghalaya, 732 in Bihar, 787 in Jharkhand, 711 in Kerala, 716 in Maharashtra, 743 in Rajasthan, 653 in Uttar Pradesh, 641 in Gujarat, 586 in Tamil Nadu and 683 in West Bengal out of 1000 employed people.

The services sector is also an important contributor to the Indian exports. India's share in global services exports stood at 3.2 per cent in 2014-15; double that of its merchandise exports in global merchandise exports at 1.7 per cent, placing India in the eighth place amongst the top ten exporters of service in the world.  Export of services grew by 5.9 per cent year-on-year to $13.06 billion in 2016-17, noted the study.

Accordingly, services sector has been rendering some valuable services, viz., health services, educational facilities; IT and IT enabled services (ITes), skill development, health tourism, sports, and cultural services etc. which are largely responsible for human empowerment and improvement of quality of life of the people in general.

India has been largely considered as favoured destination for increasing flow of FDI. Foreign direct investment (FDI) is a major source of non-debt financial resource for the economic development of India. Foreign companies invest in India to take advantage of relatively lower wages, special investment privileges such as tax exemptions, etc. The total FDI investments India received during April 2016-March 2017 rose 8 per cent year-on-year to US$ 60.08 billion, indicating that government's effort to improve ease of doing business and relaxation in FDI norms is yielding results. Most recently, the total FDI equity inflows for the month of March 2017 touched US$ 2.45 billion.

In India, data on services is collected and collated by multiple agencies. For some services such as retail there is no official data. For others like communication services, there is a lack of disaggregated data. Employment data is not collected on a regular basis which makes it difficult to do employment analysis. Also, the services sub-sector definitions in India do not match with international definitions which make it difficult to do cross-country analysis. Moreover, there is a lack of distinction in data collection procedure between goods and services within each sub-sector such as telecommunications and IT.

There is no single nodal department or agency for services in our country. It is the need of the hour that government should set up a nodal agency or department for the smooth functioning of service sector as services activities cover issues beyond trade and also work on regulatory reforms for service sector.

There is also need for promotional and marketing activities for service exports like setting up a portal for services, showcasing India’s competence also in non-software services in trade exhibitions, and engaging dedicated brand ambassadors and experts at the international level.

The government and Reserve Bank of India should provide more credit facilities at reasonable interest rates and collateral free soft loans to support the sector’s cash needs. The Government should make efforts to improve the infrastructure in the country such as construct more roads in rural and backward areas, as well as railways and air connectivity to all the cities of the country and also improve the condition of its ports.

The government should work to improve the poor condition of historic buildings in the country. These places are the main attraction for tourists. It helps in generating more income. Service providers should focus on controlling the costs and wastage of resources with the use of modern technology.

The service sector should work parallel with the other sectors like Primary and Secondary Sector. Primary Sector faces financial, infrastructural issues and effective support from the other sector. All the sectors are linked both in forward and backward lines. Development in any of the sector will be fruitful for the rest.

India to link all police stations, judiciary & enforcement agencies with Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS)

India will soon link all police stations across the country and further integrate all the data with courts, judiciary officers and enforcement agencies under the Crime and Criminal Tracking Networks and Systems (CCTNS) to combat security breaches according to India’s Minister of State for Home Affairs Mr Kiren Rijiju.

CCTNS has just been launched and is looked upon as a path-breaking and revolutionary step. Within India if anybody commits a crime it will be easy to trace.

The CCTNS has been launched on the lines of GST (Goods and Services Tax) with a view to link entire country under one security umbrella. This network we will secure the nation because anybody who commits some kind of crime then it will be difficult for him to run away. Till now India had some gaps in terms of collaboration amid states and centre on security front. With the launching of CCTNS all the states together with all the agencies of the central government including higher-up authorities and judiciary will be linked.

It is not only the justice delivery system but the readymade data available in tracking the crimes and criminals will become easy that will create a confidence among the people as it will cover everything from the economic crimes to petty crimes.

India making startups in north-eastern states lucrative

There has been an number of youngsters from across India approaching the union government to set up startups in north-eastern states under the ‘Startup India, Standup India,’ programme, Dr Jitendra Singh, Minister of State, Prime Minister Office, Government of India has disclosed this at the Annual Meet of Entrepreneurs and Innovators held in New Delhi on the occasion of the World Entrepreneurs’ Day 2017.

“Any youngster who decides to set up startups in north-east will in addition to all the provisions available in the Government of India programme will get initial venture capital fund from North-East ministry, so that they do not have any financial liability,” said Dr Singh said.

The minister also said that the government is building necessary infrastructure to promote north-eastern states as a favourite destination of startup ventures in the country.

He also termed the ‘Startup India, Standup India,’ programme as the most unique programme in the world as it offers unprecedented incentives like three years of tax holiday and three months of exit period.

Dr.Singh said that it is due to present government’s efforts that a big headway had been made and entrepreneurship potential of India which was not being realised earlier at any level of the society is now being realised.

He also said that a reverse brain drain has been happening in India during the course of past couple of years.

“You must have realised that as a result of proactive outreach by the Prime Minister himself, it is not only the foreign investors who are now looking up to India as a destination, many of those who had left India in search of green pastures and settled abroad are now looking forward to opportunities to get back to India,” said Dr Singh.

“This is the phenomenon that I have observed only in the last 2-3 years,” he added.

“So this itself is a very impartial evidence of the kind of change in the business atmosphere which is being witnessed in India and I am sure in the years to come this country is going to be one of the most attractive destinations for startups and entrepreneurs,” the minister added.