Also, incentives will be given to the mothers of girl children only through banks.
Chief Minister N Kiran Kumar Reddy, on Friday, directed that incentives and funds for the Bangaru Thalli scheme be released through the Green Channel. He has directed the Finance Department in this regard.
The Chief Minister also directed that incentives be given to the mothers of girl children only through banks. He said that bank accounts for all the women eligible under the Bangaru Thalli scheme should be opened immediately.
The first instalment under the Bangaru Thalli scheme will be given to all the eligible women beneficiaries straightaway. From the second instalment onwards, bank accounts will be mandatorily 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 ministers and top officials, and added that its implementation should be constantly monitored.
The CM also wanted a monthly digital report on the progress of the scheme to be sent to him.
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 officials to develop an integrated software for all related welfare schemes, and to 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," he emphasised.
The CM also directed that new hospitals be started in tribal areas to encourage institutional delivery by women. It may be recalled here that the Reddy had launched the Bangaru Thalli scheme on July 2. The program was conceived to check the falling female child sex ratio, and to ensure the empowerment of the girl child through education. The government has also given the scheme a legal status. The scheme enables girl children to receive Rs. 2,500 at the time of birth, and Rs. 1 lakh after their graduation, at 21 years of age.
Officials informed the Chief Minister that a sheet called BTIDS (Bangaru Thalli Input Data Sheet) has been hosted to receive applications online, and that staff were trained on using it.
Also, an e-FMS system was put up for electronic payments, and information material printed and sent to districts, they said.
So far, 51,929 beneficiaries (girl children) have been registered online (SERP - 46,319 and MEPMA - 5,610). However out of these, there are 23,360 mothers with no bank accounts, 5,130 mothers with invalid accounts, 215 mothers with all documents uploaded, and 144 beneficiaries to whom incentives have been transferred.
An EFTS (Electronic Funds Transfer System) is being used for incentive transfer, until the APBS (Aadhar Payment Bridge System) is developed.
The incentives are transferred by DBT (direct benefit transfer) to the accounts of the mothers (temporarily through VO account). The Commissioner, WCDSC, released Rs. 42.16 crore to SERP on August 13. Funds will be transferred to the PD account of SERP by August 17.
It was also decided that a rule may be included to accept and consider "twin/triplet girl children born in the second delivery" for the Bangaru Thalli scheme. Also, officials noted that obtaining a birth certificate within 21 days may be difficult, and said that there could be a provision for women to process their documentation after 21 days as well.
Further registration is allowed on the Central registry without Aadhar cards, for the first one year, up to March 31, 2014. Aadhar/EID is mandatory for the second and successive incentives.
Authenticating authorities at birth may be either the ANM or the Medical Officer. Incentives may be transferred using NEFT or RTGS until the SERP migrates to the Aadhar Payment Bridge system, on March 31, 2014.
SERP will also be allowed to start a Banking Correspondence (BC) model for the distribution of incentives directly to beneficiaries' doorstep, from April 1, 2014.
It was also decided that institutional deliveries in bordering districts, where dates of birth will be accepted languages other than Telugy. Change of names of mothers after marriage, and registered new names in Aadhar, will also be considered. (INN)