(a) the criteria to allocate funds to various States under National Social Assistance Programme
(b) the steps taken by the Government to make system transparent and responsible to ensure that the benefits of the scheme may reach to actual beneficiaries;
(c) whether different criteria has been fixed for North-Eastern States;
(d) if so, the details thereof; and
(e) if not, the reasons thereof?
MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DVELOPMENT (SHRI SUDARSHAN BHAGAT)
(a) The schemes under NSAP are for the households living below poverty line (BPL). The criteria for allocation of funds are based on the estimated number of beneficiaries of each State and UT. The number of beneficiaries is calculated taking into account the 2001 Census and the poverty ratio of 2004-2005 given by the Planning Commission. This procedure is being uniformly followed for all States and UTs. Funds are allocated on the basis of number of estimated beneficiaries or the number of beneficiaries reported by the States /UTs whichever is less.
(b) The Government has taken necessary steps for the digitization of data base of beneficiaries to ensure transparency along with Aadhaar seeding and to get rid of duplicate or fake beneficiaries. w.e.f. 01.07.2013 Direct benefit Transfer (DBT) was rolled out in the selected 121 districts of 26 States on pilot basis for the three pension schemes under NSAP. Now the DBT has been extended to all the districts across the country. This would enable electronic transfer of benefits from the state level to the actual beneficiaries thereby doing away with intermediary level and delays and help in tracking disbursement and monitoring.
(c) to (f) Uniform criteria for allocation of funds is followed for all the States /UTs.