Cash transfer to start in five districts of Maharashtra

Pune: Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan on Saturday said here that Maharashtra will be implementing the Aadhar-based direct cash transfer project, aimed at reducing pilferage, in five districts starting next year.

"Five districts in the state -- among total of 51 from across the country -- will be implementing the project from next year," Chavan told reporters here on the sidelines of a banking event. He claimed that the state was leader in the enrolment for Aadhar numbers, with 4 crore people registered so far. The administration will come up with innovative applications of Aadhar number, he said. Earlier in the day, inaugurating the two-day annual banking conference ‘Bancon’, Union Finance Minister P Chidambaram had announced that government would launch the direct cash transfer programme in 51 districts from January 1. Addressing the conference, Chavan said the Centre would next come up with "right to credit" as a part of its social sector agenda. He also expressed confidence that the Centre will persist with reforms in spite of the difficulties it was facing in the Parliament. He asked the bankers to work on innovative solutions like voice-based e-banking. The Chief Minister also thanked nationalised banks, led by the leading banker from the state Bank of Maharashtra, for their aggressive lending to farmers in Maharashtra. There was a 46 percent jump in farm credit by commercial banks over the last year which has helped pull the total contribution between cooperative banks and commercial banks to 50:50 level from the earlier 75:25, he noted. He urged the banks to help local civic bodies raise money by selling bonds, and added that credit rating agencies, in which banks hold considerable stakes, can prove a big help and rate such issues. PTI