The government will expand the Direct Benefits Transfer-DBT programme to 78 more districts of the country. Addressing the review meeting of the National Committee on DBT in New Delhi today, the Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh said, with this the programme will cover more than 120 districts which is roughly one-fifth of the country. He said, DBT involves digitising data, enrolling in Aadhaar, opening bank accounts and seeding these accounts.

Dr Singh said a number of operational issues have been resolved with the rollout of the programme from 1st of January this year. Expressing concern over the unsatisfactory nature of tracking and monitoring system relating to DBT, the Prime Minister emphasized the need to have a robust monitoring system.

Dr Singh also asked all the Departments to apply themselves to commitment to this major initiative. He said , the Planning Commission and the Finance Ministry have a special responsibility of working together for the achievement of the set objectives.He said, there should be a system in place where people can get a simple bank account on demand if they have an Aadhaar card. Dr Singh said, through this programme the implementation capacity of the government will be tested so it needs to deliver results and benefits.