Kolkata: The World Bank has approved a $ 125 million loan (around RS 1,000 Crore) to Bengal to expand the scope of around 400 social schemes managed by the government, especially direct cash transfer targeted at the vulnerable part, over the next four years.
Bank said the recent survey has found that while food and transfers in the form of goods reach most poor and vulnerable households in Bengal, the coverage of cash transfer is weak.
Access to social pensions by the elderly, widows and disabilities, in particular, are weak due to complicated application processes and the lack of automated systems for application verification and feasibility.
“For the next four years, this operation will help strengthen the country’s ability to expand coverage and access to social assistance and to provide cash transfers for the poor and vulnerable through the social registry consolidation,” the World Bank said in the release posted on it website.
The government of Bengal in a statement said the future view of CM Mamata Banerjee and its efforts to identify the problem of a weaker part and this compensation has paid a big dividend.
The “Duare Sarkar” program has been able to ensure a faster improvement and identification of beneficiaries, the statement says, and adds that service administration on the doorway and monitoring of shipping benefits will get a boost under the World Bank Help scheme.
World bank assistance will also help digitize the country’s integrated delivery system, the Jai Bangla platform, to help consolidate different social assistance programs and accelerate social retirement delivery.