Money for student welfare schemes to be transferred directly to accounts in Maharashtra

Mumbai city news: The portal has been developed by state information technology department and is expected to be launched by August.

To curb corruption in monetary welfare schemes for students, the Maharashtra government has decided to set up a direct beneficiaries transfer (DBT) portal to transfer the money to students directly.

The portal has been designed in such a way that it will inform student about other schemes they are eligible for based on categories like caste, finances and others.(Pic for Representation)

The portal has been designed in such a way that it will inform student about other schemes they are eligible for based on categories like caste, finances and others.

The portal has been developed by state information technology department and is expected to be launched by August.

Five departments — school education, higher and technical education, social justice,
tribal development and
minority development — run around 40 student welfare schemes. “The portal will cover all the schemes,” said VK Gautam, principal secretary, information technology department.

“Our objective is to make all these schemes accessible for deserving students by adopting a smooth online process. Once a student logs in to the portal, he/she will be able know and get the benefits of all schemes he/she is eligible for,” Gautam said.

To get enrolled, students would need to submit requisite documents just once. Once done, the portal will never ask for documents again. Moreover, if the account is linked to Aadhaar, the student will not need to upload any documents for enrolment.

“The state government offers scholarships to students from various classes. In such cases, the monetary assistance will directly be transferred to the account of the educational institution once the student is enrolled through the portal. This will help us eliminate corruption or fraud and ensure saving of public funds by 15-20%,” said Gautam.

Around 19 departments of the state run around 335 schemes which deal with subsidy or monetary welfare schemes. The government is planning to cover all such schemes under DBT portal in the next two years. It has also planned to link 372 certificates being issued by state-run ‘Aaple Sarkar’ portal so that once the certificate is issued, it will automatically link with the students’ DBT portal account.