Panel suggests ways to ensure funds reach target beneficiaries -Governance Now

Panel suggests ways to ensure funds reach target beneficiaries

Efforts to be dovetailed with UID number

PTI | February 5, 2011

The Nandan Nilekani-headed I-T infrastructure panel today suggested that "efforts should be dovetailed with Aadhaar (UID) initiative" to ensure that welfare funds reach target beneficiaries.

The Technical Advisory Group for Unique Projects, which submitted its report to Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, gave far reaching recommendations to implement, with the help of automated systems, the five ambitious projects of the government.

Goods and Service Tax (GST), Tax Information Network, Expenditure Information Network, National Treasury Management Agency and New Pension System (NPS) are the five projects.

If the suggestions are accepted, businesses will have an information technology (I-T) driven simpler system to pay the proposed GST.

Also, I-T system will ensure that the tax evasion is detected seamlessly by a common GST Panel.

"These five projects alone have immense transformative power and can change India's growth trajectory," the report of said.

It also suggested investment in 'peopleware' to implement the highly complex projects.

In a major deviation from the established government hierarchy, it has recommended that each of these projects be headed by a 'Mission Leader', with a fixed five-year tenure to ensure continuity.

Induction of talent from outside the government and setting up the National Information Utilities in the private sector for handling all aspects of I-T systems, have also been suggested.

Though the new body is proposed to be be set up in the private sector for profit purpose, they would be expected not to go for "profit maximisation" and should not go for public listings.

The Centre is in the process of building consensus with states to implement GST, which will subsume most of the indirect taxes. Also, Direct Taxes Code (DTC), which will replace the 50-year old Income Tax Act, is expected to be rolled out from April 2012.

The report addresses several concerns of the tax payers under the proposed GST. The common GST portal will take care of payment gateways, return filing but will ensure that the tax evaders have hard times.

"The common GST portal is pass-through devise for information, while enhancing it with intelligence to plug leakages. It would also act as a tax booster...to detect tax evasion," the report said adding the system will also provide for verification of permanent account number (PAN).

For ensuring the welfare funds reach the target beneficiaries, the report recommends that "efforts should be dovetailed with Aadhaar (UID) initiative for unique indentification of individuals". .

Access to bank accounts should be universal so that the government payment should be made seamlessly, it added.

Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee had announced in his Budget Speech 2010 to set-up the technical advisory group.

Pursuant to this, the Department of Economic Affairs had constituted the panel.

The recommendations come at a time, when the government is investing heavily on improving the IT infrastructure in the country and rolling out various e-governance projects.

Saying that the report had been submitted at a right time, Mukherjee said the recommendations would help in implementation of the key projects.

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