Patna: Describing the direct cash transfer scheme of the Centre as "good" in principle but "bad" in form as it excludes food and fertiliser, Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Friday said he would take up the matter with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
"The cash transfer scheme brought by the Centre is good in principle as Bihar has already successfully experimented this," Kumar told reporters. He, however, said the form in which the Centre had decided to launch it from January 1, 2013 was "bad".
He said the scheme which the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government was terming as "game-changer" did not include transfer of cash to beneficiaries of food and fertiliser subsidy.
Besides, he said, the scheme in the field of education had made a provision for purchase of uniform for school students from standard I to VIII under Sarv Siksha Abhiyan through a committee which could breed corruption. "In Bihar my government is distributing cash directly to students for purchase of uniform as per dress code and it has been very successful," Kumar said.
"The state government is also distributing direct cash for cycle scheme for school students and purchase of uniform for policemen and no complaint of corruption has been reported from anywhere", he said. The chief minister regretted that the Centre did not include any district from Bihar in the scheme although "the idea has been taken from the eastern state."
He avoided a direct reply to a question if selection of 51 districts from 15 states in the scheme initially was influenced by politics as majority states selected have either Congress government or that of UPA partners, but said the "success of the scheme would be judged in the perspective of similar successful effort in Bihar.
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