Antyodaya realised through DBT

Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya had stated that the success of a system, within the concept of Antyodaya, should be assessed on the basis of how sincerely the benefits of schemes reach the person standing at the last rung of society. Judged by this criterion, the expansion of Direct Benefit Transfer, or DBT, in Uttar Pradesh represents something far beyond an ordinary reform

New Delhi: Antyodaya does not merely mean that government assistance reaches the last person. The real test is whether it reaches them with dignity. For years, elderly women in villages kept making rounds of government offices for their pensions, farmers stood before clerks to claim their rightful dues, and poor people had to seek someone’s recommendation at every stage. Even when assistance arrived, it came in the form of a favour. DBT has changed this very picture in Uttar Pradesh. Now, money transferred from Lucknow or Delhi goes directly into the beneficiary’s account, with no middleman and no deductions in between. Instead of having to hold out their hands in supplication, people can now claim their rights with confidence. Assistance is not charity but an entitlement, and the Yogi government has translated Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya’s vision of Antyodaya into a reality on the ground in precisely this form.

Until a decade ago, Uttar Pradesh faced the paradox that funds for schemes would be released from the capital but would disappear somewhere along the way. Files moved, signatures were made, announcements echoed, and the very person in whose name the entire exercise was undertaken often remained empty-handed at the very end of the queue. Pandit Deendayal Upadhyaya had stated that the success of a system, within the concept of Antyodaya, should be assessed on the basis of how sincerely the benefits of schemes reach the........

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