Puducherry, February 26 Union Minister Pralhad Joshi said on Thursday that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has brought about a digital revolution in the country.
Unveiling the Central Bank Digital Currency (CBDC)-based food subsidy distribution project in Puducherry, he said that this scheme is the most transparent for beneficiaries.
"The Prime Minister's intention is that every grain and the entitlements should reach the right beneficiary without any leakage or corruption," he said, adding that food security was very important.
The CBDC offered an opportunity to enhance the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) system by providing a secure digital cash mechanism for Pradhan Mantri Garib Kalyan Anna Yojana (PMGKAY) beneficiaries directly, enabling smoother fund flow and reducing friction in availing entitlements.
Stating that the Prime Minister has brought about a digital revolution, Joshi said that the "digital India concept of the PM ensured that the entire amount of subsidy sanctioned for the beneficiaries should reach them without any leakage by integrating digital rupees issued by the RBI into DBT.
"This digital India policy of the Prime Minister has transferred the country into a significant position and this initiative marked significant reform in the delivery of food subsidy through the public distribution system," the minister said, adding that "the country witnessed a digital revolution".
Joshi said that the Centre was also keen on ensuring nutrition security and hence millets were also supplied to the beneficiaries.
The union minister for Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution also placed on record the various schemes implemented by Puducherry Chief Minister N Rangasamy (who presided over the function) with the guidance of the Prime Minister to ensure food security here.
The Centre's schemes to address the poverty of the people implemented under various schemes had enabled more than 25 crore people to come out of poverty. The intention of the Prime Minister was to achieve "Fit India", Joshi said.
The country had emerged as the fourth-largest economic force. The CBDC project is being implemented in Puducherry now after Ahmedabad, he added.
Puducherry Lieutenant Governor K Kailshnathan, who spoke on the occasion, said that food security is essential and it has opened a new chapter now.
The PMGKAY scheme is aimed at enabling the poor to come out of poverty. The CBDC project ensured transparency and kept corruption at bay.
He praised the free rice scheme operated by the Puducherry government. When a request was made to him by the chief minister to replace cash payment (equivalent for the quantity of rice sought by beneficiaries) by supply of rice through fair price shops, "I immediately conceded the proposal and now rice is supplied to cardholders free of cost through fair price shops," the Lt Governor said.
A release said that the CBDC scheme has been implemented in Puducherry by the Union Consumer Affairs, Food and Public Distribution Ministry in collaboration with the Puducherry government, Public Financial Management Systems and Canara Bank, which are the designated banking partners.
The release also said that CBDC-based Digital Food Currency initiative represented the next stage of digital transformation in the country's food security.
