UPSC Mains 2013 GS Paper 2 Q13: model answer
Electronic cash transfer system for the welfare schemes is an ambitious project to minimize corruption, eliminate wastage and facilitate reforms. Comment.
What the question wants
Comment on whether electronic cash transfers for welfare schemes can really reduce corruption, wastage and enable reforms.
How to structure it
Comment: an opinion with evidence on both sides.
- What it is
- How it cuts leakage
- Evidence
- Limits
- Opinion
How to think it through
In 1985 Rajiv Gandhi said only 15 paise of every rupee reached the poor. DBT is the reply to that line. But removing a middleman is not the same as reaching the beneficiary; exclusion is a new kind of leakage.
Model answer
In 1985 Rajiv Gandhi admitted that of every rupee spent on the poor, only about 15 paise reached them. Direct Benefit Transfer, launched on 1 January 2013, was designed to remove the 85 paise of loss in between.
How it cuts corruption and waste
- Money moves from treasury to the beneficiary's bank account, skipping layers of officials.
- Aadhaar seeding removes duplicates and ghost beneficiaries; the government reports savings of over ₹3 lakh crore from deleted fake and duplicate entries.
- PAHAL for LPG removed millions of duplicate connections.
- Real-time data allows audits and dashboards.
Enabler of reform
- Opens the way to replace price subsidies with income support, as in PM-KISAN.
- Builds financial inclusion through Jan Dhan accounts.
- Gives a platform to merge scattered schemes.
Limits
- Exclusion errors: failed biometric authentication denied rations to some of the poorest, and deaths in Jharkhand in 2017 were linked to cancelled ration cards.
- The last mile shifts to banking correspondents, who can also cheat.
- Rural bank access, network failures and digital illiteracy.
- Cash cannot replace services: a pregnant woman needs an anganwadi, not just ₹5,000.
Opinion
DBT is a powerful tool against leakage, but it should be judged by how many genuine beneficiaries receive benefits, not by how many names it removes. Offline fallbacks, OTP or iris options when fingerprints fail, and quick grievance redress make it humane as well as efficient.
Draw: Two pipes: old (Centre, State, district, block, beneficiary) with leaks, and new (treasury to account).
Keywords, cases and data to drop in
DBT 2013, JAM trinity, PAHAL, Aadhaar-based payment system, PFMS, exclusion error, banking correspondents, savings claims.
Where most answers lose marks
- Treating DBT as a cure-all. 'Comment' needs a balanced verdict.
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Question text as printed in the official UPSC Civil Services (Main) question paper. The model answer is original Battle IAS work; use it to learn structure, not to memorise.
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