Days after the Odisha government reverted to system of physical distribution of cash under social security schemes, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan on Wednesday said cash payments, historically, have had tendencies to spur corruption, pilferage, and exploitation of beneficiaries by middlemen.
After incidences of elderly persons facing problems of withdrawing their pension from banks as biometric devices failed to read blurred fingerprints, the Naveen Patnaik Government had on May 20 announced that all beneficiaries under Madhu Babu Pension Yojana would be receiving cash on 15 of every month at disbursement places as before.
“Older and disable pensioners, who cannot move to disbursement places, will receive pension at their doorsteps,” said Department of Social Security and Empowerment of Persons with Disabilities. The direction was, however, silent on inclusion of central government components in cash distribution. The cash payment is scheduled to start from the month of June.
