<div><em>PAHAL has succeeded in eliminating ghost beneficiaries of LPG subsidies and helping government to save Rs 12,700 crore, says <strong>Arshad Khan</strong></em><br><br><br>Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said on Thursday (2 July) that since the introduction of the new direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for LPG (PAHAL), sale of subsidised domestic LPG across the nation has fallen by close to 25 per cent.</div><div> </div><div>He said, “on an average, the direct benefit transfer (DBT) for LPG has lowered the sale of subsidised domestic sales by around 25 per cent, mainly due to fall in international fuel price and institutional improvement in schemes like Jan Dhan Yojna, Adhaar Card etc.”</div><div> </div><div>Talking about the fiscal impact of PAHAL, he said the scheme have been successful in eliminating ghost beneficiaries and helped government to save Rs 12,700 crore. “A major finding of our study reported that DBT led only 6 per cent increase in commercial sales but there was a monolithic increase of 132 per cent in the sale of non- subsidised commercial gas reason mainly because of black market", said the economist on July 2 while speaking at the UNDP Conference hall in Delhi.</div><div> </div><div>He said the study findings will be useful for the government to improve the current PDS under the present government’s ambitious JAM (Jan Dhan+Adhaar+ Mobile) vision. Citing JAM vision as game changer he said, “JAM will not only strengthen the state, it will increase economic effectiveness to empower people. Only the government should be cautious while implement the findings of the DBT study on other commodities.” </div><div> </div><div>About the challenges to realise the JAM vision, he classifies the challenges into two categories, first being investment in IT infra to identify the target beneficiaries and the second being to implement schemes on Jan Dhan Yojna platform. </div><div> </div><div>The PAHAL scheme covers more than 9.75 crore LPG consumers is one of the world’s largest cash transfer programme. Under the scheme, LPG cylinders are sold at existing market prices and the consumers receive the subsidy directly into their bank accounts either through an Adhaar or bank account linkage.</div><div> </div><div> </div>
