Maharashtra to launch one portal for all schemes, detailed databases being prepared: Officials

Mumbai, Sep 21 (PTI) The Maharashtra government is preparing to launch a portal that will allow citizens to know about all government schemes available to them on the basis of caste, community, gender, income and other criteria across departments, officials said on Sunday.

The user acceptance test of the portal is in its final stage, a senior Indian Administrative Service official involved in the project told PTI.

"We have collected 22 different types of databases of people, including adults and children, and combined them into five core databases. We applied 140 different parameters such as gender, caste, disability, income certificates, geography and social status. Once the portal is open, a person can enter details and find all schemes applicable across departments," he explained.

At present, people have to approach multiple departments to know about available schemes, the official said.

He said the consolidated database will also help the state administration in planning and budgeting.

"When the government wants to launch a scheme, it usually conducts a detailed survey of potential beneficiaries. With this database, the planning department can directly access the numbers without repeated surveys. That will also help the finance department in budget allocation," the official said.

A finance and planning department official said the system will support direct benefit transfer (DBT) more effectively, especially when there is an increasing trend of transferring funds directly into bank accounts of beneficiaries.

The portal, backed by dynamic data, will expand this reach, she said.

"This will also help design schemes with realistic and authentic data. It will reduce instances where funds go to non-eligible persons, which often become difficult to recover," the official added.

Earlier, officials had acknowledged complaints of non-eligible beneficiaries being enrolled in the Mukhyamantri Majhi Ladki Bahin Yojana, while the concept of ‘golden data’ has been cited as a corrective step to ensure accurate targeting. PTI ND BNM