The Reserve Bank launched the facility to make payments to the beneficiaries of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) electronically in Odisha. RBI deputy governor Harun Rashid Khan launched the facilty for the Odisha government in Bhubhaneswar, RBI said in a statement.
The objective of the scheme is to make electronic payment of wages to MGNREGA beneficiaries in the state of Odisha. He also launched a new model of government receipts to provide safe and efficient mechanism for government business and timely credit of government receipts. The e-FMS (electronic Fund Management System) went live for the districts of Ganjam, Gajapati and Mayurbhanj and one block Bolagarh of Khurdha district.
The e-FMS scheme involves disbursement of wages of MGNREGA beneficiaries directly to their bank accounts. Reuters
It will be launched in respect of at least one block each from the remaining 27 districts from 2 July , 2012. The remaining blocks of 27 districts would be taken up in the next phase so that the entire state is covered by Gandhi Jayanti, i.e., 2 October , 2012.
Implementation of e-FMS is expected to drastically cut down the delays in payment of wages to MGNREGA beneficiaries and also bring about transparency in the system apart from resulting in savings in operational costs, RBI said.
The e-FMS scheme involves disbursement of wages of MGNREGA beneficiaries directly to their bank accounts through the Regional Electronic Clearing Service (RECS) provided by the Reserve Bank, Bhubaneswar.
Based on the information provided by various nodal agencies (Gram Panchayat/block/district level), authorised officials of the Sponsor Bank (State Bank of India in this case) download the files and send to the Reserve Bank for processing on the same day on RECS. This will be done so that accounts of beneficiaries, maintained with different banks, can be credited the next day.
