Tribal Development Department

BPL Card Scheme A Concept Note

able of Contents
BPL CARD SCHEME A CONCEPT NOTE 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 INTRODUCTION ..........................................................................................................................2 OBJECTIVES OF BPL CARD SCHEME...................................................................................2 BPL CARD......................................................................................................................................3 INITIAL SET-UP ...........................................................................................................................4 SALIENT FEATURES OF THE BPL CARD SYSTEM ............................................................6 PROPOSED IMPLEMENTATION METHODOLOGY............................................................7 ANNEXURE .................................................................................................................................10

1 Introduction
The Tribal Development Department is implementing various anti- poverty schemes and projects having a total annual outlay of approximately Rs. 350 Crore. These schemes mainly aim to provide the benefits to the citizens under Below Poverty Line (BPL) and bring them Above Poverty Line. Likewise other Government Organisations too have launched schemes for the BPLs. Many a times there are various similar types of schemes launched by several departments and it is found that there are times where the same beneficiary, gets benefits from these multiple similar scheme, and there are some BPLs to whom such benefits dont reach at all. To control this mis-utilization and to facilitate build an unbiased process for dissemination of benefits across various schemes, the Tribal Development Department wishes to issue a BPL Card to the BPL population (here in after also referred to as BPL) on pilot basis in 4-5 ITDP Talukas, which will enable him to directly request for a benefit without the intervention of the Gram Sabha, Gram Sevak and the other Government Machinery. As a pilot, the BPL Card Scheme would be launched in 4-5 ITDP talukas of two identified districts and 100 Information Kiosks would be set up at the Village level to facilitate the process of providing the benefits to the BPLs.

2 Objectives of BPL Card Scheme

The objectives of the BPL Card Scheme is: To enable least interaction with the Government System (No filling up of forms) Provide Identification of the BPL population Control mis-utilization of benefits Easily Operable System Access to a maximum of Rs.1000 credit (at a pre defined interest) p.a. payable in one year, at any time Mobility (Access to the system across the state)

The BPL card will be used for schemes covering Self-employment Housing Small Value Individual Schemes across multiple Government Organisations (if so desired in the future).

3 BPL Card
3.1 Contents
The BPL Card will be magnetic stripe based card, which will act as an identification number for the BPL. It will also contain the name of the Head of the family and the validity period of the card, along with a photograph. Capturing of signature / thumb impression, if required can be thought of, however the current conceptualized card, does not take this into consideration.

3.2 Possible Card Types

1. Bar Code based 2. Magnetic Strip based If the BPL Credit Scheme (of Rs. 1000/-) is to be channelised through bank / financial institutions, then it becomes mandatory to use the magnetic strip cards as the existing infrastructure of most of these institutions use magnetic strip. Also, then the card has to carry two numbers one the BPL card number and two the bank generated credit card number on the same card. Card has thus been conceptualised to have a bar code and a programmable magnetic strip (to store the encoded information as required by the Financial Institution). This would provide the flexibility in the card to be used at a Financial Institution for providing the credit facility to the Card Owner by using the current technology prevalent in the Financial Institutions as well as in the Village Information Kiosk.
BPL Card

Credit

CRD Scheme

Financial Institution

Information Kiosk

3.3 View of the Card

Photograph

Name

Identification Number

Credit Card Number

Bar Code

Magnetic Strip Rear Side View

Front Side View

BPL Card

4 Initial Set-up
4.1 BPL Card Generation
This would involve the following 1. Data Entry / Conversion of the BPL information from the census data already collected by the CRD. 2. Capturing of the photographs of the BPLs, to be put on the BPL Card 3. Merging the photograph data with the BPL information data to generate the BPL database. 4. Entry of information of schemes already availed by the BPL across schemes launched by various departments. 5. Data Verification 6. BPL Card Printing 7. Card Distribution

4.2 Kiosk Setup at the Village Level

The kiosk will be the entry point through which the BPL will interact with the system. The kiosk will be a small office, which can be set-up either in the Village Panchayat Office or in the Village Post Office or any other popular location, which is easily accessible by the BPL. The kiosk would be operated by private operators, 6 days a week, for about 12 hours per day. The kiosks would be manned with a Kiosk Operator and may also be used to implement the Credit Scheme (of an amount uptoRs. 1000/-) A picture view of the kiosk :

Printer
Bar Code Reader

Computer
Dial Up Modem UPS VILLAGE INFORMATION KIOSK A Computer Table and a Chair for the Kiosk Operator would also be provided. The Electricity and the Telephone line existing at the site would be used here.

4.3 Central Site Setup

The BPL database will be hosted on a Central Server at Gandhinagar on the GSWAN intranet. This Server would be a fault tolerant system and would be available 24x7. The Village Information Kiosks would get connected to the Central Server, through telephone lines, as GSWAN connectivity is available only up-to taluka level. Required Networking equipments would also be placed here.

4.4 Application Software Development

There will be customized software required at the Kiosk end and at the Government Organisation (CRD) end, to capture transactions, process, monitor and provide status to the relevant stakeholders.

5 Salient Features of the BPL Card System

1. Each Head of the BPL family will be issued a card, which will allow him / her to avail facilities of schemes launched by various departments, with minimum / no interaction with government machinery. This system will act as a single window system. 2. Each BPL will be allowed a maximum credit of Rs. 1000/- at any time (at a pre defined interest rate). Any BPL defaulting payments, can be debarred from all future benefits / schemes availed by BPLs. 3. BPL can request for benefit of schemes under three major heads, viz. Housing, Employment and Small Value Individual Schemes. Based on the eligibility criteria, the request will be recorded and a transaction number will be issued. Request Inquiry can be made with this transaction number. Grievances can also be registered through this system. 4. Based on targets, allocations, funds availability, BPL History and requests raised, a priority list will be generated by the system. This will be authorised by a senior official and cannot be modified at field level. 5. A proper request monitoring process will be in place, to ensure requests are handled by their priority and any defaults would raise alarms to the highest officials to take required actions.

6 Proposed Implementation Methodology

6.1 Process Flow Diagram
Request Entry, Request Enquiry,Grievence Entry, Card Renewal, Complaint for lost/ damaged card, Change in Head of Family, Loan deposit/ withdrawal Deposit/Withdrawal Entry, Opening balance entry, closing balance entry, Help to BPL in operation

BPL Printer Kiosk Modem

Kiosk Operator

Taluka Office Deposition of documents/ reports/damaged cards to TDO

Start of the Day, End of the day Database synchronisation, Connection when BPL number not found in kiosk Database

Withdrawal/Deposit of Loan amount Bank/Post Office

Interface with BPL Database

Interface with MIS/FAS System

Centralised BPL Server

BPL Database MIS/FAS System Government Personnel Priority List Generation, Accounting Operations Entry, MIS/EIS Reports

6.2 Operational Process

6.2.1 Kiosk The Village Kiosk will be the entry point through which the BPL will interact with the system. The BPL can either register a new request for benefit, view the status of his pending request, launch a request for a duplicate card stating loss / damage of BPL Card, modification in card like change of head of family and renewal of BPL card. When a request is registered in the kiosk, the transaction will begin by capturing the BPLs identification details from the BPL card that he / she is carrying. No requests would be made on the system without the BPL card. The BPL card details will be captured by either bar code scanners or swipe card readers. Once the details are taken from the card, they will be authenticated for validity of the number, period, status of the BPL (card is marked lost / BPL debarred etc.). The system will also show the BPL profile (details of the BPL along with photograph) for easy verification. After verification of the BPL number, the request entry details will be captured. When the request is registered, system will check for eligibility and if found eligible, will allocate a Transaction Identification Number to the request and a Request Acceptance Slip with the transaction Identification Number and details will be handed over to the BPL. The BPL can later inquire the status of his request through this transaction identification number The manual data entry of the BPL number will be allowed entry, only in the loss of card request. Here a search on the database on number, name, village etc. will be provided. For no other transactions, will the system allow entry of BPL number. Complaints and grievances can also be registered in the system at the kiosk. The withdrawal / deposit of money under the BPL Credit scheme may also be implemented through this kiosk. Another alternative method of operating the credit scheme will be through financial institutions (similar to the method in which credit cards operate). Salient points of both these methodologies have been discussed in the Annexure. The kiosk will be connected to the Central BPL server through dial-up modem to access the BPL database. To minimise cost of continuous connectivity to the Central Server, a system of partly distributed and partly central database can be thought of. The Village Kiosk database will contain the data of the BPLs of a pre-defined area, assuming that 80% of the times, requests would come from the local BPLs. However, if a BPL from another location does come to the kiosk for service, then the system would connect to the Central Server to fetch the data. The entire process of searching the local database
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and if not available, then connecting and fetching data from the central server would be automated. At the start of the Day, at system boot-up, BPL information for the pre-defined area of the kiosk will be downloaded from the server to the kiosk. Then, at the End of the Day, the daily transaction data will be uploaded back to the server. Thus, the synchronisation between the Kiosk and the Server will take place twice a day. The Kiosk will be manned by an Operator who will assist the BPL in the operation of the system. 6.2.2 Within the CRD Offices Request Prioritization Process The request will be given priority based on various factors like BPL benefit history, various schemes across departments where the BPL can fit to avail the benefit, whether the BPL is a ShramYogi, targets allocated for the year, funds available, etc. Based on these factors, the system will prioritise the request and generate a priority number under an identified scheme. The system will also put a probable date of completion for the request. This list could be authorised by a senior official and then will be propagated at the field level for further processing. At the field level, no change on the priority can be made. Request Processing The system will allocate the request to the concerned officials for processing, by providing them pending list to be processed. On completion of the processing of the request, system will record the request completion details. Request Monitoring Process There will be a stringent monitoring of the request processing and the system will generate alarms for any defaults. E.g. If the Taluka Development Officer overrides the priority while deciding the beneficiaries, then the system would generate an alarm displaying the priority override, to the higher officials for further actions. If the request is delayed beyond the decided processing time, then also alarms will be flashed by the system. Relevant MIS / EIS reports will be generated, to help the Management monitor the progress, viz. Request status monitoring scheme-wise, District Taluka-concerned official-wise, age-wise etc.
The BPL Card Scheme System will be closely interfaced to the FAS and

MIS systems of the CRD to capture the request processing and monitoring details.
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7 Annexure
A Comparison between the operations of the two options that may be used to provide Credit Facility to the BPL through the BPL Card is as below BPL Credit Facility through the Information Kiosk Single card with a single identification code i.e. BPL Number which would be used for both benefit availing as well as cash withdrawal No additional cost for printing the additional bank identification code Reach and mobility only where kiosks exist i.e. cash withdrawal possible only at kiosks No annual operational charges to the Financial Institution for availing the Credit Card The CRD would have to allocate initial funds for the scheme to operate

BPL Credit Facility through the Financial Institution

Single card with two identification codes. BPL number would be used for benefit availing and bank identification code will be used for availing credit facility Additional cost for printing bank identification code on the card Cash withdrawal would be possible at any branch of the identified bank Annual operational charges would be needed to be paid to the Financial Institution for card operation The Financial Institution would provide the operating funds. The CRD would have to pay for late charges and service providing fee to the Financial Institution

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