Rahul to tell district and Youth Congress chiefs on cash transfer

With the government set to launch the direct cash transfer scheme from January 1 in select districts across the country, Congress leader Rahul Gandhi will tomorrow brief district Congress and youth presidents about the benefits of the scheme.

He will address district Congress and Youth Congress presidents of 51 districts, where the direct cash transfer scheme is to be implemented from January, explaining the benefits of the measure so that they can relay the same to the people.

The meeting is also aimed at blunting the Opposition criticism of the government measure.

Finance Minister P Chidamabaram also held a meeting of Deputy Commissioners of the districts where the scheme is to be implemented from January 1, besides other officials.

The government has termed the scheme as a "game-changer", with Chidamabaram and Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh personally launching the scheme from the Congress headquarters here.

The scheme envisages that payouts towards pensions, scholarships and subsidies worth thousands of crores of rupees will be directly transferred to bank accounts of beneficiaries in 15 states from January 1.