Exclusion errors, not leakages, are now the main challenge for DBT-based social pensions. Discuss with examples.

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) pays social pensions under the National Social Assistance Programme (NSAP) straight into bank accounts, which removes middlemen. With the payment channel largely fixed, the main weakness now lies earlier in the process: who gets onto the beneficiary list in the first place.

Leakages: smaller, but not gone

• DBT at scale: Bihar recently paid ₹1,237.48 crore directly into accounts for one month's pension of ₹1,100 [1].
• Remaining wrong inclusions: CAG found about ₹79 crore paid to ineligible people in 2017–21. This included about ₹2 crore paid after beneficiaries had died, and ₹30.47 crore paid as old-age pension to 57,394 people below 60 [2].
• This is a tiny share of the ₹34,432 crore the Centre allocated in the same period [2]. It came from unverified lists, not from middlemen.
• Fund diversion continues: ₹57.45 crore was moved to other purposes in six States/UTs [2].

Why exclusion is now the bigger problem

• Outdated identification: CAG noted that eligible people were likely left out because BPL lists were not maintained and periodic surveys were not conducted [2].
• Narrow central design: NSAP covers only BPL households, and the central share is still ₹200–₹500 a month [3]. States covered about 1.82 crore beneficiaries on their own [2].
• Last-mile gaps: pensions were not paid monthly, and some States still paid in cash [2]. DBT itself is incomplete.
• Official acknowledgement: Bihar's CM directed District Magistrates to ensure no eligible beneficiary is left out [1].
• Weak grievance redress: CAG found monitoring, social audit and grievance mechanisms ineffective [2], so excluded people have little recourse.

        Unverified beneficiary list
          ├── not updated  → ineligible/dead stay on  (inclusion error)
          └── not expanded → eligible poor left out   (exclusion error)

Both errors come from a weak database, not from the payment channel.

Leakage has shrunk to a few wrong names on the list. Exclusion of eligible people is still largely invisible and unmeasured. The way forward is annual re-verification of age, life status and bank details, door-to-door saturation surveys, working social audits, and a revised central share. Only then will DBT fully deliver Article 41's promise of public assistance in old age and disablement.