Aadhaar to weed out bogus social security beneficiaries

The state government has decided to link all social security schemes with Aadhaar to weed out bogus beneficiaries, Revenue Minister R Ashoka announced Friday.

Speaking to reporters, Ashoka said the government incurred Rs 7,200 crore annually towards various cash-based welfare schemes.

“There are duplicate and bogus beneficiaries, with middlemen playing mischief. So, all beneficiaries will be connected to Aadhaar. We can save Rs 600-700 crore by doing this. The savings can be given to genuine beneficiaries without delay,” Ashoka said.

Karnataka has ten social security schemes: Indira Gandhi National Old Age pension, widow pension, physically disabled pension, Sandhya Suraksha, Adarsh Vivaha scheme, Aam Aadmi Bima/Janashree, Manasvini, Maitri, support for anthya samskara (last rites) and National Social Assistance Programme.

Apparently, beneficiaries of only Centrally-sponsored social security schemes have been linked to Aadhaar.

“Now, it has been ordered that all beneficiaries should be seeded with Aadhaar and their money sent to them through RTGS. If we complete Aadhaar linkage in the next six months, we can save public funds,” Ashoka said.

According to the latest available data with the State Level Bankers’ Committee, Karnataka has 63.91 lakh social security pension beneficiaries of whom 46.29 lakh are seeded with Aadhaar. However, only 13.12 lakh beneficiaries have bank accounts and draw their pensions through the bank.

Aadhaar linkage will also help beneficiaries get their dues in time.

“Under the Anthya Samskara scheme, the kin of the deceased who are poor have to receive Rs 5,000 within 24 hours of the death. But a total of 84,394 cases are pending. The money they were supposed to get within a day hasn’t reached them in years. We have now released Rs 36 crore towards this, but going forward linking it with Aadhaar will ensure no such delays,” he said.