Karnataka weeds out 3.58 lakh bogus pensioners

The Karnataka government has identified 3.58 lakh ineligible and bogus beneficiaries of social security pensions and this has led to savings worth Rs 430 crore, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said Saturday.

“We’re using our Navodaya app to review pension beneficiaries whose data are linked to the ration database and the e-Janma (births and deaths) database, making it possible to identify ineligible pensioners, including those who are dead,” Ashoka said.

At present, Karnataka offers nine monthly pensions, which covers old age, disability, widows, unmarried/divorced women, transgenders, acid attack victims and endosulfan patients. There are 73.23 lakh beneficiaries. In 2020-21, the government spent Rs 7,800 crore on pension payments. This is expected to go up to Rs 9,483.51 crore this year, Ashoka said.

Ashoka said he has initiated a new paperless system in which pension applicants will be onboarded within 72 hours, which he claimed is India’s first.

“It’s called Hello Revenue Minister. Citizens need to call a 6-digit toll free number to place their request using Aadhaar. Within an hour, the request will be transferred to the village accountant, who will visit the applicant and verify on the Navodaya app. Then, it’ll go to the deputy tahsildar who will approve it and the pension order will be sent to the applicant. All this will happen within 72 hours,” Ashoka said.

Senior citizens, the disabled, destitute widows, unmarried or divorced women whose annual family income is below Rs 32,000 can call the toll free number.

Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai will release the 6-digit toll-free number soon, Ashoka said.

“With this system, there won’t be any middlemen or running pillar-to-post. Pension will come to your doorsteps,” Ashoka said.

Apparently, the Niti Aayog has asked the government to share details on the 72-hour pension system. “They want to know how we’re doing this,” Ashoka said.

Pensions via Swiggy, Dunzo?

This 72-hour pension facility may have to wait in Bengaluru. “There are no village accountants in Bengaluru. So, we’re exploring the possibility of tying up with Swiggy, Dunzo or our own Jana Sevaka scheme to deliver pensions in the city,” Ashoka said.

Make your own sketch

Unveiling the Svavalambhi web platform, Revenue Minister R Ashoka said citizens can now prepare sketches of their plots on their own. Citizens need to visit rdservices.karnataka.gov.in to apply. "It's the first time in India that this is being done. Usually, all control is vested with the bureaucracy," he said.

The Svavalambhi platform can be used for 11E, Tatkal Phodi, pre-conversion and partition sketches.

"Within 10 days of application, the citizen will be given the authorised map of the land he or she owns. The citizen can divide it as per their wish," Ashoka said. "If the land is divided into five parts, then we'll need five Aadhaar and mobile numbers of those to whom the plots will belong," he said.

"Then, within 10 days, we will approve it. There can't be any bogus here as everything is online. It's simple, safe and citizen-friendly," Ashoka said.

At present, survey requests take months and years to be fulfilled as the government is burdened with six lakh pending applications. "Every year, 10 lakh citizens, especially farmers, apply and we can do only 3-4 lakh," Ashoka said.

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