Overview
- Chief Minister D.K. Shivakumar on Friday directed officials to identify ineligible beneficiaries and plug loopholes while insisting that no eligible person should lose benefits.
- An Auditor General report flagged systemic irregularities, including about ₹60 crore disbursed through nearly three lakh instalments into accounts linked to multiple beneficiaries and cases of individuals holding multiple registrations.
- Officials have been told to introduce immediate checks such as automated voice-message alerts after payments, faster updating of death records, and tighter scrutiny of e-KYC, NPCI and UPI/payment-bank links following detected misuse of some payment-bank accounts.
- The government ordered that benefit payments be confined to bank accounts located in Karnataka, asked staff to accommodate legitimate account changes made because of loan adjustments, and encouraged well-off recipients to voluntarily surrender benefits as new verification systems are developed over the next two to three months.
- The five guarantees cover millions and large state spending — figures cited include over ₹1.21 lakh crore disbursed to date and annual outlays in the tens of thousands of crores — so tighter checks aim to curb leakage but will be watched for any accidental exclusion during the Special Intensive Revision of the electoral rolls.