Behind the old age pension scam which has surfaced in several districts of Uttar Pradesh in recent weeks lies the story of empowerment of ordinary villagers through information technology. Over the last one year,the Department of Social Welfare listed the beneficiaries of the scheme on its website. At the ground level,the government set up e-kiosks,known as Lokvani,in all blocks under the national e-governance plan where any villager can get a complete list of beneficiaries in his village by paying a small fee. So,last month,when a young mechanic in Sitapur decided to check why his fathers old-age pension had suddenly stopped,he went to a local Lokvani centre,where he got a list of the beneficiaries from his village. Included in the list were some young people,others who were not really poor,and many who didnt even exist. On the other hand,the names of many poor and elderly villagers were missing. So the mechanic complained to District Magistrate Sanjay Kumar. This young man,along with some other villagers,approached us with a list which they had got from a Lokvani centre. They asked us to verify the list as they complained that most of the beneficiaries were underage, said Kumar. Since then,preliminary inquiries have led to the detection of as many as 92,000 beneficiaries who either do not exist or are undeserving. The racket has been found to be widespread,including districts like Gorakhpur,Kaushambi,Lakhimpur Kheri,Mirzapur and Mahoba. The state government has now ordered a physical verification of the lists in all villages. Officials of the social welfare department have been found to be involved in the scam,along with village pradhans and officials of the local cooperative banks though which the pensions were paid. Under the old age pension scheme,the government pays Rs 300 per month to those who are above 65 years of age and below poverty line. About Rs 700 crore is earmarked for the scheme annually. In all,there are 30 lakh beneficiaries across the state. In Banda too,social activist Raja Mishra got a list of beneficiaries in Chemni Ka Purwa village in Naraini block from the Lokvani centre after some people came complaining that wrong people were getting the benefit while the deserving had been left out. The list had 40 names,none of whom lived in the village. Muzaffarnagar District Magistrate Amrit Abhijat said people now come with lists of the beneficiaries,and demand a probe. People dont need to be e-savvy. They just need to get the list from any Lokvani centre,verify it and report if they find anything wrong, he said. The idea behind putting the information online was to create transparency and this is what is happening now, said Shailesh Krishna,secretary to the Chief Minister. We currently have the scholarships and old-age pension online. We are also planning to get others like the disabled persons pension scheme and rural housing scheme online, said principal secretary,IT,Chandra Prakash.
