Using computers, UP govt finds 45 lakh fake beneficiaries of scholarships

Using computers, UP govt finds 45 lakh fake beneficiaries of scholarships

Tarannum Manjul

Posted online: Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 0351 hrs IST

Lucknow, March 26
Computerisation has turned out a blessing to the state government departments that hand out scholarships. The state now finds that it has been paying around 45 lakh beneficiaries, who were either not receiving the money or were not eligible. The excess payment over the last year has turned out to be Rs 8.35 crore.

The Social Welfare Department, Department of Minorities' Welfare and the Department of Backward Classes Welfare will be out with the final tally, expected to be much higher, by June, when the next round of scholarships are released.

The state government pays around Rs 700 crore annually as scholarships under various categories - one of which stands at Rs 5. But the free books and uniforms given at government schools are not covered under scholarships.

A first of its kind initiative in the country, the computerisation was done by the state's department of Information Technology on August 30, 2007. Titled the 'Scholarship Management System', the database included all information, including the name and account number of the bank through which the child received the money. The banks were asked to submit details regularly about when the money was deposited and when it was withdrawn. Better still, the database also enables the recipient to track the money at the bank.

The fraud was detected when the three government departments were checking the progress of the system. It was found that the actual number of beneficiaries before the computerisation was much higher.

CB Singh, nodal officer and the finance controller of the Social Welfare Department, said that figure now is estimated to be 1.40 crore. Earlier, it was around 1.80 crore. "We have a number of scholarships between classes I to the technical education scholarships too, amounting between Rs 25 and Rs 800. We realised in many cases, children had dropped out of schools but the scholarships were continuing." In other cases, money was not withdrawn for over six months and on verification it was found that the child had dropped out of school. "We are expecting to get the actual figures of the excess money paid in April," he added. The Department of Minorities Welfare too, found that there was a difference in figures.

“So far, we have calculated a difference of around Rs 3 lakh and the figures are increasing each day,” said the deputy director and nodal officer for the department, R Yadav. He added that all the district level officers have been asked to verify the numbers.

At the moment, the state is shelling out Rs 68,757,31,030 for 3,20,25,081 students under various categories.

A senior state government official said: “We are now calculating the difference. So far, we have found the difference to be around Rs 8.35 crore and the figure is increasing. We have asked all these departments to check the numbers before releasing the next instalments.”

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Using computers, UP govt finds 45 lakh fake beneficiaries of scholarships Tarannum Manjul Posted online: Thursday, March 27, 2008 at 0351 hrs IST Lucknow, March 26 Computerisation has turned out a blessing to the state government departments that hand out scholarships. The state now finds that it has been paying around 45 lakh beneficiaries, who were either not receiving the money or were not eligible. The excess payment over the last year has turned out to be Rs 8.35 crore. The Social Welfare Department, Department of Minorities' Welfare and the Department of Backward Classes Welfare will be out with the final tally, expected to be much higher, by June, when the next round of scholarships are released. The state government pays around Rs 700 crore annually as scholarships under various categories - one of which stands at Rs 5. But the free books and uniforms given at government schools are not covered under scholarships. A first of its kind initiative in the country, the computerisation was done by the state's department of Information Technology on August 30, 2007. Titled the 'Scholarship Management System', the database included all information, including the name and account number of the bank through which the child received the money. The banks were asked to submit details regularly about when the money was deposited and when it was withdrawn. Better still, the database also enables the recipient to track the money at the bank. The fraud was detected when the three government departments were checking the progress of the system. It was found that the actual number of beneficiaries before the computerisation was much higher. CB Singh, nodal officer and the finance controller of the Social Welfare Department, said that figure now is estimated to be 1.40 crore. Earlier, it was around 1.80 crore. "We have a number of scholarships between classes I to the technical education scholarships too, amounting between Rs 25 and Rs 800. We realised in many cases, children had dropped out of schools but the scholarships were continuing." In other cases, money was not withdrawn for over six months and on verification it was found that the child had dropped out of school. "We are expecting to get the actual figures of the excess money paid in April," he added. The Department of Minorities Welfare too, found that there was a difference in figures. “So far, we have calculated a difference of around Rs 3 lakh and the figures are increasing each day,” said the deputy director and nodal officer for the department, R Yadav. He added that all the district level officers have been asked to verify the numbers. At the moment, the state is shelling out Rs 68,757,31,030 for 3,20,25,081 students under various categories. A senior state government official said: “We are now calculating the difference. So far, we have found the difference to be around Rs 8.35 crore and the figure is increasing. We have asked all these departments to check the numbers before releasing the next instalments.”