Daijiworld Media Network – Bengaluru

Bengaluru, May 26: The state government has taken a significant decision to revise the beneficiary lists for its ambitious guarantee schemes, Gruha Lakshmi and Gruha Jyothi.

The matter was discussed extensively during a special SIR meeting held recently, where the government decided to comprehensively verify the eligibility of current beneficiaries. The move aims to prevent unnecessary financial burden on the state exchequer and ensure that the benefits reach only the genuinely deserving poor.

Amidst allegations from the opposition that the Gruha Lakshmi scheme is being used as a political tool with funds released primarily during elections, the government has resolved to drop ineligible individuals who are wrongfully availing the benefits. The primary goal is to enforce transparency. Several instances have been reported where funds under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme were being transferred to the accounts of deceased individuals.

Currently, there are over 1 crore 24 lac beneficiaries under the Gruha Lakshmi scheme across the state. The government has taken note of several technical glitches and rule violations within such a massive database. Incidentally, while the government has reserved funds for these major guarantee schemes, reports indicate that no grants have been allocated for the Yuva Nidhi scheme this time.

The lack of strict verification has led to the misuse of public funds. It has come to light that income taxpayers are also reaping the benefits of the Gruha Lakshmi and Gruha Jyothi schemes. As the core objective of these initiatives is to provide financial assistance exclusively to the economically backward sections, the government is considering strictly excluding taxpayers from this bracket. Additionally, anomalies such as two individuals from the same household receiving Gruha Lakshmi funds have been detected, prompting the government to review the situation and initiate appropriate action.

To identify these irregularities and weed out ineligible beneficiaries from the database, a comprehensive review is being planned under the leadership of chief minister Siddaramaiah and deputy chief minister D K Shivakumar.