Nowadays, political parties in every state implement “compassionate” schemes in the name of public welfare. The Supreme Court has repeatedly stated that the practice of distributing “freebies” to the public should stop. However, the public currently prefers handout schemes over substantive work-oriented programs.
Capitalizing on this preference, political parties compete to announce increasingly generous charitable schemes during assembly elections.
1. MGNREGA Fraud: “Biwi-Jiramji” Case
For instance, the MGNREGA scheme in India was effectively rebranded as “Biwi-Jiramji” (a colloquial reference implying a scheme benefiting the wife), where one family member is gifted 100 days of employment.
In this instance, widespread fraud was observed; people registered the names of female family members solely to secure wages for 100 days of work without actually performing the labor.
The government is now considering an overhaul of the scheme and is investigating how many individuals fraudulently claimed these wages by merely registering names.
In our view, while the scheme undergoes restructuring and new enrollments take place under this rebranded format, specific nation-building projects should also be targeted for completion through this workforce.
*2. Chief Minister’s Mass Marriage Scheme Scam*
A similar case of fraud has recently come to light regarding another initiative: the Chief Minister’s Mass Marriage Scheme. Under this scheme, the government organizes mass weddings for the daughters of the poor, providing financial assistance of one lakh rupees to families from weaker sections.
Of this amount:
*Rs 60,000* is transferred directly to the bride’s bank account
*Rs 15,000* is spent on organizing the wedding ceremony
*Household goods worth Rs 25,000* are provided as a gift
Recently, 3,000 such marriages were announced in the Amroha district of Uttar Pradesh; however, an investigation revealed that approximately 2,200 of the brides were fraudulent. These individuals had posed as brides solely to claim the scheme’s financial benefits.
Some even went so far as to tie the knot again just to ensure the money reached their accounts. There were instances where women were unmarried at the time of application but had married by the time approval was granted; yet, they sought to secure the ex-gratia payment by going through the wedding ceremony all over again.