Thousands of crores flowing into DBT accounts without checks: CAG

Nagpur: Comptroller and Auditor General of India Sanjay Murthy on Wednesday flagged serious gaps in the direct benefit transfer (DBT) system, stating that thousands of crores of rupees were flowing into beneficiary accounts without mandatory checks due to weak data integration and siloed functioning within departments.

“There are significant gaps in the level of checks to prevent duplication, and cross-verification of data. Govt departments are working in silos to such an extent that different joint secretaries in a single department do not refer to the same database,” Murthy said while addressing the inaugural batch of IRS officers, who will begin training at the National Academy of Direct Taxes, Nagpur. “We talk about Jan Dhan-, Aadhaar- and mobile phone-linked database connectivity. Still, if looking at the maturity level at which the databases are deployed, especially from reports we generate, there is a huge gap,” he said.
India is a vast nation, can’t have same yardstick everywhere: CAG

We say these are all Aadhaar-based beneficiaries, but the amount of de-duplication or cross-database verification mandated by the DBT mission is missing. Still, there are thousands of crores going into the system without basic checks in financial inclusion schemes,” the CAG said.

Talking to TOI about the need to plug the huge DBT gaps, Sanjay Murthy said, “India is a vast country and we cannot have the same yardstick everywhere. Southern states have a head start in the application of technology, leading to availability of more mature data for audit.” It would be worthwhile to examine whether basic checks and balances are followed while implementing a govt scheme, he said, adding though the negligence may not be deliberate there should be a level of accuracy in implementation.

Talking to IRS probationers, Murthy said his department’s officers would share their experiences with taxmen for further scrutiny. Databases from agencies like ministry of road transport and highways, Goods and Services Tax or a state’s integrated financial management system can be a mine of information.

On social sector audit, the CAG said technology has cut audit time drastically, allowing completion in 45 days. Now the department seven schemes can be audited at a time. The CAG, as an outsider, can access the database of different schemes and correlate, he said.