Revanth plans AI-powered unified welfare card for every citizen

Hyderabad: In a major push towards integrated welfare delivery and AI-driven governance, chief minister A Revanth Reddy has directed officials to design a multi-purpose unified card that will carry details of every welfare benefit and govt service availed by an individual across departments.The proposed unified card will create a single digital profile for every citizen by integrating data from departments such as Aarogyasri, chief minister’s relief fund, fee reimbursement, labour and education. The chief minister also asked officials to explore the possibility of creating a state-level unique identity number on the lines of Aadhaar.During a review meeting with IT minister D Sridhar Babu and senior officials on Thursday, Revanth discussed a detailed roadmap for implementing the project, aimed at building a one-stop system to track welfare delivery and beneficiary profiles.The chief minister said data from the socio-economic, education, employment, political and caste survey should also be integrated with the unified card platform. Besides beneficiary details, profiling of contract and outsourcing employees in govt departments should also be included.He asked officials to make extensive use of artificial intelligence to eliminate duplication of benefits, reduce bureaucratic delays and minimise human interface in welfare delivery.The CM cited an example where the issuance of a death certificate should automatically update databases linked to Cheyutha pensions. He also directed officials to integrate comprehensive health records into the unified profiling system.Revanth instructed officials to launch a special drive to collect individual and family-level data across the state. “The data collection drive shall act as a precursor to the creation of the first-ever AI-based profiling system for dynamic tracking of 360-degree beneficiary data,” he said.The IT department was asked to issue the unified cards centrally instead of separate departments handling them individually. The chief minister also suggested studying Kerala’s migration management systems to streamline passport, visa, skilling and overseas employment tracking, while reducing the role of unauthorised agents.Overall, the unified card should be designed for ease in assessing the welfare delivery for the poor, the CM said.