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LATEST NEWS UPDATES | All government welfare schemes to undergo Supreme Court’s anti-corruption test by Dhananjay Mahapatra

All government welfare schemes to undergo Supreme Court’s anti-corruption test by Dhananjay Mahapatra

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published Published on Dec 3, 2011   modified Modified on Dec 3, 2011

-The Times of India

 

The Supreme Court on Friday ordered an investigation into whether the benefits of government's welfare programmes like NREGA were reaching the intended beneficiaries and to fix accountability for ensuring that they do, in what is going to be a gigantic exercise.

A bench of Justices G S Singhvi and S J Mukhopadhaya appointed senior advocate Indu Malhotra as amicus curiae and asked her to study the details of all welfare schemes run by the Union and state governments and identify the reasons, including corruption, inept implementation and lack of funds, for the benefits not reaching the intended beneficiaries.

It directed all government departments to provide details sought by Malhotra.

The senior advocate, who has been asked to present the court with a comprehensive report about deficiencies in the working of the schemes within three months, faces an enormous task, given the number and dimension of welfare schemes.

The court's suo motu initiative to examine spending of lakhs of crores of rupees on welfare measures designed mostly for the poor came in response to an innocuous petition and may trigger complaints of judicial overreach. The petitioner, a Tamil Nadu contractor, approached the court seeking reimbursement for transporting rice to several districts for distribution under the Sampurna Gramin Rozgar Yojna (SGRY).

SGRY was meant to provide additional wage employment, to ensure food security and to create durable community, social and economic infrastructure in rural areas. It also focused on providing wage employment to women, Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and parents of children withdrawn from hazardous occupations.

Though the bench dismissed the petition, it decided to look into the working of these schemes under which huge money has been spent in the last several decades. People allege that most of the money intended to be spent on welfare measures was siphoned off, a charge that has been by and large accepted by the political class.

The bench felt the need to undertake the huge task as, through the years, several government schemes were rendered useless due to corruption of middlemen and government officials who bent the system to ensure that intended benefits did not reach the beneficiaries.

The court said, "Out of Re 1, only one paisa reaches the poor. The money in these schemes should reach the poor men and not middlemen and government officials." It referred to middlemen as "piranha fish" and said, "We know about sharks but people forget there are piranha fishes which eat into the system."

To find out the malaise affecting each scheme on account of inefficiency, rampant corruption and gaps in delivery chain, the court directed the court registry to extend full support to Malhotra in this endeavour. It said, "All concerned departments will assist in providing the objective and results of the schemes."


The Times of India, 3 December, 2011, http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/All-government-welfare-schemes-to-undergo-Supreme-Courts-anti-corruption-test/articleshow/10965032.cms


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