Use of Technology in Plugging Corruption

Swakkhyar Deka

(The writer can be reached at swakkhyar@gmail.com)

Corruption is deeply embedded in the Indian society. In most of the times, we accept corruption as a part and parcel of life and believe nothing can be done to eradicate it. A government alone cannot rid the society of corrupt practices unless the citizens are not determined to do away with corruption.

Since 2014, the when Prime Minister Narendra Modi-led Central Government first came to power, it has endeavoured to remove corruption in every form and technology has been used extensively in this effort as one of the most potent tools. But, technological interventions work when the interventions are simple, transparent and include a public feedback mechanism. Utilizing advancements in technology, the Government is following a multi-pronged strategy to tackle the problem in an effective manner.

Mechanisms such as 1. Direct bank transfer to beneficiaries, 2. Making government procurements transparent, 3. Digitization of service deliveries, 4. Promoting cashless transactions, 5. People’s participation (Jan Bhagidari), 6. Open government data - have been the pillars of Government’s campaign to root out corruption.

Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) was a significant step towards plugging leakages. Amount transferred via DBT is increasing as leakages are being effectively plugged. The government has laid equal emphasis on citizens getting Aadhaar. The Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile (JAM) trinity is bringing complete accountability in monetary transactions and eliminating ghost beneficiaries.

Additionally, Government e-Marketplace (GeM) was launched to make government procurements simple and transparent, eliminating any scope of corruption. Faceless e-assessment for income tax payers introduced from 2018 was another important step. Tax officers now communicate with the taxpayers through the ‘E-Proceeding’ facility which reduces human interface.

A successful case in point of DBT’s role in plugging leakages can be the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). Before the implementation of DBT, MGNREGS wages were transferred to the panchayat bank accounts and a significant number of workers had to collect wages in cash from the gao panchayat offices.

Though attempts were made to implement a system of DBT in the scheme, structural constraints limited these attempts. As per a World Bank report, close to fifty per cent of the country’s population did not have bank accounts until 2015. The proportion of unbanked population was significantly higher for rural people who are the target group for MGNREGS. In rural India, banking penetration was extremely low.

According to the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), total banking outlets in villages as of March, 2014 was 1,15,350. This has increased by around five times since then with total banking outlets in villages at 5,69,547 as of March, 2018. Also, verifying the identity of genuine beneficiaries and transferring wages directly into their bank accounts posed problems.

Various government initiatives have facilitated overcoming these structural constraints. By December 2015, the total number of Aadhaar enrolment in the country exceeded 100 crore, thereby covering a major portion of the adult population. Linking the Aadhaar Number to an active bank account was the key to implementing income transfers.

In 2015, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) was launched to ensure universal access to banking facilities with at least one basic banking account for every household. The bank accounts of people, including those opened under PMJDY, were linked to their unique Aadhaar numbers, which facilitated cross verification of identities. So, the JAM trinity enabled the roll-out of DBT by streamlining the validation/verification of beneficiaries as well as the process for release of funds. This ensured timely transfer of funds to the right beneficiary and enabled effective targeting under welfare schemes.

In order to streamline the system of fund flow and to ensure timely payment of wages, eFMS was implemented in the year 2016. Under the system, the Central Government directly credits the wages of the MGNREGS workers, on a real time basis, to a specific bank account opened by the State Governments. All the programme officers debit this state-level single account for authorization of wage payment.

Currently, NeFMS is implemented in 24 States and Union Territory wherein payment of wages is being credited directly to the bank/post office accounts of MGNREGS workers by the Central Government. This initiated the implementation of DBT in the Scheme. As a result of this initiative, the e-payment under MGNREGS has increased from 77.34 per cent in FY 2014-15 to 99 per cent in FY 2018-19.

Another shining example of how technology can help in distribution of benefits to the right beneficiaries is PMAY-Gramin. It was introduced on April 1, 2016 as the revamped version of erstwhile Indira Awas Yojna (IAY), by the Prime Minister Modi-led Central Government with an aim to provide “housing for all’’ by 2022. Its immediate objective was to cover 1 crore families living in kutcha/dilapidated houses by 2018-19.

“With the use of technology and platforms such as the DBT (direct benefit transfer), the average number of days for completion of a house has reduced from 314 days in 2015-16 to 114 days in 2017-18”, Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had said while tabling the Union Budget for 2019-20.

A report by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) in 2014 had pointed out lack of transparency in selection of beneficiaries in IAY and it said the scheme lacked an effective monitoring process. The poor quality of houses constructed under the scheme was also emphasised by the report.

In view of this, corrective measures were taken by the Central Government while launching the PMAY-G and results are there for all to see. According to ministry data, a total of 1.54 crore rural homes were completed in the past five years and in the second phase – from 2019-20 to 2021-22 – another 1.95 crore houses are targeted to be built.

Of the 1.54 crore houses, around 72 lakh were those sanctioned under the IAY but built/completed under the present Central Government before PMAY-G took off in 2016. The data also shows that since the scheme was reformed in 2016, the number of houses constructed has also increased by nearly a double.

On a yearly basis, around 32 lakh houses were constructed in 2016-17, 44 lakh in 2017-18 and around 46 lakh in 2018-19. Overall, 92.6 lakh houses were built between 2017-19 under PMAY-G.

According to the revised process, the beneficiary list is made public in gram sabhas after which objections and claims are entertained through an appellate process. Also, for every beneficiary, a picture of his existing kutcha house has to be uploaded and geo-tagged by an official, who will then be responsible for any incorrect selection or misrepresentation.

The online platform – AwaasSoft – is used to monitor the scheme on a ‘real-time basis’ and photos of construction in each stage and its progress have to be uploaded before the next instalment is released. Funds reach the beneficiaries’ accounts via DBT.

Apart from these, close to 8 lakh bank accounts were opened in tea garden areas alone in Assam, where a substantial number of people were outside the ambit of formal banking, in the aftermath of demonetization drive launched by Prime Minister Modi in November 2016. Assam government had deposited two instalments of Rs 5,000 and Rs 2,500 directly in each of those bank accounts of tea garden workers under special incentive scheme announced in the State Budget for the year 2017-18.

Therefore, increased use of technology while rolling out government schemes has empowered people while significantly reducing corruption and improving public service delivery to benefit the poor.

The fight against corruption is a long and arduous one. Various online platforms have been introduced by the government, wherein the citizens can join forces by sharing their feedback and views. Social media have also empowered the masses to report cases of corruption and keep bribe seeking babus on their toes.

Minimizing human interaction and adopting technological solutions are the keys for achieving corruption free government machinery.