Even the rich grab a morsel from the beggar’s bowl

“EARTH provides enough to satisfy every man’s needs, but not every man’s greed.”

How true the proverb is, taking into consideration the current happenings in Kerala!

A detailed inspection of the way the Kerala government's monthly Rs 1,600 social welfare pension is being distributed has revealed that at least 1,458 serving government officials, including Gazetted officers, are also receiving the amount.

According to estimates, a sum of Rs 23 lakh has been used to pay even the serving government officials.

These shocking details surfaced when the Finance Department asked for an inspection to look into this and on perusal, it has surfaced that serving government officials are among those who are currently getting the Rs 1,600 monthly social welfare pension which should ideally go to the needy, down-trodden and underprivileged.

Among those currently getting pensions are school and college teachers, employees working in health and other state government departments and a BMW car owner.

Recently, the state-owned Information Kerala Mission (IKM) published a report stating that at least 1,458 serving government officials, including Gazetted officers, have been regularly receiving the Rs 1,600 monthly assistance.

In 2022, the CAG report also shed light on this monthly government assistance scam. The CAG report pointed out that the list includes over 9,000 ineligible people who took away Rs 39 crores in the three years starting in 2017.

The state government is also under pressure to release the full list of the monthly government assistance beneficiaries.

Meanwhile, the state Finance Minister K. Balagopal condemned the well-off beneficiaries and warned of strict action.

In Kerala, there are around six million (60 lakh) people who get a monthly social welfare pension and at times it goes into arrears too since the state government exchequer is currently in dire straits.
B. Alwyn Prakash, former chairman of the State Finance Commission, said that the need of the hour is a foolproof audit of the entire social welfare pension.

Reliable sources revealed that the process of verification will continue to ensure that all the ineligible beneficiaries are identified and removed from the beneficiary list.

The Finance Department, over the years, has put in a process to filter the ineligible beneficiaries so that the amount is sent to the ones who fit into the criteria.

How well the proverbs go with the revelation! “He that is of the opinion money will do everything may well be suspected of doing everything for money.” 

“Man is the only animal whose desires increase as they are fed; the only animal that is never satisfied.”

Hope the government will weed out the evil as promised by the Finance Minister.