New Delhi, May 6 -- In a move to tighten welfare delivery and plug benefit leakages, the Delhi government is building a comprehensive Central Beneficiary Intelligence Grid, a pioneering digital platform that will unify citizen data across departments to create a single, verified record for each resident receiving government aid.
Officials say the system will act as a real-time database, continuously updated and cross-verified, helping the government ensure that only "genuine residents" of Delhi receive welfare benefits. "Our aim is to create a de-duplicated, smart record of every citizen engaging with government services," said a senior official involved with the project. "This will eliminate ghost beneficiaries and make the process far more accountable."
The system is being seen as a backbone for future welfare rollouts, including the upcoming Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, which proposes to provide Rs 2,500 to women meeting specific eligibility norms. While the scheme is yet to be launched, data from the new platform will guide its implementation.
"We are integrating data from ration card databases, widow pension schemes, and health and education departments," another official added. "The idea is to track variables such as occupation, residence, and the services a citizen has accessed."
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta had announced a sweeping verification campaign in her Budget speech, declaring that welfare benefits will be reserved for Delhiites alone, thereby excluding illegal immigrants. "No outsider, including Rohingya or Bangladeshi nationals, will be allowed to misuse Delhi's welfare infrastructure," she said.
The digital platform will use smart matching algorithms to generate precise, unique profiles of each welfare beneficiary, enabling targeted delivery, duplication checks, and fraud prevention. With this initiative, Delhi aims to set a national benchmark for data-driven governance and efficient
welfare distribution.
Published by HT Digital Content Services with permission from Millennium Post.