Thiruvananthapuram: A large-scale data deduplication exercise under the state’s ambitious Unified Registry project has found that 56,541 people receive multiple welfare pensions. Data from 29 welfare boards showed that around 53,000 beneficiaries were drawing two pensions each, while three individuals were receiving as many as 18 pensions, according to an internal govt note accessed by TOI.The findings emerged as the Kerala State IT Mission (KSITM) integrated welfare databases under the first phase of the World Bank-supported project, which has already consolidated 3.45 crore public distribution system (PDS) records, around 50 lakh social security pension records and about 12 lakh welfare board pension records.The exercise also flagged significant data quality issues. Nearly 2 lakh of the 12.43 lakh welfare pension records carried no scheme name.
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The observations were shared with the finance department, which referred them to the Information Kerala Mission (IKM) for verification under the applicable scheme provisions.“This is essentially a data-cleansing exercise undertaken while building the Unified Registry. The system identifies possible duplicate benefit records across databases, but each case must be verified under the relevant scheme guidelines before any conclusion is reached. The exercise is ongoing,” a senior finance department official told TOI.The Unified Registry aims to create a single verified database of welfare beneficiaries to improve transparency, eliminate duplication and streamline welfare delivery across departments. In its next phase, it will create a unified profile for every citizen by linking data from different govt departments. Each verified beneficiary will be assigned a Social Protection ID, enabling departments to authenticate beneficiaries, detect duplicate payments, improve targeting and strengthen fraud analytics, while allowing citizens to access welfare services through a common portal.The registry was used after the 2024 Wayanad landslide to identify affected residents in Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Attamala and help survivors retrieve lost certificates. It also provided the base data for the state’s Sthree Suraksha scheme.Implemented by KSITM under the World Bank-funded Rebuild Kerala Initiative in association with the finance and planning departments, the project is expected to eventually integrate demographic and welfare data from around 25 departments, bringing pensions, scholarships, grants, subsidies and other direct benefit transfer schemes onto a common digital platform.
