Lok Sabha Question No. 591 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2026-02-03
Subject: Old Age Pensions
Ministry: RURAL DEVELOPMENT
Asked by: Shri Neeraj Maurya

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## DEPARTMENT OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 591 ANSWERED ON 03/02/2026

## OLD AGE PENSIONS

## 591.  Shri NeerajMaurya:

Will the Minister of RURAL DEVELOPMENT be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government is aware of the case related to the embezzlement of an amount of approximately 1.23 crore in the form of widow/old age pensions by showing living persons as dead through fake death certificates in the Bareilly/Aonla area of Uttar Pradesh, if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the  number  of  cases  of  fake  beneficiaries  under  pension schemes have come to light in the country during the last five years and the amount that has been recovered from them;
- (c) the steps that have been taken to make the mutual integration of  death  registration,  Aadhaar  verification,  bank  account  and pension  portal  mandatory  in  order  to  prevent  such  type  of fraud; and
- (d) whether the Government considering implementing a standard operating procedure to prevent the recurrence of such incidents in the future, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RURAL DEVELOPMENT (SHRI KAMLESH PASWAN)

(a): As  per  information  received  from  the  Government  of  Uttar Pradesh, 51 cases have been identified under the State Government's Widow Pension Scheme wherein benefits were availed on the basis of forged death certificates. In these cases, an amount of ₹18.02 lakh was disbursed as pension and not Rs. 1.23 crore  as  reported.  The  Government  of  Uttar  Pradesh  has  stopped the  pension  in  these  cases  and  has  initiated  the  process  for recovery of the disbursed pension amount.

(b): As per NSAP guidelines, the responsibility for implementation of  the  National  Social  Assistance  Programme  (NSAP),  including identification  and  verification  of  beneficiaries,  disbursement  and stoppage  of  pensions,  and  annual  verification, rests with the respective  State  Governments/UT  Administrations.  Instances  of fake/duplicate beneficiaries under pension schemes are detected by States/UTs primarily through Aadhaar-based verification, deduplication exercises, and periodic field verification and if identified,  corrective  action  including  discontinuation  of  pension and recovery of excess payments as per the provisions, is undertaken by the concerned State/UT Governments.

Further,  the  Ministry  monitors/reviews  the  implementation  of NSAP  schemes  through  Performance  Review  Committee  (PRC) Officers. District Development  Coordination  and  Monitoring  Committees  (DISHA)  at meetings, quarterly review meetings, visits by Area Further, review/monitoring of the scheme  is  done  by the district level.

(c) & (d): In  order  to  prevent  fraud,  pilferage  of  resources  and ensure  transparency,  a  web-based  pension  payment  portal,  NSAPPPS (National Social Assistance Programme-Pension Payment System) has been operationalized as an end-to-end digital tool for Direct  Benefit  Transfer  (DBT)  mode  disbursal  of  pension  through PFMS. More than 90% pension disbursal under NSAP is through DBT mode. An Aadhaar-based registration system has been implemented wherein whenever a new registration is initiated, de-duplication is carried  out  in  the  database  through  demographic  authentication using the beneficiary's Aadhaar number. At present, approximately 91%  of  beneficiaries  have  their  Aadhaar  numbers  seeded  in  the NSAP-PPS  portal.  Additionally,  a  Digital  Life  Certification  (DLC) mobile application has been developed for Aadhaar-based biometric verification of beneficiaries.

Government is following and further strengthening procedures PPS  portal,  including  Aadhaar-based  checks,  DBT  through  PFMS, and verification by States/UTs. These measures, along with regular monitoring/review, are aimed at preventing the recurrence of such for  beneficiary  verification  and  periodic  re-validation  under  NSAPincidents.

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