New Delhi: In a report tabled by the Comptroller and Auditor General of India (CAG) on the implementation of Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), launched in 2015, large-scale irregularities were flagged, including major fraudulent activities and scams, suggesting severe administrative mismanagement and corruption.
The report, tabled in the Lok Sabha on December 18, contains findings on the scheme from the period of 2015 to 2022, where 95 lakh participants were registered, but 90 lakh of them have no proper bank account details.
It is to be noted that during the period, the Centre allocated a fund of Rs 11,880.50 crore for the programme, which had the aim to provide skill development training to the youth in the country, enabling them to find jobs.
As per the CAG report, the scheme was launched in three phases: Phase 1: 2015-16, Phase 2: 2016-20 and Phase 3: 2021-22.
The scheme allotted Rs 500 as a direct benefit transfer to the applicants, but as mentioned above, 90 lakh out of 95 lakh applicants lacked proper bank accounts. Same account numbers were used for multiple applicants, and fake email IDs such as abcd@gmail.com were used. There were account numbers like ‘1111111111’, or other such single-digit account numbers, or just names, addresses, or special characters, etc., added, claiming to be credentials of the applicants. Further, there were irregular email IDs and mobile numbers included in the files of many applicants.
Irregularities continue as the CAG report suggests that the same group photos were added for multiple batches, who claim to have taken skill development courses under the scheme. A particular agency, named Neelima Moving Pictures, used the same photo to claim to be conducting courses for two different batches from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh.
The report also showed that many training centres were closed during the physical inspection.
A training agency named Present Media Pvt. Ltd used the same testimonials, including gender reference and signatures for different candidates, though they pasted different photographs. There are instances of duplicate photos being used for different batches.
Further, there are instances of poorly conducted inspections of training centres. The report shows that an inspector ran 19 physical inspections on February 21, 2020, in 8 states: Andhra Pradesh, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Telangana. This reveals that the irregularities and fraud linked to the scheme are much deeper than one could fathom.
The report states that out of the mentioned number of applicants, 56.14 lakh candidates were certified under short-term training (STT) and special projects (SP) and only 23.18 lakh were placed following the scheme.
This does not stop here. A training agency named Edujoin Training Foundation certified over 25,000 fitness trainers across 10 states by claiming tie-ups with 33 gym centres. This is totally unrealistic when most gyms generally employ one or two trainers at a time. The report gives more data suggesting inflated and fabricated data regarding gym trainers. There were instances where thousands of fitness trainers were certified from a single district.