Thiruvananthapuram: The Council of Ministers of the Kerala Government has given its in-principle approval to introduce a uniform information system for the effective implementation of social welfare schemes and services. The initiative will help in rooting out those who are not eligible, besides making the selection transparent.
The proposed information system will unify the collection of information on beneficiaries from various sources, besides eradicating the differences in information gathered. This will help in the decision-making process and enable the public to benefit from multiple schemes.
The system will function as a common platform for identifying and selecting the beneficiaries of the government's various social welfare schemes.
As part of the initiative, an Aadhaar Vault will be created in the first phase at a cost of Rs 34.32 crore. The amount will be spent on procuring the necessary software and hardware for the vault.
The State currently has more than 400 social welfare schemes under various departments, and each department has separate procedures to select the beneficiaries and implement the schemes.
The Cabinet has given permission to the Rebuild Kerala Initiative to grant administrative sanction for the initiative.
How the database will be formed
The Unified Information Registry will collate and store information of beneficiaries with their families as the base unit.
The registry will function as the single source, linking various schemes, and to identify their beneficiaries. It will also have a provision to register those who are not included in any of the government-sponsored schemes.
Each beneficiary and family will be provided an identification number. The registry will store information based on the norms and directives of each department.