Bengaluru: The Karnataka government will undertake re-verification of beneficiaries registered under the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme through biometric and facial authentication to identify eligible beneficiaries, officials said on Saturday.

An order to this effect was issued on August 28 after a detailed examination of the proposal submitted to the government seeking Cabinet approval, they said.

The door-to-door re-verification of beneficiaries under the scheme will commence from August 30, with the exercise to be completed within a month, officials said.

"In view of the matters explained in the proposal, administrative approval is hereby accorded for re-verification of beneficiaries registered under the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme through biometric/facial authentication to identify eligible beneficiaries," the government order said.

According to the order, the re-verification will be undertaken to remove currently ineligible beneficiaries from the scheme.

The process will be implemented through a web application/mobile application developed by the Directorate of Electronic Delivery of Citizens Services (EDCS), it said.

"Verification shall be carried out through door-to-door surveys as well as at Grama One, Karnataka One, Bengaluru One and CSC (Bapuji Seva Kendras)," the order said.

The verification process under the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme that would be undertaken within a grant limit of Rs 20 crore will be carried out in accordance with the Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) approved by Chief Minister D K Shivakumar, the order said.

The Department of Women and Child Development has been tasked with overseeing the re-verification process, for which a detailed SOP has been issued while the e-Governance Department will provide the necessary technical and operational support.

According to the SOP, beneficiaries will be visited at their homes and provided printed enumeration forms, which they will have to fill and return. If a beneficiary is not present, another family member can fill out the form.

The government has made household visits, distribution and collection of enumeration forms mandatory, stating that visits cannot be avoided even if the required information is available through other sources or verification methods.

Enumerators will use a designated mobile application containing village-wise and urban-area-wise lists of Gruha Lakshmi beneficiaries. Photographic evidence will be captured against the beneficiary's name during the visit, while the application will automatically record the GPS coordinates of the beneficiary's residence, it said.

The SOP states that beneficiaries who are not available during the household visit and cannot complete facial authentication will be informed through multiple communication channels and asked to complete biometric authentication at their assigned Fair Price Shop or the nearest Karnataka One, Grama One or Bengaluru One centre.

The government has also decided to use biometric authentication data already collected at Fair Price Shops.

For implementing the exercise, Deputy Commissioners and Chief Executive Officers of Zilla Panchayats have been directed to mobilise existing Guarantee Committee members and identify the required number of enumerators, the SOP said.

According to officials, the Gruha Lakshmi Scheme was implemented by the Congress government in the state as part of its five guarantee schemes with an objective of enhancing the economic empowerment of women in the state.

Under the scheme, Rs 2,000 is provided every month to the woman head of the household, in accordance with the Government Order dated June 6, 2023, and the scheme guidelines dated July 17, 2023.

The proposal submitted to the government seeking re-verification of eligible beneficiaries pointed out that since the scheme commenced in August 2023, financial assistance totalling 32 instalments has been successfully paid to 1.24 crore beneficiaries.

An expenditure of Rs 76,951.13 crore has been incurred so far, it said.

Meanwhile, over the past three years, several cases have been reported involving beneficiaries who have died, migrated, beneficiaries or their husbands who have started filing income-tax returns and GST returns, and other such cases.

Therefore, there was a need for an overall re-verification of all beneficiaries registered under the scheme so far, they said.