THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) has found that 32% of the placement claims in Kerala under the Union government’s youth employment programme, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Grameen Kaushalya Yojana (DDU-GKY), were false and fabricated.
The audit report, covering the period from 2014 to 2022, was tabled in the state assembly on Thursday. It said Kudumbashree, the agency responsible for implementing DDU-GKY, trained 61,459 candidates and placed 35,741 of them in jobs. However, a significant share of the placement claim was found to be fraudulent, it said.
Kudumbashree engaged 164 Project Implementing Agencies (PIAs) to execute 218 projects under DDU-GKY between September 2014 and March 2022. The scheme aimed to provide skills and employment to rural youth aged between 15 and 35 from poor families.
The report highlighted various instances of fraudulent practices, including forged bank statements, misappropriation of money, and presenting own staff as trainee candidates. The report observed that the PIAs manipulated the system leading to undue financial benefits for private entities.
As per the findings, projects worth Rs 28.23 crore were awarded to PIAs involved in fraudulent activities. Besides, projects worth Rs 23.99 crore were awarded to ineligible PIAs and those worth Rs 12.26 crore were sanctioned in excess of eligibility benefiting many private agencies.
Funds for implementing the scheme were released based on the action plan submitted by the Kudumbashree and targets set by the Union ministry of rural development. Kudumbashree received Rs 632.26 crore (central and state share) during the eight-year period out of which Rs 380.05 crore (60.11%) was utilised as of March 2022. Of the utilised amount, Rs 360.26 crore was released to PIAs for training and placement of candidates, the report said.