New Delhi, December 20, 2025 – In a damning indictment of India's welfare machinery, recent reports from the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) have exposed a web of systemic data manipulation and fraud across multiple government schemes, siphoning public funds and undermining the promise of social justice. Tabled in Parliament this week, the audits reveal eerie parallels to the voter list irregularities flagged by Congress leader Rahul Gandhi during the Haryana Assembly elections, painting a picture of fabricated identities and ghost beneficiaries plaguing everything from skill training to healthcare.
The CAG's findings, spanning schemes like the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), Ayushman Bharat-Pradhan Mantri Jan Arogya Yojana (PMJAY), Saubhagya, Deen Dayal Upadhyaya Gram Jyoti Yojana (DDUGJY), and Pradhan Mantri Awas Yojana (PMAY), highlight a recurring pattern of duplication, fabrication, and lax verification. "This isn't isolated malpractice—it's a systemic scam embedded in the data pipelines of our flagship programs," said a senior auditor speaking anonymously to reporters. The revelations come amid growing scrutiny of digital governance under the Modi administration, with opposition parties demanding a white paper on fund misuse.
#### Skill Schemes Hit Hardest: PMKVY's House of Cards
At the epicenter is PMKVY, the government's flagship skill development initiative aimed at empowering 1.31 crore youth with training and stipends. With a staggering Rs 14,450 crore budget, the scheme has issued certificates to 1.1 crore individuals, but the CAG audit paints a grim reality of "ghost trainees."
Auditors uncovered identical photographs attached to multiple beneficiary profiles—mirroring the infamous case of a single image from a Brazilian model appearing 223 times in Haryana's voter rolls. Bank details were equally suspect: fabricated account numbers like "11111111111" or "1234567" were linked to thousands, while 94.53% of beneficiaries under PMKVY 2.0 and 3.0 lacked valid accounts (marked as "zero" or "N/A"). In one glaring instance, 12,122 account numbers were recorded against 52,381 trainees.
Worse still, 34 lakh beneficiaries remain unpaid, with no proof of disbursements or job placements provided by the Ministry of Skill Development. Emails to 36.51% of trainees bounced back—due to fake IDs, duplicates, or even training partners using their own addresses. Funds were released to defunct training centers, and average payouts hovered around Rs 8,000 per trainee (ranging from Rs 2,200 to Rs 12,000), raising fears of diversion on an industrial scale.
#### Healthcare and Housing: Payments to the Dead and the Phantom
The rot extends to health and housing. In Ayushman Bharat-PMJAY, which promises Rs 5 lakh annual coverage to over 50 crore vulnerable citizens, the CAG flagged "large sums" disbursed in the names of deceased patients—a breach that echoes unverified claims in private hospitals already under fire for overbilling.
Similar anomalies plague electrification drives like Saubhagya and DDUGJY, where beneficiary lists brim with impossible dates of birth, misspelled names, and mobile numbers like "9999999999" (affecting 7,49,820 entries). PMAY, the affordable housing mission, shows duplications in applicant data, with fake addresses such as "house number 00" repeated across thousands of files.
Across these programs, the CAG notes a failure to deploy basic de-duplication tools—technology the Election Commission uses routinely but which ministries have inexplicably ignored. "The same distortions in voter data are replicated here, suggesting a common underbelly of data silos and weak oversight," Gandhi reiterated in a recent statement, linking the schemes to electoral manipulations.
#### Implications: A Call for Overhaul
The audits stop short of quantifying total losses but imply billions in misallocated funds, eroding trust in Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) systems touted as fraud-proof. The Skill Development Ministry has defended the schemes, claiming "ongoing rectifications," but provided no evidence of recoveries or prosecutions. Opposition leaders, including those from Congress and the INDIA bloc, have slammed the government for "weaponizing data against the poor," urging the Prime Minister's Office to intervene.
As India races toward its 2047 centenary goals, these revelations underscore a paradox: digital India on paper, but analog fraud in practice. Experts call for mandatory Aadhaar-linked audits, AI-driven verification, and independent probes. Until then, the CAG's ledger serves as a stark reminder—one scam, indeed, but schemes for many.
This report draws on CAG documents tabled in Parliament and analysis by independent auditors.
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