06-05-2025
Soon, a unified data hub will weed out those ineligible for Delhi's welfare schemes. Here's how
The Delhi government is planning to create a first-of-its-kind 'Unified Data Hub (UDH)', which will consolidate data from various departments, to ensure only eligible people avail of the benefits of its welfare schemes.
Sources said these records could be used while rolling out the Mahila Samriddhi Yojana, which promises Rs 2,500 to eligible women beneficiaries. The scheme is yet to be launched, and the eligibility criteria is being decided.
Besides this, the government has already started the verification process of ration cards and of other welfare schemes like pension for widows.
Chief Minister Rekha Gupta, in her maiden Budget speech, had said the BJP government will launch a 'verification campaign' so that benefits of welfare measures only reach 'genuine Delhiites' and non-residents — especially Rohingya and Bangladeshis — will not be able to avail of it.
How will it work?
The core objective of UDH is to create 'golden records' of beneficiaries — single, verified, and unified data profiles of citizens — by resolving data duplication and inconsistencies across existing departmental systems, said officials.
'This 'golden record' will track attributes like profession and services availed, and support social registries for outreach, registration, and eligibility determination for social programmes,' added the official.
Explaining how the hub will function, officials said it will integrate all data. 'It will be a centralised data repository where data from all departments will be stored, collaborated, and updated in real time by a permissioned entity… It will generate a unique, accurate and de-duplicated record for every beneficiary using smart matching algorithms; enable precise identification of beneficiaries; and reduce instances of multiple claims and benefit leakage.'
According to officials, this data hub is being developed by the Information Technology department, which aims to build an integrated digital infrastructure to enhance citizen-centric governance. The government will soon float a tender to develop the ' Delhi Unified Citizen Data Platform'.
What are its features?
Officials said it will provide a dashboard and reports for evidence-based policy formulation. It will ensure compliance with applicable data protection regulations, maintaining high standards of data security and confidentiality, added officials.
A unique identification number will be created for each citizen, officials said, to maintain the master record and manage changes to citizen data received from departmental databases.
This unique identification number will be available to all departmental databases. It will also be augmented with a household identification number — a unique record of all households, with contributing citizen records of the household.
Officials said if a person's Aadhaar is linked to a ration card, that ration card number will be used as the family ID for everyone linked to it. If the Aadhaar isn't linked to any ration card, the person will be able to create a family ID by entering Aadhaar details manually. As part of the initiative, the government sought data from all departments, which will be verified and integrated into this hub.
Depts submit data
Officials said several departments, such as Food and Supplies (F&P), Principal Accounts Office, and Revenue Department, have shared their records with the IT Department.
On a preliminary analysis of these records, an official said, 5,621 government employees with ration-card numbers were found — they are ineligible to avail this benefit. Around 395 of these beneficiaries were listed as the head of family in ration card records.
Officials also said another 3,072 ration-card beneficiaries obtained income certificates (for income less than 1 lakh) from the Revenue department despite not being eligible.
Recently, the Women and Child Development Department identified about 25,000 ineligible women receiving financial assistance under the Delhi Pension Scheme for Women in Distress, said officials.
The government has shared the list of government employees with ration cards with the F&S department and officials concerned to initiate suitable action against them, including recovery of benefits taken, in coordination with the Department of Food Supplies and Consumer Affairs.
