The UDF government, in an order issued on July 27, has done away with the doorstep or 'direct to home' delivery of social security pensions and henceforth the money will be credited directly to the Aadhaar-linked accounts of beneficiaries. The only exception would be "completely bedridden patients".

In the existing system, nearly 45 per cent of the nearly 60 lakh beneficiaries get their monthly ₹2,000 social security pension at their doorstep, delivered by the agents of Primary Agricultural Credit Societies (PACS).

The government in its July 27 order listed four main reasons for ending the door-delivery mechanism. One, failure of cooperative societies to return the amount that is left after the direct payment of pensions; it has been stipulated that the remaining amount should be entered into the Sevana Pension portal within a specific time. Two, ineligible recipients and multiple pensions for a single individual. Three, the burden of incentives paid to cooperative societies to take pensions to the doorsteps of beneficiaries. Four, loss of central funds on account of violating the Centre's guidelines on direct benefit transfer.

Rule 87 of the General Financial Rules, 2017, stipulates that transfer of benefits should be done directly to beneficiaries, and it does not consider 'direct to home' delivery as a direct transfer as it involves intermediaries like PACS agents.

In 2023, the Comptroller and Auditor General had stated that the direct to home (DTH) payments made through PACS in Kerala were susceptible to fraud.

In respect of DTH disbursements, only the signature or thumb impression of the beneficiaries is obtained as acknowledgement by the PACS agent who hands over the money. "The absence of an automated beneficiary-wise acknowledgement had resulted in the possibility of fraud," the CAG report had noted.

In fact, the CAG did detect fraud. In Varkala Municipality, for instance, in three cases, the pension was shown as paid after the death of the beneficiaries. "This has resulted in irregular payment of pensions amounting to ₹1 lakh," the report said.

It was found that different types of signatures and thumb impressions were recorded against the acknowledgement column of the same beneficiary. It was also noticed that most of the amount was remitted by the same person.

Varkala Municipality itself conducted an audit and found that 38 beneficiaries were paid pensions after their death.