A decade and a half ago, a report of the comptroller and auditor general (CAG), claiming a huge ‘presumptive’ loss in the sale of telecom spectrum and coal blocks, ignited a nationwide movement against corruption and voted out the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government. Today, a series of damning reports since December 2025, exposing systemic fraud across India’s flagship welfare schemes, are met with deafening silence.

CAG reports in the past weeks have exposed fraud and mismanagement in goods and services tax (GST) collections, direct benefit transfers (DBT), skill development schemes, housing programmes and healthcare delivery—with amounts running into thousands of crores of rupees. Yet, the findings of a constitutional audit authority no longer stir the national conscience. What explains this contrast?

Digital mirage

The ruling government has repeatedly claimed that DBT and ‘Digital India’ were a game-changer that enabled the smooth transfer of `34 lakh crore directly to beneficiaries and ‘saved’ `2.7 lakh crore. Ministers routinely disparage former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi’s 1985 observation that only 15 paise of every rupee reached the intended beneficiaries in drought- affected areas, contrasting this with much better quality of delivery. But recent CAG audits suggest digital systems have not solved this problem; nor can they hide it any longer.

On 18 December 2025, CAG Sanjay Murthy warned that thousands of crores of rupees were flowing through DBT systems without mandatory checks. CAG reports have flagged pensions being paid to thousands of deceased beneficiaries in 2023 because databases are not being ‘de-duplicated’ and many government departments continue to work in silos even within the same ministry. This indicates structural failures, despite the availability of much-vaunted digital infrastructure.

CAG reports tabled at the end of 2025 and 2026—mostly for the period ending 2023—show that digital systems are often facilitating fraud rather than preventing it. The audits have flagged ghost payments, glitches, data fraud, payments to ineligible beneficiaries, unutilised funds and outright mismanagement........

© National Herald