---
title: "Yet Another Aadhaar Enabled Scam When Will The Government Wake Up"
description: "### **Aadhaar-based Scholarships Scam in Jharkhand Shows How Aadhaar Leaks Public Funds, Deprives Citizens**In a recent investigation of scholarship schemes in Jharkhand,*** Many ways to dupe a poor s..."
pubDate: 2020-11-25
author: Rethink Aadhaar
category: Uncategorized
originalUrl: https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/yet-another-aadhaar-enabled-scam-when-will-the-government-wake-up
---

### **Aadhaar-based Scholarships Scam in Jharkhand Shows How Aadhaar Leaks Public Funds, Deprives Citizens**In a recent investigation of scholarship schemes in Jharkhand,*** Many ways to dupe a poor student***, [the Indian Express](https://indianexpress.com/article/express-exclusive/scholarship-scam-ranchi-poor-school-student-duped-6913019/) brought to light how social security benefits being transferred via the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer (“**DBT**”) system are being siphoned off by a nexus of business correspondents, agents, banking staff and school staff, with beneficiaries completely left in the dark. 
The leaks and malpractice along the chain in the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer of scholarships exposed by The Indian Express are not isolated instances but are an inevitable part of the design of the Aadhaar-based DBT system, as several features of this system enable these types of scams or “[diverted payments](https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-bridge-to-nowhere/article26646131.ece)”.
Three successive governments in India have pushed for mandatory Aadhaar enrolment and linking to bank accounts, even in the absence of an adequate legal framework and a corresponding electronic and bank infrastructure, claiming it would make welfare delivery better targeted, efficient, and free of middlemen. Yet, there is silence when corruption and theft of public funds enabled by the Aadhaar-DBT system are brought to light with increasing frequency. Such scams have been seen multiple times, including the “[LPG scam](https://thewire.in/banking/airtel-aadhaar-uidai)” which was widely reported in 2017. People’s LPG subsidies were diverted, via the Aadhaar-linked DBT process, to unrelated Airtel payment banks that they had no access to. Despite being [written about](https://www.thehindu.com/opinion/lead/a-bridge-to-nowhere/article26646131.ece) extensively, no action has been taken to fix the systemic issues that enable these scams.