PMKVY: Congress flags alleged fund misuse and data manipulation, seeks probe citing CAG report

New Delhi: The Congress on Monday demanded a thorough investigation into the distribution of funds through the Pradhan Mantri Kaushal Vikas Yojana (PMKVY), alleging corruption in enrolment and placement under the scheme.

Citing a CAG report, Congress leader Kannan Gopinathan alleged that there is "rampant corruption" in the PMKVY. "There should be a thorough investigation into this matter. Therefore, we want the government to set up an inquiry and bring out the truth," he told reporters.

"This is not just a betrayal of taxpayers in the country, but also of the youth," he said. The Congress leader claimed that the recent CAG report on the performance from 2015 to 2022 has exposed a scam in PMKVY.

Gopinathan said the National Skill Development Mission was repackaged and renamed PMKVY by the Modi government, which distributed Rs 10,000 crore for this scheme in seven years. He claimed that the CAG report has pointed out that 94.53 per cent of beneficiaries' bank accounts turned out to be fake, 96 per cent had fake mobile numbers and 97 per cent had fraud assessor details.

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He also said the information about 61 lakh trainers under the scheme was incomplete. Gopinathan claimed that the report has pointed out that the email and mobile numbers of those who completed training are the same for one crore people. He said when an audit was conducted in a company in Kerala, it was found that placements of people have not even happened.

The Congress leader claimed that the CAG audit examined PMKVY 2.0 and PMKVY 3.0, including Short-Term Training, Recognition of Prior Learning, and Special Projects, and revealed widespread data manipulation, financial mismanagement, weak oversight, and violations of basic eligibility norms.

An analysis of 60,68,523 candidates in roles requiring education beyond class 9 showed that education data of 6,77,807 candidates (11.17 per cent) was missing, he alleged.

The analysis also showed that 8,09,046 candidates (13.33 per cent) did not meet minimum educational requirements, Gopinathan claimed. Out of 1,23,533 candidates certified for roles requiring prior technical education, 1,05,493 (85.40 per cent) had only basic literacy or general education, he further alleged.