Transparency and Accountability in Government Welfare Schemes: A Critical Analysis of Legal Mechanisms for Fraud Prevention in India

Amritah Surelia; Devinder Singh Anand

Transparency and Accountability in Government Welfare Schemes: A Critical Analysis of Legal Mechanisms for Fraud Prevention in India

Author(s)	Ms. Amritah Surelia, Prof. Dr. Devinder Singh Anand
Country	India
Abstract	Government welfare schemes can realise constitutional commitments to dignity and substantive equality only when public resources reach eligible persons through lawful, contestable procedures. This study critically analyses the extent to which the legal framework in India prevents the impersonation of beneficiaries, diversion, falsification and official illegality, and prevents false exclusion of beneficiaries. A doctrinal and analytical method incorporates constitutional promises, laws on transparency and anti-corruption, the National Food Security Act, the regulation of Aadhaar and the restructured rural employment framework from 2026. Selected governmental payment statistics are read together with the social audit disclosures and the audit findings and judicial decisions. Evidence shows that the systems of electronic payments make transfers more traceable, but traceability does not ensure accurate eligibility, coercion or doing the right corrective action. The discrepancies can be identified through social audits but publication and enforcement are far from uniform, while irregularities can be revealed through cross-database checks and this may spark inappropriate suspicions or denials without further tests. Beneficiaries must be treated fairly, be allowed access and be afforded privacy, consistent with legitimate anti-fraud goals, in a constitutional jurisprudence. Such fragmentation of detection and adjudication remedy and institutional responsibility is the most important problem in India not the lack of discrete controls, the study finds. For a system to be rights compatible, it must thus include proportionate verification, transparent disclosure of overall results, independent community oversight, speedy resolution of complaints and open recovery mechanisms. Fraud prevention is credibly enforceable if it enhances the integrity and quality of public spending and the entitlements it funds.
Keywords	Welfare Accountability, Social Audit, Direct Benefit Transfer, Fraud Prevention, Constitutional Rights
Field	Sociology > Administration / Law / Management
Published In	Volume 8, Issue 6, November-December 2026
Published On	2026-11-15

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Transparency and Accountability in Government Welfare Schemes: A Critical Analysis of Legal Mechanisms for Fraud Prevention in India

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