The state government has directed district magistrates across Bengal to take six-fold measures immediately to safeguard the Kanyashree portal, following a recent alert from the National Informatics Centre (NIC).
The NIC has flagged a potential security breach in the online fund distribution system.
Kanyashree, launched in 2013, is a flagship scheme of Mamata Banerjee’s government that gives scholarships to thousands of girl students to study till they reach the age of 18 at least. The scheme looks at preventing child marriage and promoting education for girls.
The scheme has two parts: Kanyashree-I and Kanyashree-II. Level I provides annual financial assistance of ₹1,000 to Class VII to XII students. Level II offers a one-time grant of ₹25,000 to girls who clear Class XII and continue with their higher education without marrying. The state also supports girls studying in colleges and universities under the scheme.
The state government ordered officials to take six-fold measures to secure the Kanyashree portal, including resetting passwords of potentially compromised accounts, updating operating systems, and removing unauthorised software.
The order, issued by the women and child development and social welfare department on Tuesday, is deemed significant amid the state government’s embarrassment over the recent incidents of funds misappropriation under the Taruner Swapna scheme.
An official stated that security threats to the Kanyashree portal must be taken seriously as a racket of hackers recently siphoned off around ₹19 crore of government funds by manipulating the bank accounts of around 1,900 students.
"As soon as the inputs from NIC were received, we asked all the directors of social welfare and district magistrates across Bengal to be vigilant," said a state government official.
The Kanyashree scheme has seen an investment of over ₹15,000 crore. The number of its beneficiaries is significantly higher than those of the Taruner Swapna scheme.
Many school headmasters involved in the process of enrolling students under Kanyashree said they wanted to be relieved of these responsibilities following increasing threats to government portals and scams involving funds.
"In all such schemes, teachers are involved in the process. After the tab-money scam, we are afraid and don't want responsibilities that are not a part of teaching," said Chandan Maiti, general secretary of the Advanced Society for Headmasters and Headmistresses.
It has not yet been confirmed if any incident of hacking, similar to the tab money scam, has already happened in the Kanyashree portal.
Police have arrested at least 25 individuals, mostly from Chopra in North Dinajpur and Malda for their alleged role in the tab cash scam. These individuals are reportedly part of a larger interstate racket.
On Thursday, East Burdwan police arrested a youth from Siliguri and Bongaon police arrested two more from North Dinajpur for their alleged role in the tab cash scam.
Chief minister Mamata Banerjee on Thursday blamed the "Jamtara gang" for the scam and accused political parties of sheltering them.
The Jamtara gang, a network of cybercriminals based in Jharkhand’s Jamtara, is known for impersonating bankers or government officials to access bank accounts.
They became infamous after a web series based on their activities was released in 2020.
