PM reviews Aadhaar, may use it to improve delivery of schemes

Prime Minister Narendra Modi today reviewed progress of Aadhaar project and is believed to have discussed the possibility of using the platform to resume Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfers of subsidised schemes.

It will also help monitor attendance of government officials. The discussions, which were attended by Home Minister Rajnath Singh and Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, looked at the possibility of resuming the Aadhaar linked direct benefit transfers in a bid to improve delivery mechanism.

The scheme was suspended by the previous UPA government. The government, sources said, would conduct a dry run for Aadhaar-linked attendance system for the government officials on September 14.

Among those who attended the meeting included Director General of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Vijay S Madan.

The high powered meeting reviewed progress of the Aadhaar project, particularly in Uttar Pradesh and Bihar where other schemes are facing difficulties due to low enrolments.

At present, 66.99 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued. In Uttar Pradesh, about 4.62 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued against a population of 19.95 crore.

In Bihar, around 1.41 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued against a population of about 10.38 crore.
Aadhaar project, which has been in focus of the new government, can substantially reduce the duplicity of beneficiaries and help plug leakages.

As mandated by the Prime Minister's Office, the Planning Commission and UIDAI, which implements the Aadhhar project, have jointly prepared a report on the Aadhaar-link DBT scheme.

The Commission and UIDAI's senior officials had visited around 300 districts across the country to study the impact of the Aadhaar-based scheme.

The officials have submitted the report on the Aadhaar- based DBT testing in these 300 districts.