DBT: Aadhaar to get statutory status

As the NDA is aggressively pushing direct benefit scheme to ensure that benefits of the subsidies directly reach the needy, the government has decided to accord statutory status to Aadhaar.

“Additionally, as I will elaborate later, we will undertake significant reform including enactment of a law to ensure all government benefits are conferred to people who deserve it by giving a statutory backing to the Aadhaar platform,” Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said while presenting the budget.

The statutory status will provide a legal foundation to Aadhaar for expanding it’s use for a range of developmental purposes. 

It has been suggested that all benefits, subsidies or services funded from the consolidated fund of India should be through Aadhaar platform.

Till date over 98 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated. Per day average of 26 lakh biometric and over 1.5 lakh e-KYC transactions are made. 

Aadhaar numbers have been seeded in 11.19 crore Direct Benefit Transfer (DBTL) accounts out of total 16.5 crore DBTL beneficiaries.

Jaitely said the bill will be introduced in the current budget session of Parliament to give statutory status. 

“The Aadhaar number or authentication shall, however, not confirm any rights of citizenship or domicile,” he said. The government has already introduced DBT in LPG and the scheme is linked to Aadhaar, he added. 

“Based on this successful experience, we propose to introduce a DBT on a pilot basis on fertiliser in few districts of the country,” Jaitley said.