In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.
On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.
In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.
In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.
In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.
"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi
Ram Krishnaswamy
Sydney, Australia.

Aadhaar

The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018

When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.

Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.

Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh

But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.

August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden

In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.

Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.

Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.

UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy

1) Denial

2) Issue fiats and point finger

3) Shoot messenger

4) Bury head in sand.

God Save India

Wednesday, December 31, 2014

7123 - EPFO to launch digital life certificates for pensioners - Business Standard

EPFO has already started testing the digital life certificate system in two of its centres - Delhi and Chandigarh

BS Reporter & PTI  |  New Delhi  December 29, 2014 Last Updated at 00:34 IST

To make life easier for the senior citizens, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has decided to follow the footsteps of Prime Minister Narendra Modi by mooting a digital life certificate to its 4.7 million pensioners.

The EPFO has already started testing the digital life certificate system at two of its centres - Delhi and Chandigarh. After verifying the system, the EPFO will launch the facility nationwide.

“The decision was taken at a meeting held recently between EPFO and the National Informatics Centre (NIC) officials where it was felt that old-age citizens face a lot of hardships to give a physical proof of being alive,” said an EPFO official.

The idea is to replicate the digital life certificate programme launched by Modi last month. This will allow EPFO pensioners to give a digital certificate through mobile phones instead of submitting a physical application by coming to bank every year, the official added.

Once the new system is in place, pensioners can submit biometric applications through a mobile phone application by providing their pension payment order, Aadhaar number, bank account and mobile number to the EPFO to register for the facility. The mobile application will be developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC). However, pensioners will have to visit their nearby NIC centres or banks to give fingerprints, said a senior EPFO official.  At present, pensioners under the Employees Pension Scheme 1995 have to visit their respective banks in November every year and get a certificate from the bank manager authenticating the pensioner was alive to receive the sum. Only after doing so, is the entitled amount credited to the pensioner's bank account every month.

The two regional offices cited above have been asked to prepare a report on the pilot project and submit it by January 26, a senior official told news agency Press Trust of India. According to the news agency, the EPFO has started the process of registering pensioners for the purpose at Delhi and Chandigarh on December 26.


Last month, Modi had launched Jeevan Pramaan - an Aadhaar-enabled digital life certificate for government employees.

7122 - Jan Dhan Yojana meets 10-crore accounts target - Indian Express


Written by Surabhi | New Delhi | Posted: December 29, 2014 1:34 am

Amonth before the January 26 deadline, the government has met its target of opening 10 crore bank accounts under its flagship scheme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana.
Official data reveals that 10 crore accounts have been opened under the scheme by December 24 with a collective deposit amounting to Rs 7,690.89 crore.

A total of 7.74 crore RuPay debit cards have also been issued by banks to beneficiaries.

States including Goa, Kerala, Tripura and Madhya Pradesh as well as union territories of Chandigarh, Puducherry and Lakshadweep have opened at least one bank account in every targeted household.

However, nearly two-thirds of all bank accounts continue to have zero balance with the data revealing that 7.35 crore bank accounts are currently dormant.

While concerns have been raised about the large number of dormant accounts, the finance ministry has maintained that these will register transactions once the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme is launched from the New Year.

“We are still working on covering all targeted households with at least one bank account by the deadline. We expect that with the start of DBT, there will be a sudden inflow of cash in most accounts,” said a government official.

The scheme was launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on August 28 to financially empower the poor by providing them access to formal banking.

The scheme initially had a target of opening 7.5 crore bank accounts by January 26, 2015, which was later raised to 10 crore bank accounts.

The data also reveals that just a third of all accounts were seeded with Aadhaar numbers. That number stood at 3.12 crore bank accounts as on December 17.

The government has not made Aadhaar mandatory for DBT and it is optional to link it in the bank account. However, banks have been instructed by the finance ministry to try to seed Aadhaar numbers in bank accounts to help with DBT.

Meanwhile, trying to expand the scope of the scheme, the finance ministry has also asked banks to open accounts for dairy farmers.

“Dairy farmers constitute a big basket of potential account holders, many of whom could be outside the banking fold. There are 15.4 million dairy farmers registered with various cooperatives in the country. They receive cash payment from milk cooperatives once in seven to 10 days,” said a recent missive by the finance ministry, directing banks to bring them within the banking framework so that they can receive their payments in their accounts. Earlier, the chairman of the National Dairy Development Board too had written to public sector banks on the issue.

FinMin lists financial inclusion, GST Bill as achievements
NEW DELHI: Highlighting its achievements over the last seven months under the NDA government, the finance ministry on Sunday said that new schemes including the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana were launched along with actions to curb black money and tabling of the Constitutional Amendment Bill for the Goods and Services Tax (GST).
“The first major decision taken by the present government after taking over reins of power in May, 2014 was to constitute a Special Investigating Team (SIT) to implement the decision of the Supreme Court on large amount of money stashed abroad by evading taxes or generated through unlawful activities,” said an official release.
Further, finance minister Arun Jaitley also re-launched the Varishtha Pension Bima Yojana and the Kisan Vikas Patra. A Swachh Bharat Kosh (SBK) has been set up to attract Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) funds from corporate sector and contributions from individuals and philanthropists to achieve the objective of Clean India (Swachh Bharat) by the year 2019. ENS

- See more at: http://indianexpress.com/article/business/business-others/jan-dhan-yojana-meets-10-crore-accounts-target/99/#sthash.K9yflFLk.dpuf

7121 - More than 70% yet to enroll for LPG subsidy in state

More than 70% yet to enroll for LPG subsidy in state
TNN | Dec 29, 2014, 12.09PM IST

JAIPUR: Only 28% of the total LPG customers in state have registered so far as cash transfer compliant (CTC) in the state. With just three days to go before full launch of Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG consumer (DBTL) more than 57 lakh people are unlikely to receive direct cash subsidy on their LPG connections.

For those who have not linked their LPG consumer id with their Aadhaar card, the Government of India started DBTL. This allows consumers to link their bank accounts directly with the gas connection and receive subsidy in their accounts. The scheme is scheduled to launch on January 1 across the country.

"There are two options for any consumer over receiving subsidy on LPG gas connections. Wherever Aadhaar number is available it will remain the medium of cash transfer. For this an LPG consumer has to link Aadhaar number to the bank account number and to the LPG consumer number," noted the government order.

It further added, "In case consumer does not have an Aadhaar number, then he can directly receive subsidy in his bank account without the use of Aadhaar number. This option which has now been introduced in the modified scheme ensures that LPG subsidy is not denied to an LPG consumer on account of lack of Aadhaar number. In this option, either consumer can provide bank account number or present LPG consumer information (17 digit LPG consumer ID) to the concerned agency."

However, in Rajasthan, out of 79.8 lakh customers only 22.41 lakh have enrolled. Jaipur ranks among the places with the lowest number of registrations with only 20.38% consumers registered under the DBTL scheme. Among other places Jodhpur, Bikaner and Churu are lagging way behind.

In absence of DBTL, the customer will not receive any subsidy on LPG and will have to purchase it on prevailing market rates. "There are still three days left. If they want to get the subsidy amount they should link their accounts immediately. All distributors have opened up their counters where they can fill the form and get their bank accounts linked," said a senior official of an oil and gas marketing company.

According to sources, one of the major reasons for lackluster response in major cities is that many consumers, who have multiple LPG connections, are indecisive about which connection to retain. The companies have asked all consumers to seed their LPG connection by using their existing bank account and deposit the details in the form with their LPG distributor.


Domestic LPG consumers, who had already joined the earlier DBTL scheme by linking their Aadhaar to bank and LPG database, don't need to do anything more to receive subsidy as the subsidy will be transferred to their bank accounts via Aadhaar based on the previous seeding.

7120 - 3 months time to link LPG with Aadhaar / bank accounts: DC

3 months time to link LPG with Aadhaar / bank accounts: DC
Mangaluru, Dec 29, 2014, DHNS:

Out of 3.50 lakh LPG consumers in DK, only 1,06,134 consumers have linked their LPG numbers with Aadhaar cards

Only 22 per cent of the LPG consumers have got their Aadhaar-based bank account linked to their LPG consumer numbers in Dakshina Kannada district, said Deputy Commissioner A B Ibrahim. 

Speaking at the LPG consumers grievances meeting here on Monday, he said that subsidy component towards LPG refill will be credited directly to the consumers’ bank accounts from January. There are 3.50 lakh LPG consumers in the district, of which, only 1,06,134 consumers have linked their LPG numbers with Aadhaar. Dakshina Kannada district is in the 24th position in the process of linking. As per the direction of the Central government, consumers have three months time to link their LPG numbers with Aadhaar card or bank accounts.

Without waiting for the last minute, the consumers can link their LPG numbers by furnishing a copy of the first page of bank pass book and copy of the LPG book to the gas agency, said officials of Bharath Petroleum Corporation Limited, Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Ltd and Indian Oil Corporation.

They said “bank pass books should have IFSC code of the bank. If the pass book does not have the IFSC code, then it should be collected from the bank and furnish the same to the gas agency,” the officials clarified.

BPCL Regional Manager Dinakar Thonse said that those who have linked the Aadhaar with LPG numbers, will have to pay Rs 742 for LPG cylinder. The subsidy amount will be credited to the bank account within two to three days of the delivery of the cylinder from January.

The price of the LPG cylinders varies every month in the international market. The consumers will get a computerised receipt during the delivery of the LPG cylinder. The receipt will have the amount to be paid. If the price of LPG is Rs 742 in January, then Rs 322 will be credited to the bank account of the consumer.

No additional charge


“The gas agencies can not demand additional charge from the consumers. The receipt should not be tampered by the gas agency. In case if the agency demands additional amount, then the consumers can file a complaint by dialing the toll free number of the oil firm supplying LPG. The oil firm will initiate action against the agencies.  The oil companies have right to suspend the agency in case of illegalities as well,” he clarified.

Representatives from oil companies said that the LPG cylinders should be supplied to the consumers within 48 hours of the booking. In Dakshina Kannada district, it will be supplied within 10 days at the most.

The consumers complained that LPG cylinders are not supplied even after 15 to 25 days of booking at a few places. However, officials said that in most of the cases, the cylinders are supplied within three days, to which, the DC said that in case if the LPG agencies delay in supplying the gas to the consumers, then action will be initiated.

A consumer will get 12 subsidised LPG cylinders in a year. For additional cylinders, the consumers will have to pay extra.

As per the rules, the consumers should ensure that there was no leakage from the LPG cylinder after its delivery. As a precautionary measure, kerosene stove should not be kept near the gas stove. The consumer should verify the weight of the LPG cylinder suppied, said HPCL officer Sharavanan.


The BPCL official said that based on the complaints from consumers, action has been initiated against 16 gas agencies in the last one and half years.

New connection


A new LPG connection can be availed within three days of furnishing copies of RR number, residence address and details of consumer to the agency.  The consumer will have to pay Rs 2,600 for new connection.

The gas agencies can not make the purchase of gas stove and other appliances mandatory along with the gas connection, the official clarified.

7119 - KV to integrate Aadhaar number for fee collection - TNN

TNN | Dec 29, 2014, 12.19PM IST

KOCHI: Kendriya Vidyalaya (KV) schools have been asked to integrate Aadhaar number for fee collection. In the board of governors (BOG) meeting held on December 10, a direction was issued to Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan (KVS) to integrate the Aadhaar unique identity number (UID) issued by the government in the student data base. 

"It may please be emphasized to all students studying in your region to enroll them for Aadhar UID so that student data base can also be linked to Aadhar UID in future through appropriate intervention in the software for fee collection," stated the circular by Rajesh Yadav, deputy commissioner (finance), KVS. 

It has also been decided that KVS should make special efforts to admit more scheduled tribe students in the schools so as to ensure the full utilization of mandatory 7.5 % reservation for them. While appreciating the overall results of class X and XII of KVs, the board directed to identify KV schools that are lagging behind in terms of results and to concentrate on improvement in these schools. 

The meeting also directed that learning outcomes for each class should be well-defined and be made available for all parents to be able to assess their children's progress. The onus has been put on KV schools to make parents and students aware about the learning outcomes. 


It has also been decided that KVS should make special efforts to admit more scheduled tribe students so as to ensure the full utilization of 7.5 % reservation.

7118 - Rupees 3.5 lakh cash-transfer compliant cases pending

Rupees 3.5 lakh cash-transfer compliant cases pending
Neha Madaan, TNN | Dec 27, 2014, 07.05AM IST

PUNE: From January 1, 2015, the Modified Direct Benefit Transfer of the LPG scheme will begin in Pune, but the number of cash transfer compliant customers (those ready to receive the subsidy directly in their bank accounts) in the district is a dismal 9.25 lakh or a mere 37%. The minimum percentage of CTC customers for the launch of the scheme should be 50%. 

In addition, Aadhaar card numbers of approximately 12.5 lakh customers have been linked with their LPG dealers' database, of which, 15% are yet to be linked with the customers' accounts by the banks. 

The oil minister recently reviewed the scheme's progress in Pune and directed banks in the district to bridge this gap by linking these Aadhaar numbers to customers' accounts as early as possible. 

The scheme's progress in Pune has been slow and oil marketing companies have a huge task of converting as many as 3.5 lakh customers into cash transfer compliant customers in five days. 

The Modified Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG scheme can help consumers get the LPG subsidy directly into their bank accounts without Aadhaar. "The oil minister has told banks to bridge this gap. After a recent meeting with the district collector, it was decided to share the Aadhaar card data of the 15% customers with the banks, so that they can link the respective accounts to the numbers, thereby increasing the CTC customers to 50% in Pune district," said an oil marketing company officials. 

Oil marketing companies have told customers without Aadhaar cards to approach their distributors with a copy of the front page of their bank pass book and a cancelled cheque to link their bank accounts to their LPG ID to become CTC customers. 

LPG cylinders will be available at market rate from April 1, next year. An company official said those who do not complete this linking process will not receive the subsidy in their accounts. 

Non-CTC customers will be given three months to become CTC customers from January 1, 2015. During this period, they would continue to get their entitlement of subsidized cylinders. 


At the end of the grace period, non-CTC LPG customers will get a three-month 'parking period', when they will be provided cylinders at market prices. 

7117 - Road transport ministry may link Aadhar data and driving licence to track unsafe drivers - Economic Times


Jochelle Mendonca & Neha Alawadhi Dec 27, 2014, 06.26AM IST


(India records more deaths in road accidents than any other country on average about 1.5 lakh people die in road accidents in the country.)


MUMBAI|NEW DELHI: The road transport ministry is looking at linking driving licence and Aadhaar data, expecting it to help better track unsafe drivers and weed out those with multiple licences in the latest of a string of technology-based initiatives it has undertaken.

Nitin Gadkari, the minister for road, transport, highways and shipping, has said the government would look to cut the number of road accident fatalities in India by half in the next two years. India records more deaths in road accidents than any other country — on average about 1.5 lakh people die in road accidents in the country, many of them due to reckless and drunken driving. In the absence of an effective tracking mechanism, even habitual offenders dodge penalty and return to roads, often making fresh driving licences. The minister has said he would look at centralising data to check violations. Linking driving licence information with biometric data collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India for Aadhaar could help track offenders more effectively.

"There has been thinking that UID could be one of the options to link with the driving licence. There would be central data for people who are driving — both for driver's licences and registration. In the proposed Motor Vehicle Act, there is going to be linkage between violation and penalty," a road transport ministry official told ET.
The official said the government was looking at collecting data, which would then be mined. He declined to comment on record because he is not authorised to talk about the project.
The government has already begun the process of centralising data. The minister of state for road transport and highways, Pon Radhakrishnan, told Parliament earlier this month that the ministry was putting together a common portal for vehicle-and-driver related services, which involves the migration of legacy and local-RTO data to a centralised platform. The ministry is in talks with analytics platform companies to see how such a linking would work.

"The ministry of transport is looking at an analytics platform to catch people with multiple licences and those who are habitually bad drivers.

They have had some initial discussions with companies that provide the analytics platforms," said Sudipta Sen, chief executive and managing director of analytics company SAS Institute (India).


Sen added the system could even be extended to rope in insurance companies, who could then tailor premiums based on a driver's safety record.

7116 - Aadhaar finally gets new govt’s approval - Bangalore Mirror


By Kushala S, Bangalore Mirror Bureau | Dec 27, 2014, 04.00 AM IST


Now, it can be a proof of address, identity

The 12-digit unique identification number Aadhaar is now an official document for address and identity proof in Karnataka. 

After five years, several deliberations and communications from the Centre, Karnataka government has mandated Aadhaar as a document for proof of identity (PoI) and proof of address (PoA) and on December 23, the e-Governance department issued a directive to this effect. 

Since 2009, discussions were on for making Aadhaar as PoI and PoA for all government related services. In between, the Reserve Bank of India had ordered that Aadhaar would be a document for all banking operations 

In 2010, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had sent out this communication after which the government started acting: "At the Centre, the ministries/departments concerned have already decided that Aadhaar number would serve as both Proof of Identity and Proof of Address for opening of bank accounts, obtaining mobile phone connections. On the same analogy, the state government may examine the desirability of recognizing the Aadhaar number as PoI and PoA in the various resident-centric schemes offered by the State." Circulating the order, the state government issued directions to all departments to follow the same. But it was not effective. 

The December 23 directive states: "Those having Aadhaar number should be recognized while considering proof of address and proof of identity. All government departments, boards and corporations should follow the same while extending the benefits." 

This will include state government services such as pension, public distribution system, and rebate on irrigation pump sets, Bhagyalakshmi scheme, LPG et al. Banks and private telephone companies also accept Aadhaar for its transactions - opening of bank accounts, new phone connections. It will be a valid document while applying for passport and driving licence. 

"Since 2009, state government has been having communications with the UIDAI and had asked the departments to recognize Aadhaar. There was a lot of confusion surrounding the 12-digit number as a valid document. Now things are clear and the government is going ahead with fresh enrollments,'' a senior officer said.

7115 - Centre links MGNREGA wages to Aadhaar number - Hindustan Times


Brajesh Kumar, Hindustan Times  New Delhi, December 26, 2014

With an aim to weed out ghost beneficiaries in the rural job scheme MGNREGA, the Centre has brought it under the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme covering 300 districts in the first phase.

The finance ministry issued a notification to this effect on Tuesday. Under the DBT platform, wages will be transferred from a single account to the accounts of the beneficiaries using the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS). The link with the unique Aadhaar number will enable biometric verification of the actual beneficiary and help prevent leakages in the system.
Earlier the BJP government had extended the DBT for LPG subsidy in 54 districts on November 15. While majority of MGNREGA workers have bank accounts into which their wages are directly transferred, the Aadhaar linkage will eliminate fake accounts which, according a recent verification drive, constitutes about 10-12 %.


In the first phase about 300 districts with 80% Aadhaar enrolment will be covered. For enrolling the remaining 20% under Aadhaar, the rural development ministry has asked all the states covered under the programme to review and report the progress on a fortnightly-basis. The DBT scheme was started by the UPA government in 2013 and covered 121 districts and 27 schemes including pensions, and scholarships.

7114 - Speed up DBTL Enrolment, Babus Told - New Indian Express

By Express News Service
Published: 26th December 2014 06:02 AM

BHUBANESWAR: As the pace of registration of Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) in the State is not very encouraging, the Government has directed district Collectors to accelerate the process by organising camps at distributors' point.

The Collectors have been asked to spearhead IEC (information, education and Communication) campaign to educate consumers about the need to link their bank accounts with LPG consumer numbers for transfer of subsidy amount to their accounts.

"Camps may be organised in the premises of LPG distributors on holidays for enrolment under DBTL. Adequate publicity about the scheme should be made so that not a single LPG consumer is left behind to avail benefit of the scheme," Food Supplies and Consumer Welfare Secretary MS Padhi said in a letter to the Collectors.

While the State has about 25 lakh LPG consumers, only 19 per cent consumers have bank-Aadhaar seeding (linking the bank account with Aadhaar number).

As head of district level DBTL implementation committee, the Collectors have been asked to review the status of seeding on a weekly basis with all key stakeholders including officials of oil marketing companies, banks and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

As the modified direct benefit transfer of LPG (DBTL) scheme is proposed to be implemented across the State from January 1, 2015, the consumers are required to be cash transfer compliant (CTC) to receive their subsidy in their bank accounts, Padhi said.

As per the decision of the Centre, the process of linking banks accounts with LPG consumer numbers has to be completed by March 31, 2015.

Linking Aadhaar to bank account is not mandatory. If consumers do not have the Aadhaar number, they could link their bank accounts to their LPG ID at the earliest because cylinders will be available at market rate from April 1.


Meanwhile, Union Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Dharmendra Pradhan has asked the oil marketing companies and bankers to enrol at least two per cent LPG consumers under DBTL per day.

7113 - Residents irked as govt loses Aadhaar data - TNN

A Subburaj, TNN | Dec 26, 2014, 12.46AM IST

COIMBATORE: After waiting for hours in a long queue to provide their biometric data at specified locations for the Aadhaar card, residents of Chinniyampalayam and Vadavalli are irked that this data has gone missing from the government operated database.

Due to the prolonged delay in getting their cards, these residents had approached the relevant authorities and were told that the data has gone missing. They are fuming that they have to go through the long, tedious process again.

"The biometric data for my father M Arumugam was taken at a government school in October 2013. But he has not received his Aadhaar card yet. When we checked online for the status of the card, data pertaining to him was not found,'' said A Rameshkumar from Kulathur near Chinniyampalayam.

When he approached the government officials, they suggested he bring his father in again to collect the data. "Now I have to make my aged father travel 15km again. Many in my village have suffered a similar fate," said Ramesh.

"I spent an entire day to provide biometric data for Aadhar card at the taluk office. Now, I'm told the data was corrupted and I have to do it all over again," said Shyam from Vadavalli.

Authorities from Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Bharat Electricals Limited (BEL), Bangalore entrusted with the job of collecting, storing and transferring biometric data to produce Aadhar cards admit they have received several such complaints.

"In 60% to 70% of the cases, the fingerprints are embedded properly enabling us to process them for Aadhar card. But in the remaining cases, the data could not be processed,'' said Mohan Raj, district coordinator, BEL.

Officials from UIDAI said it was not possible to ensure that all fingerprints recorded get embedded properly in the database. "Only after sending the hard disks with the biometric data to UIDAI in Bangalore, where it is being processed, do we realize that some fingerxprints cannot be processed,'' he said.


There are chances of the data getting corrupted during the transfer, but this is very rare, he added. "We plan to formally notify people whose data could not be processed within two months so that they could submit their biometric data again," the official said.

7112 - Back to cash transfer from Jan. 1 in Tiruchi - The Hindu

TIRUCHI, December 25, 2014


S. GANESAN

About 60 p.c. of LPG users have completed seeding process
With the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for LPG consumers set to come into force from January 1, the process of linking the bank accounts of the consumers is under way with the distributors setting up special counters to receive forms.

According to sources, nearly 60 per cent of about 5.68 lakh LPG consumers in Tiruchi district had completed the seeding and the process was going on at a steady pace.

Under the scheme, LPG consumers would have to buy the refills at full market price and the difference between the subsidised and market prices would be transferred to their bank account.
The scheme is set to come into force from January 1 and consumers would be given three months to complete the seeding process.

Sources in the Indian Oil Corporation said that consumers with or without Aaadhaar can complete the seeding process.
There were two forms — one for those with Aaadhaar cards and the other for those without the cards.

Those with or without the Aadhaar cards should submit the relevant forms.

Once the customers become Aadhaar or bank transfer compliant, the advance subsidy amount would be deposited in the bank accounts of the customers. Such customers would be required to pay full market price of their next LPG refill and the subsidy amount would be deposited in their accounts within two days after the delivery of the refill. Those without Aadhaar cards would be required to link the same after they get the cards.

Sources in the oil companies said that all distributors had set up special counters/desks to receive the forms from consumers.
A representative of the Indane LPG distributors association said they were planning to hold a special camp at the K.A.P. Viswanathan Primary School at Fort Station Road in Thillai Nagar on December 28 to receive forms from consumers.
Consumers who already carried out the seeding process last year, can check their status by visiting the website www.mylpg.in


7111 - Cash subsidy on LPG world's largest direct benefit transfer scheme - Economic Times

PTI Dec 25, 2014, 08.02PM IST

NEW DELHI: The ambitious scheme of giving cash subsidy on cooking gas directly to consumers has become the world's largest direct benefit transfer with 2.5 crore households getting about Rs 550 crore since November 15.

The direct benefit transfer on LPG (DBTL), under which cash subsidy is paid to consumers so that they can buy cooking gas at market price, was rolled out in 54 districts from November 15 and will be extended all over the country from January 1.

"In 54 districts, 75 per cent of the population is now covered by DBTL," Oil Minister Dharmendra Pradhan said here. "DBTL today has become the world's largest direct benefit transfer scheme."
The scheme has surpassed number of beneficiaries in direct benefit transfer programmes in China and Brazil.

Pradhan said he has personally reviewed roll out of the scheme in as many as 42 districts so far and will do so in 10 or so before the end of the year. "Out of such a large number of users joining the scheme, we received only 3,000 complaints, 80 per cent of which have been addressed within 7 days."

His ministry officials as well as top executives of oil marketing companies have adopted one district each in the country to oversee roll out of the scheme under which consumers have to get their bank accounts seeded with their LPG connection.

The moment they join the scheme, oil companies transfer advance cash subsidy in their bank accounts to enable them to buy LPG refills at market rate. Once a consumer takes delivery of the cylinder, another advance cash subsidy is transferred to the bank account.

At present, a subsidised LPG cylinder costs Rs 417 per 14.2-kg bottle while its market price is Rs 752, the difference being the subsidy component.
"I have adopted Palwal in Haryana while IOC Chairman (B Ashok) is incharge of New Delhi. BPCL Chairman S Varadarajan has adopted Nasik in Maharashtra and likewise each of the 676 districts in the country has been taken over by some senior official," Pradhan said.

From January 1, LPG consumers across the country will have to buy cooking gas at market rates. They will get the difference between current subsidised rate and market price for 12 cylinders in a year in cash that will be transferred to their bank acounts.

The Direct Benefit Transfer Scheme for LPG, which has now been renamed PAHAL, has been modified to exclude the requirement of unique identification number (Aadhaar) for availing the cash subsidy. Aadhaar is now optional but consumers should have a bank account linked to their LPG connection number.

PAHAL or Pratyaksh Hanstantarit Labh has been rolled out in 54 districts from November 15 and will extend to rest of the country from January 1.


DBT (direct benefit transfer) is designed to ensure that the subsidy meant for genuine domestic customers reaches them directly and is not diverted. "We anticipate that 10-15 per cent savings in the subsidy bill," he said.

7110 - Govt wants all MGNREGS payment modules under e-FMS by 1 April - Live Mint


Centre notifies e-transfer of wages to accounts linked to an Aadhaar number; plans mobile monitoring system 
Moulishree Srivastava 

The mobile monitoring system will keep track of all works, workers’ attendance and work site measurement in real time. Photo: Hemant Mishra/Mint 

New Delhi: In a bid to streamline the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) and plug leakages in the payments process, the government has formally notified that wages under the rural job guarantee programme will be electronically credited to workers’ accounts linked to an Aadhaar number. 

The rural development ministry also issued a directive to the states to adopt the electronic fund management system (e-FMS) before April to curtail parking of funds at various levels that result in inefficient fund flow. To keep track of all works, workers’ attendance and work site measurement in real time, the rural ministry plans to roll out a mobile monitoring system for MGNREGS. 

E-FMS is a mechanism for transfer of funds from the Centre through an online system to states that provides an uninterrupted access to funds to districts down to Gram Panchayat levels and avoid diversions. 

In a 23 December letter, the ministry of rural development said, “MGNREGS has now been formally notified under DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) scheme by the Ministry of Finance covering 300 districts in the country.” Of these 300 districts, 287 are covered under MGNREGS. DBT involves electronic transfer of wages from a single e-FMS account directly into the workers’ account linked to an Aadhaar number. “The link with Aadhaar numbers is expected to sanitize the database of MGNREGS apart from allowing faster and more transparent transfer of wages to workers,” the letter said. 

In another letter dated 22 December, the department of rural development said even as 94% of Gram Panchayats under the MGNREGS have moved to e-FMS, “it is found that even in the GPs where e-FMS has been implemented, funds are lying with sub-state accounts on the ground that material and administrative payments are not yet bought under e-FMS.” “As a result, the desired optimization of funds has not been fully materialized,” it added. 

The union rural ministry has directed all state rural development departments to proactively bring all payment modules including wages, material and administrative under e-FMS on or before 1 April. 

Separately, on Wednesday, the rural ministry said it is likely to introduce the mobile monitoring system for effective implementation of MGNREGS which will be implemented on a pilot basis. 

The Centre has recently sanctioned Rs.147 crore to states to strengthen the social audit structures. The overall 6% administrative cost wasn’t adequate so an additional grant was sanctioned. While all processes under MGNREGS programme are linked to NREGASoft, a software which collates related data to provide a real-time data visibility, the mobile monitoring system will provide the mobile interface to NREGASoft and allow an online and real-time updation of database and monitoring of all the processes under the scheme. 

It’ll use the existing GSM (global system for mobile) or GPRS (general packet radio service) connectivity and a low-cost portable computing device. Earlier this year, the monitoring scheme was not able to take off even after the first instalment of funds were released to nine states which came forward to implement the scheme, since the Aakash-IV tablet, which was prescribed in the scheme and in the sanction order, was not available in the market, said an internal letter dated October issued by the department of rural development. 

The government thus amended the earlier scheme, saying there will be no centralized procurement of the device as the functionaries (people responsible for operating MGNREGS) will be free to buy any device, which satisfies required specifications. The device’s cost or Rs.10,000, whichever is lower, will be reimbursed to the functionary. 

Neelashi Mangal and Garima Singh contributed to this story.


7109 - Query service to track Aadhaar subsidies - Deccan Herald

Akram Mohammed, Mysuru, Dec 24, 2014, DHNS:
The system launched recently sorts out several issues

LPG distributors of the district are often pestered by consumers with complaints that their accounts have not been debited with subsidy amount, after buying a cylinder.

While agencies involved in Aadhaar based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) have no means to sort out these complaints, a query service aims to track the subsidies.

The National Unified USSD Platform Query Service on Aadhaar Mapper (QSAM), has been launched a few days ago by the National Payment Corporation of India and has helped consumers, say distributors.

The service cost is Rs 1.50. The service allows users to know whether an Aadhaar number is linked to a bank account and if the linked bank account has been updated. The service is accessible from all mobile phones, across all network providers.

According to Mehul Patel of Amardeep Gas Agency, in the city, distributors get such complaints on a daily basis. “About two per cent of consumers, who get LPG subsidies under DBT face this problem,” he said.

Quoting an instance, he said, a consumer had approached the agency, complaining that his subsidy amount has not been transferred to his account in the Syndicate Bank. After making use of QSAM, it was learnt that the subsidy was transferred to a different bank account, one which he had opened under Jan Dhan scheme at the State Bank of Mysore.

“As of now, the service only gives details on the city and the bank to which the subsidy amount has been transferred. We have requested the Petroleum Ministry to add features such as the name of the bank branch and account number,” he said.
LPG ID

He said, the transfer of subsidies to different accounts was due to the fact that people
open multiple accounts by providing the same Aadhaar numbers. “As a result, subsidy amounts are transferred to the most recent bank account to which Aadhaar is linked.
Consumers can avoid this problem by submitting their LPG IDs to the bank, where they want to avail subsidies,” he said.

Procedure to be followed


Step 1: Consumer should dial <*99*99#> on their mobile hand set and follow the prompt.
Step 2: Consumer will be prompted to enter the 12 digit Aadhaar number.
Step 3: The consumer will be prompted to confirm their Aadhaar number
Step 4: Following confirmation the following message will be displayed.
“Your Aadhaar Number <123456789012> is linked with last updated on ”


7108 - BJP’s double-speak stands exposed, says Tanwar - Tribune India

Posted at: Dec 24 2014 12:18AM

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, December 23

Critical of the “confused” BJP government in Haryana, state Congress president Ashok Tanwar today said the party’s “double-speak” had been exposed, as their leaders seem to be back-tracking on all their election promises.

“The BJP has gone back on its commitment to farmers and employees. It has nothing substantial to showcase as its achievement,” he told the media here today.

The BJP had promised farmers to implement the Swaminathan Commission recommendations, he said, adding that “what to talk of remunerative prices for the produce, farmers are facing shortage of urea. The Agriculture Minister (OP Dhankar) has already said the state does not have funds to implement the Swaminathan report”.

He further said promises of providing job opportunities and unemployed allowance to youths remained unfulfilled. “Government employees are left high and dry with the state revoking the previous dispensation’s decision to increase the retirement age from 58 to 60 years,” the former Sirsa MP said. The government was yet to make its stand clear on the implementation of Punjab pay scales in Haryana, he said.

Turning to old-age pension, the Congress leader said the BJP government cheated senior citizens, who were promised Rs 2,000 per month. “All they have received is an additional Rs 200 per month, while staggering the rest of the amount over five years,” Tanwar alleged. “Senior citizens are getting nothing in the name of pension since the government has decided to link it to Aadhaar cards. Many senior citizens in the state are still to be covered under the Aadhaar scheme.”

“The BJP government’s intention to review 182 decisions of the previous Congress government shows it is not working in the public interest,” the state Congress chief alleged.

He termed the controversy over missing pages in a file pertaining to Robert Vadra-DLF land deal as an “unnecessary” one. “The BJP raises the issue during the elections with the intention to target a particular family. The other day, the Chief Minister had said the file could be reconstructed easily,” he claimed


On the Jammu and Kashmir results, Tanwar said the verdict didn’t bring good news for the Congress, but people gave a clear mandate to secular parties. “The BJP bubble has been burst and it will be on the downswing. People are feeling cheated,” he said.

7107 - For Modi, it’s not the road less travelled - Hindu Business Line

OUR BUREAU

Among other policies, the new govt has continued UPA’s schemes such as Aadhaar and rural employment scheme

With a change in government, one expects changes in policy, as well. But the Narendra Modi-led government at the Centre has not only decided to continue with some of the key economic policies and initiatives of the previous government, it has also given a new lease of life to ‘Aadhaar’ or the Unique Identity Number, the UPA’s pet project.

When the Modi government came to power there was a strong buzz that this scheme would be among the first casualties. But the project has not only got additional budget allocation, its coverage targets has also been expanded.

Aadhaar
Interestingly, the authority for issuing this number, Unique Identification Authority of India is yet to get a statutory status; the National Identification Authority of India Bill has been pending in the Rajya Sabha since 2010. The question is, why did the Modi government decide to continue with this scheme? This, according to observers, could be for inclusive growth and providing benefits to the real beneficiaries. To achieve this, the first requirement is to identify the beneficiary and Aadhaar could play an important role here. Such a move would also help in achieving financial discipline.

With this in mind, the Cabinet (in its meeting on September 10) decided to increase the enrolment target to 100 crore from 60 crore.

In fact, the first indications of the continuation of the project came in the Budget presented in July. The budgetary allocation was enhanced to ₹2,039.64 crore in 2014-15 (₹1,550 crore in 2013-14). More than 70 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated since August 2010. The total expenditure incurred by UIDAI since inception is ₹4,906 crore (as on August 2014). 

Currently, the authority is enrolling 10 lakh people every day at over 25,000 camps and permanent centres. It has revised its target and plans to enrol 15 lakh people every day. The Government has also provided fresh impetus to the UIDAI by linking Aadhaar to various schemes and initiatives, including the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY), MGNREGA, Pensions, Scholarships, DBTL, UAN (EPFO), PDS, Passports and more recently attendance system in government offices besides incorporating it in the service book of government employee.

Rural employment
The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme is another policy of the previous government which has been continued. The programme was termed a ‘game changer’ and played a key role in bringing back the UPA to power in 2009.

Since the inception of the scheme in 2006, the Government has paid ₹1,80,000 crore as wages, which is around 71 per cent of total expenditure on this scheme. The government has made it clear that the scheme will remain operational in all the 6,500 blocks and will not be restricted to 2,500 blocks as being alleged.

Apart from these, several other initiatives have been continued with some modification. For example, the financial inclusion programme has been expanded to rural and urban households. Similarly, the sanitation programme has got new name with more focus on providing toilet facilities for girls.


(This article was published on December 24, 2014)

7106 - New Year gift: Citizen services come closer home

New Year gift: Citizen services come closer home
Rohith B R | Dec 24, 2014, 04.00AM IST

Bengaluru: Come 2015 and you don't have to travel a long distance to pay your bills or book tickets. Be it property tax payment or filing applications, you can do it all in your own neighbourhood. 

The e-governance wing of the government is expanding its network of BangaloreOne centres (computerized integrated citizen service centers) to every ward. The number of B1 centres, offering more than 100 G2C (government to citizen), B2C (business to customer) and G2B (government to business) services, will be increased from 95 to 198 (same as the number of wards). 

The move aims to tackle the rush at the existing B1 centres and citizens' demand for decentralized ones, said Krishna Bajpai, director, directorate of electronic delivery of citizen services, e-governance department. "We've tied up with the BBMP, who will provide us vacant sites/properties in different wards to establish the centres. In the first phase, 50 buildings will be allotted to us," he added. 

A senior official of the department said the expansion process will begin from January. 

"We'll do the interiors in keeping with BangaloreOne requirements; only then will the centres be operationalized. As the project is based on the Public-Private Partnership model, the private partner will take care of the hardware and connectivity required to run the centres," he added. 

IN THE OFFING 

A slew of other citizen-centric services, including collection of application for PAN card, issuing of copies of documents like registered properties, marriage certificates, will be added to the list. Even services under the Karnataka State Tourism Development Corporation and the Muzrai department can be availed by citizens, said Shashidhar Sarangamath, consultant (project manager), e-governance department. 

B1 Aadhaar 

Many centres, both existing and upcoming, will double as Aadhaar enrolment centres. "Since Aadhaar enrolment is expected to gain pace in the coming months, we have held talks with Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to convert select B1 centres into permanent centres for enrolment soon," said an official. 

ONE CENTRE, MANY SERVICES 

- BangaloreOne started in 2005 with 13 centres, offering services linked to 10 govt departments. 

- Currently, there are 95 centres where citizens can avail 103 services related to 43 govt departments and private companies. These include Bescom, BWSSB, BBMP, police, BMTC, KSRTC, education and revenue department, Airtel, Vodafone and M-Gaadi. 

- A total of 10.12 crore transactions made till November 2014 

- 60,000 transactions done daily; around 18 lakh in a month 

- Rs 9,112-cr turnover achieved since inception till Nov 2014 


- Payment of electricity, water and telephone bills; passport services and property tax are popular services 

7105 - AP to get separate police academy - TNN

Siva G, TNN | Dec 24, 2014, 03.04AM IST

VIZIANAGARAM: Going by the assurances given by the central government during the bifurcation of the state, residuary Andhra Pradesh may soon get a police training centre as well a marine police academy similar to the existing Andhra Pradesh Police Academy (APPA) (its name has not been changed yet post bifurcation) in Ranga Reddy district of Telangana.

The department has already identified over 250 acres each in Guntur, Tirupati and Vizag for setting up the centre, the proposal for which is in the AP Reorganisation Act, AP director general of police (DGP) Jasti Venkata Ramudu said on Tuesday. "Our officers have already identified sufficient land in these three cities and, soon we will choose from one of these three," he said.

According to sources, though there was a proposal earlier to convert the Vizianagaram Police Training Centre (PTC) into the new Andhra Pradesh Police Academy (APPA), police higher-ups are now reportedly keen on setting it up in one of the three cities identified.
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According to sources, the APPA was established on a 175-acre parcel of land in Himayatsagar, 25 km from Hyderabad, in 1986. The academy serves as a nodal institution for training new police recruits and senior officers up to the rank of additional SP along with officials of other law enforcement agencies, including forensic scientists and public prosecutors.

About the marine academy, the DGP said the Union government has agreed to set up one to facilitate advanced training for marine police personnel manning the east coast, comprising states such as Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Odisha and West Bengal. This is part of the Centre's plans to set up one marine academy each on the east and west coasts.

A five-member team, headed by the then principle secretary (home) TP Das, identified around 300 acres near Gollagudem in Machilipatnam mandal in Krishna district last year. As per the Union government's requirement, the state government has to provide more than 250 acres for the academy.

Sources said that the possibility of the training centre coming to Visakhapatnam is bright as it has many security forces like RAF and Greyhounds and will be better able to cater to their needs.

Ramudu added that Vizag is also viable for housing AP's Greyhounds base as the existing operations base there has a huge chunk of land available. The government could develop the place as a training base by constructing other structures along with the existing ones

.

BOX

Aadhaar linkage to police probes?


Vizianagaram: Now, it is the turn of the police department to seek Aadhaar card linkage to speed up investigations. DGP JV Ramudu on Tuesday said they are keen on utilizing the biometric data captured by Aadhaar card in their investigations if the Centre gives permission. The Aadhaar card has biometric data like fingerprints and iris, which could be useful for cops to nab culprits. TNN

7104 - Modifications in DBTL scheme from January next: IOC - Economic Times

PTI Dec 23, 2014, 10.00PM IST

MADURAI: Modifications in the Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG scheme to enable consumers, who do not have Aadhaar card, to receive cash directly in their bank accounts would be introduced from January 1, the Indian Oil Corporation said today.

The scheme would cover 1.54 crore households in 33 districts across Tamil Nadu where Aadhaar card generation had touched 64 per cent, Deputy General Manager, Ujjal P D Chattopadhyay told reporters after launching the Modified DBTL scheme.

Those, who had given their Aadhar numbers to the LPG distributor and not to the bank, had been requested to link their Aadhaar numbers with their banks immediately, he said.
"Those who do not have Aadhaar number, need to give their bank account details to the OMC distributor or in the alternative can give their 17 digit LPG ID to the banks," he said, adding, "if the banks are not accepting, then the IOC itself would forward the 17 digit numbers, given to the dealers, to the banks for acceptance".

Asked about those having account in Cooperative banks, Chattopadhyay said, in Puducherry the cooperative banks had tied up with the Indian Bank to transfer the subsidy and the same arrangement could be made here also.


About 9,000 consumers in Tamil Nadu had voluntarily given up LPG subsidy.

7103 - How to get LPG subsidy with or without Aadhaar card? - Bangalore Citizens matters

PAHAL, LPG SUBSIDY AND AADHAAR 


Availing LPG subsidy is your choice. You can even opt out of it if you can afford it. LPG subsidy does not need Aadhaar card, but if you have it, it must be submitted. 

Read the details of modified Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, now being rolled out by the Modi government. 
Shree D N, 24 Dec 2014 , Citizen Matters 

We wrote about the detailed procedure for linking Aadhaar card with bank accounts and LPG accounts a year ago. This was when the UPA Government had launched the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, the scheme where LPG subsidy is transferred directly into bank accounts. A pilot run was conducted in Tumakuru, Mysuru and Bengaluru. Due to elections and various other issues the scheme did not take off then. The newly-elected NDA Government has decided retain the scheme, and has already launched a pilot once again in 54 districts across India, including Tumakuru, Mysuru and Bengaluru. This scheme will ensure that subsidy for gas will henceforth not be given on direct cash payment, when you receive the gas. You will have to shell out the market price, while the subsidy will be credited to you by the government via bank transfer. The websites and links have changed now, and so have the terms for cash transfer. Hence we are publishing an updated version of our article once again with the correct links and updated information. Why is the government pushing for direct transfer of subsidies? There are many types of scams that take place in the sale of LPG. For example: A household has an allocation of 12 cylinders. But not all houses need 12 cylinders per year. Some vested interests who are aware of the consumption patterns, oftentimes the gas agencies themselves, book cylinders in the customer’s name and sell it to commercial ventures such as hotels. Customer is not aware of this transaction and it does not affect him too. In this transaction, the Government becomes the loser, as the government provides subsidy for these cylinders. Those who sell it benefit twice, by getting the subsidy as well as the extra profit that they get by selling it at a higher price. This money is unaccounted, and just adds to the black money existing in the country. There are customers who have multiple connections in their houses and indulge in black marketing of LPG. There is a possibility of fake LPG connections too, that are obtained by providing fake address etc. This system tries to make sure the subsidy goes to only to genuine customers. How much time do I have to register? The scheme has been named PAHAL. The customers who are unable or unwilling to register themselves for the scheme before February 14th 2015, will receive cooking gas at subsidised price only till February 14th 2015. For the next three months, they have the chance to register themselves to avail subsidy. They will receive LPG at market price and will be reimbursed the subsidy if they register themselves before May 15th 2015. If you don’t register yourself by May 15th 2015, you will become ineligible for receiving the subsidy amount in your bank account. How to become eligible for subsidy transfer? First and foremost, you need to have the LPG connection in your name. If it is in the name of any other family member, then they have to follow the below steps—not you. You, or the one who has LPG connection, should also have a bank account in your/his/her own name. If not, then hurry up now and get a bank account as soon as possible. I have already linked my Aadhaar card to bank account and LPG account. Do I need to re-apply? Check whether your LPG connection is Aadhaar-enabled and eligible for cash transfer of subsidy. You can do this by logging on to mylpg.in, choosing your LPG distributor and by clicking on the option ‘Check DBTL(CTC) status’. This option is available on all LPG service providers’ websites. How to open bank account quickly? Getting bank accounts has been made easy with Pradhan Mantri Jandhan Yojana. The FAQ section in PM Jandhan Yojana website says that, if you have Aadhaar card, that is all you need to submit to the bank, alongwith application form. If your address is different from the one on the Aadhaar card, you have to provide a valid address proof for current address, such as phone bill or electricity bill, or submit a self-declaration of changed address. If you have no Aadhaar card, you can open the bank account by providing an address proof and identity proof. How to get the application forms? There are two types of Direct Benefit Transfer method: One is Aadhaar-based, another is non-Aadhaar-based. For Aadhaar-based method, you need to acquire and fill the bank linking form called as Form 1 and Aadhaar and LPG-linking form, Form 2. These can be found on the PAHAL (Direct Benefit Transfer) section of Petroleum and Natural Gas website in this link, by choosing Option 1—the blue button on left hand side, or clicking here. For non-Aadhaar-based method, you have form 3 and Form 4 which can be downloaded by clicking on the Option 2 on PAHAL section of Petroleum and Natural Gas website. They are also available on individual websites for LPG service providers, which you access by logging in to mylpg.in, accessing the section for your distributor and clicking on DBT-related links. When you click on the link for Form 1, either a form will appear in a new tab or the form will automatically be downloaded. So check your downloads section before deciding that the website doesn’t work. You can also take the forms from your LPG distributor. The full-page newspaper advertisements issued by UIDAI too have the form, which you can cut and use. How to register for Direct Benefit Transfer? Aadhaar card-based Direct Benefit Transfer is applicable to the LPG account holders who have an Aadhaar card. Those who do not have Aadhaar card can go for non-Aadhaar-based method, by linking their bank account directly to LPG account. Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer Step 1: Link your bank account to Aadhaar card The consumer under whose name the LPG is registered needs to fill the form 1. Give the exact 12-digit Aadhaar number in the form. You have to attach a copy of Aadhaar letter/ card while submitting the form to the bank. The form can be deposited personally at home branch of your bank i.e. where your account is registered. Alternatively, you can also link your Aadhaar Number with your bank account through your distributor. Fill the form “Bank Account – Aadhaar Linkage Form (For LPG Consumer only)” and drop it in “Bank Form Drop Box” kept with your distributor. The forms are also available with your distributor. If you submit the form personally at bank, an acknowledgment slip will be handed over to you, and you are sure your application is in the safe hands. Step 2: Get your LPG linked to Aadhaar card The final step is to link your Aadhaar number with your LPG consumer number. For this, you need to be ready with two things. Name of the distributor Your 17-digit LPG Consumer Number. You can find consumer number on your first page of DGCC booklet or on the recent cash memo handed over to you by the delivery boy. The 17-digit number can be obtained by clicking HP, Indane and Bharat Gas websites and entering the required details. Fill the Form 2 in capital letters using blue or black ink. It needs to be accompanied by two attachments: Copy of the first page of DGCC booklet or recent cash memo. Photocopy of the proof of current address, if the address is different from what is given in Aadhaar card. Terms simplified: Scroll of honour: This is where the LPG distributors will display the names of people who opted out of LPG subsidy, as a token of appreciation for their contribution in nation-building. Form 1: Form to link your Aadhaar number to your bank account, to be submitted to the bank branch. Form 2: Form to link Aadhaar number to LPG account, to be submitted to the LPG distributor. Form 3: Form to link LPG account to bank account directly without Aadhaar card, to be submitted to the bank branch. Form 4: Form to link LPG account to bank account directly without Aadhaar card, to be submitted to the LPG distributor. Unified form: A combination of all the above forms, which you can fill according to the applicability in your case and submit to the applicable agencies. This is currently found only in the Bharat Gas transparency portal. Address proof can be any of the following: Aadhaar (UID) letter Lease agreement Telephone bill Electricity bill or any other utility bill Self declaration attested by Gazette Officer Flat allotment or Possession letter LIC policy Driving license Voter ID Passport Ration card House registration document. Please note that before you submit the form, you need to take a combined photocopy of Aadhaar letter and the filled Form 2. You are required to place the original Aadhaar letter on the left hand side, while your Form 2 will be on the right side adjacent to it. The final combined photocopy must have your photo of the Aadhaar letter running on the left side corner with the bar code details. Six options for handing over the application: By Hand: Submit Form 2 to the LPG distributor directly. Via Call Centre: Call 1800-2333-555 and follow the insructions to register the Aadhaar Number On Internet: Log on to www.rasf.uiadai.gov.in and follow the procedure By Post: Send Form 2 along with enclosures to Area office address. Indane area-office addresses HP area office addresses Bharat area office addresses By IVRS Indane Gas(IOC): 8970024365 HP Gas (HPC): 9964023456 Bharat Gas (BPC): 9483356789 SMS: Registration is just a text away. For this, first, you need to register your number with the Oil Company/ Gas agency. Please note that Bharat Gas customers should register the mobile number before hand. Once their number is registered manually with the authorities they can register their Aadhaar number via text. For HPC/ IOC customers: REG distributor telephone number with STD code without zero consumer number (e.g. REG 1187654321 564321) Once the mobile number is registered to LPG consumer number, customers of all the three Oil Companies can link the Aadhaar number via text. You need to type: UID Aadhaar Number (eg. UID 32323232323232). The above text should be sent to the respective companies, to the numbers listed below: IOC (Indane Gas): 8970024365 HPC (HP Gas): 9964023456 BPC (Bharatgas): 57333 or 52725 You will immediately receive a confirmation saying your Aadhaar number is registered. For methods other than SMS, a confirmation will be sent to you in seven days. However you can anytime check your linkage status on the concerned Oil company websites For HP, click here: http://myhpgas.in/myHPGas/HPGas/CheckAadharStatus.aspx For Indane, click here:indane.co.in/aadhaarcheck.php For Bharat, click here: http://my.ebharatgas.com/bharatgas/ConsumerAadhaarStatus.faces Finally, check with your bank and ensure your bank account is Aadhaar-enabled. Non-Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer This facility is available only for those who do not have the Aadhaar card. You will be giving a declaration in form 4 when you submit it to the LPG dealers, which states that you do not hold an Aadhaar card. The declaration also says that you agree to submit Aadhaar card the moment you have it with you. Step-by-step instruction: Log on to mylpg.in Choose the LPG service provider. Click on Join DBT link on the service provider’s transparency portal. Select the second option that says: ‘If you do not have Aadhaar Number Click here to join DBTL’ Here, you are given two options to link your bank account to LPG account directly. Submitting details to LPG distributor: You can submit your bank account details in the prescribed Form 4 directly, to the LPG distributor. For this, you need to check whether your bank is on NACH platform. (NACH platform is National Automated Clearing House platform, implemented by National Payments Corporation of India, to enable the government to to facilitate interbank, high volume, electronic transactions which are repetitive and periodic in nature. If your bank is not on the platform, you need to open an account in a bank that is on this platform.) You can also choose to register with the LPG service provider and submit the details online. Submitting details to bank branch: Submit your 17 digit LPG ID details in Form 3. If your bank does not feature in this list, you need to open a bank account in the banks in the list. Instead of Form 3 or Form 4, you can also go for unified PAHAL form which is applicable for Aadhaar-based and non-Aadhaar-based linkages. This form can be submitted to banks and/or LPG distributors. The instructions are in the form itself. What happens if I have an Aadhaar card, but opt to link my bank account to LPG directly? When you submit your details through Form 3 or Form 4 or through unified form, you will be giving a declaration that you do not possess an Aadhaar card as on date. You are also declaring that you will provide the details of Aadhaar card to the bank if you get an Aadhaar card. Direct linking of bank to LPG account is applicable only for those who don’t have Aadhaar card. If you have an Aadhaar card, then you cannot link your bank account directly to LPG. If you submit false declaration, it is easy to track it down, because the details given to Aadhaar card would somewhere be overlapped with the details you would have given to your bank to open your account. What happens if I don’t link my bank account to LPG account? You will continue to get LPG cylinders at market rate, but no subsidy will come back to you. The subsidy is hardly Rs 6,000 per annum at the current LPG price, considering that you can book 12 cylinders in a year. If you use less cylinders, it will be less. Market price per cylinder is Rs 800, while the subsidy per cylinder is around Rs 400 as on date. So the maximum subsidy you get per year can be Rs 4,400. Considering the amount people spend if they enter the Pizza Hut or a good hotel for one meal, it is not such huge amount. How do I opt out of LPG subsidy? As the transparency portals of HP, Indane and bharat Gas put it, if you can afford to pay the market rate for this highly subsidised commodity, you can do so. Thereby you will save the government so much money which can be used for some other public good. Click on the Opt out of subsidy link in the transparency portal of your distributor, to opt out. The portals also have ‘Scroll of honour’ where they display your name with your permission, if you opt out of PG subsidy. Opting out of LPG also saves you the hassle of revealing your bank account to the system. What happens when the scheme starts? As soon as you book your first LPG cylinder, you will receive an amount equivalent to the subsidy in your bank account. This will be the advance subsidy that you can use for buying the cylinder at non-subsidised price. As soon as you get the first delivery of the cylinder, an amount equivalent to the subsidy will again be deposited to your account. This will be your subsidy for the next cylinder you book. This will continue for twelve cylinders in a year. After that if you book more cylinders, you will be eligible for the subsidy only in the next year. You have no option of having Aadhaar card and not link it to your LPG connection. You can link LPG connection directly to bank only if you have no Aadhaar card. If you are using gas connection in somebody else’s name, that person needs to link his/her LPG account number to his/her bank account. The subsidy will come to that account only. If the person in whose name the connection exists is not alive/ relocated or not available for all these processes, the subsidy will not be provided to anyone. Best part of the scheme is, if at all somebody else books LPG using your consumer number in your absence, or without your knowledge, you might lose one cylinder from your quota. But your account will receive subsidy, and you are not obliged to pay it back to anyone! So far, those who booked gas like this and sold it in black market got away without being caught, even when they used the subsidy meant for you. This measure effectively curbs black marketing of LPG and provides the subsidy to the beneficiary directly. To know more about Direct Benefit Transfer, its terms and benefits,click here. 26.12.2014: Updated the article on reader feedback, for clarity. - Editor Write to Author  ·  Write to Editor Shree D N Shree D N is Associate Editor, Citizen Matters.


7102 - India needs at least 3 lakh ATMs: NPCI chief - The Hindu Businessline

K RAM KUMAR

Abhaya Prasad Hota, MD and CEO, National Payments Corporation of India

‘With so many accounts and debit cards being issued under Jan Dhan, the ATM infrastructure needs to be ramped up’
MUMBAI, DECEMBER 22:  


With banks opening millions of accounts and issuing the home-grown ‘RuPay’ debit cards under the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojana, the ATM network in the country could see a ramp-up from the current 1.82 lakh to three lakh in the next one-and-a-half years.

Reason: debit card acceptance infrastructure needs to be created so that they can be used for transactions such as withdrawal of money and remittance.

Predicting a jump in ATMs, Abhaya Prasad Hota, MD and CEO, National Payments Corporation of India, said it is important that the card acceptance infrastructure, especially ATMs, is built up.
“How do we build the (card) acceptance infrastructure? That is where the big challenge is…With so many cards being issued, where will they be used unless ATMs are installed? Once the ATM infrastructure is in place, the card usage will increase,” said Hota.

A long way to go
The NPCI chief observed that for such a vast country as India, the current 1.82 lakh ATMs is still a small number. The country needs to have a minimum of three lakh ATMs.
According to latest World Bank data, in terms of the ratio of number of ATMs per lakh adults, India, at 11.21 ATMs, is way below Brazil (118.60) and South Africa (59.93).

“Ideally, per lakh adults, there should be about 20 ATMs. We have got about 11. So, we have a long way to go,” said Hota. As on December 19, banks collectively opened 9.66 crore basic savings bank deposit accounts under Jan Dhan Yojana, which is the Centre’s financial inclusion drive for vulnerable groups such as weaker sections and low-income groups.

Kicked-off in August-end, the Yojana seeks to ensure access to financial services, namely, banking/savings and deposit accounts, remittances, credit, insurance and pension in an affordable manner.

Banks collectively have issued 6.92 crore RuPay debit cards to new account holders. RuPay is the home-grown card payment scheme launched by NPCI, the umbrella institution for all retail payment systems in the country, to rival global payments processing giants Visa and MasterCard.

Non-bank ATMs
The NPCI chief said the increase in the number of RuPay debit cards will encourage the seven white label ATM service providers (non-bank entities which set up, own and operate ATMs) to ramp up their ATM network.
“They (white label ATM service providers) are not making good money.
“But now with so many cards coming, possibly their business sentiment would be revived and they would start installing ATMs,” he said.
PIN, biometric enabled
Since ATMs cannot be installed in every village, the services of business correspondents (BCs) are being engaged by banks to reach out banking services to the hinterland.
These BCs have biometric hand-held devices that are integrated with the bank’s core banking solution platform to enable seamless banking transactions such a withdrawal/ deposit of money, remittance, etc.
According to Hota, the new RuPay debit cards which are being issued under the Jan Dhan scheme are PIN-enabled, and wherever Aadhaar number is available, they are also biometric-enabled.
So, in rural areas the new hand-held devices which have been introduced can accept Aadhaar as well as PIN authentication.


(This article was published on December 22, 2014)

7101 - Rush kills widow in pension queue - Telegraph India


Our Special Correspondent

Hyderabad, Dec. 22: An elderly widow waiting to collect pension died today after a "near stampede" outside a Vijayawada post office triggered by a rush to grab slips needed for the payment of Rs 1,000.

Padala Shantamma, 65, had been in the queue along with several others since 3.30am, braving the cold to reconfirm her eligibility for the Andhra pension scheme. The reconfirmation is an annual formality aimed at verifying in person whether the beneficiaries are alive and meet other norms.

All was well till the doors of the Chittinagar post office opened and the staff started handing out the slips around 8am, triggering a ruckus with everyone trying to get in, according to police and eyewitnesses who described the scrum as a "near stampede".

In the commotion, Shantamma fell on rocks adjacent to the queue and suffered chest injuries, police said. She was rushed to a local hospital and later to the town's larger Government General Hospital where she died while undergoing treatment, the police said.

Shantamma - survived by three sons, who are farm labourers - and the others in the large crowd outside the post office had flocked there in the wee hours fearing failure to carry out the reconfirmation could result in their names being struck off the pension list.

The rush - not unfamiliar in Bengal where snaking queues for pensions and other payments are seen outside several post offices - was sparked by reports that scores of people had been dropped from the list after failing to appear in person and submitting papers such as age certificates and Aadhaar cards afresh.

The process is usually carried out at the end of the year, after which payments are directly credited online to post-office accounts and physical presence is not required.

Chief minister Chandrababu Naidu has ordered a probe into today's incident. Local CPM leaders staged a demonstration demanding action against the authorities.

The Naidu-led Desam government hiked the monthly payments under the pension scheme for the elderly from Rs 200 to Rs 1,000 after coming to power following the summer polls. As a result, the state's bill has gone up four fold, from Rs 1,100 crore to Rs 4,500 crore.

This is the second such death in the state in less than two months. An elderly man died after a stampede at a centre in Anantapur district where Aadhaar papers were being distributed.