By ENS Economic Bureau - NEW DELHI
29th June 2013 10:17 AM
The government has said that Aadhaar cards are not required for people to enjoy the benefits provided by the Provident Fund body, Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).
In a letter written by the Labour ministry to the EPFO’s Central Provident Fund Commissioner, the government said that EPFO schemes have been left outside of the ambit of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). “The schemes under EPFO and ESIC have been excluded from the list schemes identified for implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer,” the Labour ministry said. The EPFO has over 5 crore members.
Following the directive, the EPFO has stopped the submission of monthly report by its regional offices on the progress of work under the DBT scheme. The EPFO schemes have been kept out of the DBT scheme as it wasn’t a subsidy or a grant. Currently, claims are settled through NEFT and cheques.
In January, the EPFO has asked for collection of data for Aadhaar for members joining on or after March 1, 2013 and for current members by June 30. EPFO has also sought the Aadhaar numbers of its pensioners. Faced with criticism from unions, in February, the EPFO decided to scrap the move to make it mandatory for new members to give Aadhaar numbers to join EPF schemes.