KARTIKEYA SHARMA NEW DELHI, OCTOBER 9, 2013 | UPDATED 12:59 IST
The Union Cabinet might have passed the new UIDAI bill with great gusto but the Standing Committee on Finance is of the view that the government must refer the bill to them as they had vetted it's original avatar. Speaking exclusively to Headlines Today, the chairman of the Standing Committee on Finance Yashwant Sinha said that the bill must not only come to them for scrutiny but government should also clarify certain vital issues.
The Standing Committee on Finance had pulled up the Ministry of Planning in its report on not providing proper data on number of cards issued to the people who have enlisted for the programme. The Committee had also pulled up the government for inadequate allocation of money to the scheme and had suggested to the Centre that UIDAI needs some statutory status as crores of money is being spent on this scheme.
"There are lot of contradictions made by the government. Earlier this scheme was supposed to be voluntary and now government has decided to make it mandatory," said Yashwant Sinha.
As per Supreme Court's order the UIDAI card can only be given to citizens and not to all the residents. "Government doesn't have focus and the recent stand it has taken on the issue of UIDAI is testimony to this fact," said Yashwant Sinha.
As of now half the population will be covered under the UIDAI scheme and the other half under NPR which comes under Ministry of Home Affairs. Yashwant Sinha feels that all these issues must be rectified by the government. Earlier the scheme led to a turf war between Nandan Nilekeni and P. Chidambaram and ultimately had to be resolved at PM's intervention.