Story Dated: Thursday, November 14, 2013 20:7 hrs IST
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Kottayam: A directive from the Supreme Court some time ago said that Aadhaar number should not be made mandatory for obtaining subsidies on LPG cylinders.
However, gas agencies are still demanding the card to link it to the consumer's ID. With so much of confusion on the issue still hanging in the air, what has the district administration done to tackle the situation? Kottayam District Collector Ajit Kumar, IAS, talked to Manorama Online on the various aspects of Aadhaar card. Excerpts:
What is the confusion about Aadhaar card and its linking with a bank account?
Basically, this is part of a scheme called Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) whereby the subsidy or benefit for any person will directly go to his/her bank account from the Government of India. For that, you need your Aadhaar number. In the case of LPG connection, the agency will link your consumer ID with your bank account and your Aadhaar number. That would involve three vital information about the customer. When the Government gives you the subsidy on nine cylinders a year, it would directly get credited to your bank account because the three vital data pertaining to the customer has been linked. The amount of that subsidy will keep changing every year, though.
As far as registration for Aadhaar is concerned, 20 lakh persons in the district are found to have already registered for Aadhaar, while the population of Kottayam is around 19.21 lakh, which means 103 per cent have been registered as per record. But, the fact is there are still people who haven't registered. This means there is some duplication. The pace at which it's moving indicates that we'll be able to sort it out very shortly.
Coming to the question of confusion, it has been raised by those who haven't yet been issued the Aadhaar number or those who have the Aadhaar number, but have not yet been seeded as CTC (Cash Transfer Compliant) customer.
But the Supreme Court had ruled that Aadhaar is not mandatory....
The Supreme Court has said it is not mandatory now. But may be in future, it could become so. Anyways we are not wasting time. There are 4.74 lakh LPG consumers with Consumer ID number and we have 35 main gas agencies. Out of which 20 are IOC agencies and the rest are BPCL, HPCL, etc. Each gas agency serves from 10 to 15,000 customers on an average. So far, 1.73 lakh customers have been seeded. The rest will be completed very soon.
With December 1 being the deadline, what will be the scenario thereafter?
Now, people who are not seeded are getting LPG on subsidised rates. Those who are seeded are getting the subsidy in their bank accounts. As an initial step Rs.435 goes to the account of each seeded customer as advance. But from 1st December, all will have to pay the unsubsidised rate for the LPG on delivery. I have directed all the gas agencies to get the Aadhaar number by then and to forward it to the banks. I have also asked all the distributors to publish status reports through the media in case any confusion crops up. But I hope that all the LPG consumers in Kottayam will get seeded by November 30.
But, if there is a delay in issuing the Aadhaar number, the UIDAI has to address it. And I have asked all the 73 Gram Panchayats to make the process smooth. I have also directed the Akshaya centres that if a person is ailing, Akshaya people may go to his/her house and get him/her registered. If there is no bank account in his/her name there should be an account in a post office.
What is your take on apprehensions about threats to national security and the prospect that people's privacy could be compromised because of misuse of Aadhaar cards?
In the first place, it's not actually the card that matters. It's the number, a 12 digit number, which is important. It is used to avail of benefits from the government - not only the subsidy on gas but a range of other government benefits like old age pensions, widow pension, minority benefit schemes, educational scheme etc. What is unique about the Aadhaar number is that if you're entitled to the benefit of different schemes of the government you need not go to different offices for that. With just one Aadhaar number linked to the bank account number all the benefits will go to that account. The government of India is intending that the benefits should go to the right and the deserving person.
As far as misuse is concerned there are also other details like bank account which has to be matched to get the benefits from the government. So I don't feel there is any threat to national security or a person's privacy as such. Actually, there is a change going on. Usually panic grips people whenever a change takes place and we are now engaged in change management.