PM wants prisoners to have Aadhar cards
TNN | Sep 24, 2014, 02.51AM IST
NEW DELHI: All prisoners languishing in various jails across the country would be given Aadhar cards.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi has directed Union home ministry and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to ensure enrollment of all inmates across the country.
A government source said that the plan to issue Aadhar numbers would help to ensure that prisoners and their families are not denied their rights and entitlements under welfare schemes.
He added, "This would also create a secure database for prisoners that would help in more effective tracking."
An official said that the specific direction from PM to Union home ministry would help to bring state governments on board without whose support UIDAI could not set up enrollment camps in prisons across the country.
A highly-placed source told TOI that Prime Minister in a meeting with key government officials expressed his eagerness for completion of enrollment of all 1.2 billion residents of the country as soon as possible.
"He wanted faster completion of the entire enrollment process," she said.
PM also directed the external affairs ministry to use Aadhar number for issuing of passports so that biometric data collected by UIDAI could be utilised. Modi was not happy with current practice of passports offices taking applicants biometric details which are of no utility as they cannot be de-duplicated.
"He was convinced that use of Aadhar would prevent duplication of work," said an official, adding that Aadhaar already has biometric details of more than half of the population so there is no point in passport office repeating it.
PM also desired to link financial inclusion scheme, Jan Dhan Yojana, with Aadhaar to check leakages and corruption.
The Aadhar enabled bank accounts would prevent the possibility of opening fake accounts to claim the benefits.
The scheme is aimed at opening bank accounts for the poor, provides for accident insurance cover of one lakh rupees, medical insurance of Rs 30,000 with a free debit card for those who open accounts before January 26, 2015.
After Modi's nudge, the Union Cabinet had cleared Rs 1200 crore fund for UIDAI to fast-track roll out of Aadhaar in four states of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, which were lagging behind in enrollment.
Modi has given the target of enrolling one billion by the end of next year. The UIDAI has to speed up the process in UP and has enrolled one-fourth of the population (more than five crore against a population of 19.95 crore).
The authority has been enrolling at present more than 2.5 lakh residents per day through over 5000 centres in 69 districts.
With the 68 crore resident database, the Aadhaar identity platform has been serving users ranging from MNREGA workers, PDS, remittance and scholarship beneficiaries, etc. - all using their Aadhaar number to avail benefits through authentication.