UDUPI, February 14, 2015
GANESH PRABHU
The Udupi district unit of Students Islamic Organisation of India (SIO) has urged the Union government not to make Aadhaar card number mandatory for minority scholarships.
In a memorandum addressed to the Union Minister for Minority Affairs Najma Heptulla, and submitted at the Deputy Commissioner’s Office, Yaseen Kodibengre, president of district unit of SIO, said that the Ministry recently issued circular suggesting the distribution of money for pre-metric scholarship scheme through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) mode to the students’ bank accounts.
Against Supreme Court
Though this suggestion was welcome, the SIO had strong reservation to her suggestion linking Aadhaar number for the DBT. The DBT for post-metric scholarships had been achieved without Aadhaar linkage and there was no point in insisting on Aadhaar number, the organisation said.
Besides, the Supreme Court had specifically stated that no person shall be deprived on any service for want of Aadhaar number in case s/he was otherwise eligible or entitled to it. The suggestion of the Ministry was against the directions of the Supreme Court, the memorandum added.