4930 - Government responds to UIDAI criticism - Live Mint

Government responds to UIDAI criticism

Opinion of ministry and attorney general was the basis for issuing Aadhaar numbers before a law backing it was passed

Kirthi V. Rao 

The official comment came was in response to criticism that the UIDAI was issuing the Aadhaar numbers on the basis of only an executive order and not a law. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

New Delhi: The opinion of the law ministry and the attorney general was the basis for issuing Aadhaar unique identity numbers before a law backing it was passed, a government release said on Thursday.

The official comment came was in response to criticism that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was issuing the unique identity numbers on the basis of only an executive order and not a law.

The release, titled National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2013, to be introduced in winter session of Parliament, responds to this and other criticisms of the parliamentary standing committee on finance. The Bill was referred to the House panel headed by opposition leader Yashwant Sinha after it was introduced on 3 December 2010 in the upper House.

4816 - Aadhaar should not be made mandatory: Aruna Roy - Live Mint

Aadhaar should not be made mandatory: Aruna Roy

Roy says the government should work toward allaying shortcomings in the National Food Security Act

First Published: Fri, Oct 11 2013. 07 52 PM IST

Social activist Aruna Roy. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/Mint

Jaipur: Social activist Aruna Roy on Friday termed the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance (UPA) government’s Aadhaar project as an “illegal document,” demanding that it should not be made mandatory to avail basic services.

The government should work toward allaying shortcomings in the National Food Security Act, she told reporters.

Roy claimed that following the implementation of the Act several families which were receiving food grains are now getting lesser than the original quantity.

The Act only covers basic staples (wheat and rice), and not pulses and oil that are basic ingredients of a meal in a poor household, Roy, who is the president of National Federation of Indian Women (NFIW), said.

Claiming that the protest against the implementation of Aadhaar scheme was gaining momentum, NFIW’s general secretary Annie Raja said that its implementation is not right.

Demanding the passage of the women’s reservation Bill in the forthcoming session of Parliament, Roy questioned the laxity in the passage of the Bill when women were already getting a 50% reservation at panchayat-level.

The federation also threatened to sit on a ‘dharna’ in front of the Parliament on 25 November to press for their demands. PTI

4744 - Jayalalithaa urges PM to hold phase two roll-out of direct cash transfer for LPG - Live Mint

Jayalalithaa urges PM to hold phase two roll-out of direct cash transfer for LPG

Tamil Nadu CM says replacing the subsidy with a direct cash transfer is not appropriate

Arundhati Ramanathan 

Chennai: Tamil Nadu chief minister J. Jayalalithaa has urged Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to re-think the roll-out of the second phase of its direct cash transfer scheme for cooking gas cylinders, known as direct benefit transfer for LPG (DBTL).

In a letter to Singh, the Tamil Nadu chief minister said she was “rudely shocked” to receive a letter from the oil minister informing her of the second phase of the scheme.

The programme is proposed to be implemented in 235 districts across the country, including 25 districts in Tamil Nadu, from 1 January.

“I would like to place on record my strong opposition to the proposed roll-out of direct benefit transfer for LPG,” she said, adding that replacing the subsidy with a direct cash transfer is not appropriate.

Jayalalithaa had already conveyed her opposition to direct cash transfers to beneficiaries’ bank accounts by the central government, saying it was wrong administrative practice to bypass state governments.

Further, she said linking DBTL with Aadhaar identity numbers will only lead to confusion and public inconvenience as the system is not yet fully geared for it. In Tamil Nadu, of the eligible 67.4 million people, Aadhaar numbers have been issued to only 25.2 million.

The DBTL scheme has so far been introduced in 54 districts, covering 21.9 million out of India’s total of about 140 million consumers of subsidized cooking gas cylinders.

4663 - Supreme Court shock for UPA’s Aadhaar-linked cash transfers - Live Mint

Supreme Court shock for UPA’s Aadhaar-linked cash transfers

Top court says Aadhaar can’t be mandatory for availing benefits; interim order may foil UPA’s poll trump card

Monalisa  |  Kirthi V Rao 

First Published: Mon, Sep 23 2013. 09 36 PM IST

The Aadhaar scheme was designed to provide every resident in India with a unique identity number. Photo: Ramesh Pathania/ Mint

Updated: Tue, Sep 24 2013. 02 17 PM IST

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday, in an interim order, said the government cannot make Aadhaar numbers mandatory for availing the benefits of government services and subsidies, including the direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme for cooking gas.

The move could potentially crimp the Congress-led United Progressive Alliance’s (UPA) plans to use the direct transfer of benefits as a talking point in the upcoming general election; it had even coined a catchy slogan to do so—Apkaa paisa aapke haath (your money in your hands).

Launched on 1 January, the direct benefits transfer programme has expanded to 28 schemes in 121 districts.

The court has also restrained the government from issuing Aadhaar numbers to illegal immigrants. The Aadhaar scheme was designed to provide every resident in India with a unique identity number and did not distinguish between citizens and non-citizens.

The interim order was passed by a two-judge bench, headed by justice B.S. Chauhan, that was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) challenging the issuance of Aadhaar numbers on grounds of invasion of privacy and right to life, according to advocate Anish Kumar Gupta who is representing the petitioners— former Karnataka high court judge K. S. Puttuswamy and advocate Parvesh Khanna.

Mint has not reviewed a copy of the interim order.

“The court says that Aadhaar can’t be made mandatory for providing services, (and) this is so far the government’s stand as well. Aadhaar can’t be a criteria for excluding people when it comes to services such as registration or protection. This may not hold for subsidies,” said a senior government official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. This person added that he is yet to see and understand the complete order.

Also See | In Pictures: How the Aadhaar scheme has evolved.

News agency Press Trust of India reported that the Union government told the Supreme Court that securing Aadhaar numbers was optional and it had not made it mandatory for citizens.

A senior official at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said, “One can only comment when we have seen the order, but in general terms, the UIDAI is in agreement that the enrolment for Aadhaar is voluntary and its application should be accompanied with robust exception management which has been the government’s stand as well.”

Exception management refers to providing services or benefits through alternative systems for those who do not have Aadhaar numbers.

“The court said that possession of Aadhaar numbers is not compulsory for availing government-sponsored beneficial schemes and services. The bench issued a set of interim directions today and the matter will come up for hearing at a later date. These orders will operate till a final decision is arrived at by the court,” said Gupta.

The Aadhaar or Unique Identity Number, issued by the UIDAI under the aegis of the Planning Commission, is a 12-digit identification number which serves as proof of identity and address anywhere in India.

The apex court also heard a batch of pleas against decisions of some states to make Aadhaar numbers compulsory for a range of activities including salary, provident fund disbursals and marriage and property registration.

The Aadhaar-based DBT scheme aimed at transfer of welfare payments to the bank accounts of beneficiaries, with the unique identity number acting as the link between the government department’s beneficiary database and the beneficiary’s bank account.

However, official review meetings of DBT have found that linking of beneficiaries’ bank accounts to their Aadhaar numbers has been a drag on its faster implementation.

While S. Sundareshan, mission director for DBT, declined comment, stating he was not authorized to speak on Aadhaar, a petroleum ministry official requesting anonymity said: “If there will be some problem, it will be taken up at the appropriate level for relief.” This person added that it was impossible to target cooking gas subsidies without Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.

Despite the call for fresh legislation supporting the issuance of Aadhaar numbers from the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance in consecutive reports since December 2011—the latest one was tabled in April—the government has not created an enabling law. Instead, it has proceeded to link it in phases with transfer of welfare payments such as cooking gas, scholarships and pensions.

The finance ministry said in Parliament on 16 August that only 9.62% of beneficiary accounts for schemes under the programme, other than cooking gas subsidy, were linked to Aadhaar. The figure was about 50% for liquified petroleum gas subsidy transfer, much behind Aadhaar coverage of about 75% in the 20 districts where the targeted cooking gas scheme began on 1 June.

Utpal Bhaskar contributed to this story.

1168 - Aadhaar sets stage for cash transfers by Surabhi Agarwal - Source Live Mint

Posted: Thu, Mar 3 2011. 1:00 AM IST

 Surabhi Agarwal, surabhi.a@livemint.com

In line with finance minister Pranab Mukherjee’s budget announcement on Monday that the government is looking at direct cash transfers as an alternative to the current subsidy on kerosene and fertilizers and to prevent leakages, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is planning to open Aadhaar-linked bank accounts for the purpose. These can be used for other financial transactions as well.

The authority is in the process of empanelling banks that will open “no-frills accounts” or link existing ones, during enrolments for Aadhaar, as the unique ID programme is called. So far, UIDAI has enrolled around three million people and around 80% of them seek bank accounts.

UIDAI’s tender document states that the bank opening the account should have the capability to “provide electronic interface to facilitate disbursal of government benefits... Government may provide a list of Aadhaar numbers and amounts to the bank, and bank should be capable of routing payments to the linked bank account through an interoperable network”.

While the banks will be empanelled by April, the accounts are likely to be opened by May. UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani also heads a task force that’s working out the modalities for the proposed direct transfer of subsidy for kerosene and fertilizers, apart from liquefied petroleum gas (LPG).

The government subsidizes the price of the fuels and fertilizers in order to make them affordable to consumers. The government wants to plug leakages to ensure that the money reaches those that need it the most.

“To ensure greater efficiency, cost effectiveness and better delivery for both kerosene and fertilizers, the government will move towards direct transfer of cash subsidy to people living below poverty line in a phased manner,” Mukherjee said in his budget speech.

The report of the Nilekani task force is expected by June, while the system is expected to be in place by March 2012.

“Currently, there is no mechanism for direct transfers for social welfare schemes,” said A.P. Singh, deputy director general at UIDAI. “Aadhaar-linked bank accounts will create that infrastructure.”

The task force, which held its first meeting recently, is considering several options, including direct cash transfers to the account of the beneficiary, who buys the product at market price. Another option is to pay the merchant, who then sells at the subsidized rate to the beneficiary. “The task force is yet to formalize which way is more feasible,” said an official familiar with the discussions.

While a bank account is a key part of these options, a large part of India’s population is unbanked (60% according to Reserve Bank of India, or RBI data) and penetration in the rural areas is very low. Given the current rate of UIDAI enrolment and demand for bank accounts, there could be as many as five million new bank accounts in the country in April.

“Banks will have to open accounts for transferring the subsidies,” said M.V. Nair, chairman and managing director of Union Bank of India.

Indian Overseas Bank chairman and managing director M. Narendra said the process will mean more customers for banks and a larger base to cross-sell financial products to the rural population at a lower cost of customer acquisition.

Mukherjee said in his budget speech that UIDAI is expecting to generate around one million numbers from October. The authority has a target of enrolling 600 million people by 2014.

As per the tender document, UIDAI will empanel a set of banks in each area. People can choose which bank they want to open an account with when they’re being enrolled. Details of residents will be sent electronically to that bank, which will have to open an account within 30 days.

UIDAI has kept the selection criteria for banks at a bare minimum—it should be a scheduled bank and have at least one core banking-enabled branch in the district it seeks empanelment in.

Wherever enrolment is being undertaken in villages “adopted” by banks as part of the financial inclusion plan of RBI, the resident can choose between such lenders or the post office savings bank.

Under the financial inclusion initiative, the government had last year asked banks to provide facilities to areas having a population of over 2,000 by March 2012. The government had identified 73,000 such habitations. Banks expect to provide banking facilities to 20,000 villages this year and the remaining in 2011-12.

Where a bank is the registrar and conducting Aadhaar enrolment, accounts will be opened in that bank, unless it falls in areas where another lender has been appointed by RBI as the lead bank. In other cases, the customer will get a choice from the empanelled list. The bank will also set up at least one customer service point for every 2,000 accounts opened by it in a district, if this doesn’t already exist.

UIDAI is already conducting a pilot for the disbursement of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme funds in Jharkhand with Union Bank, ICICI Bank Ltd and Bank of India, where micro-ATMs will be deployed for payments. Meanwhile, the task force is considering a technology platform on which separate accounts for kerosene, LPG and fertilizers or subsequently other subsidies could be created for individual beneficiaries, tracking how much of the entitlement has been availed of.

“Separate accounts for entitlements such as kerosene, fertilizer, LPG can be maintained,” Nilekani said at a recent seminar in Delhi. “It will re-engineer the public sector delivery model by dealing with the underlining plumbing to prevent leakages in the social welfare schemes.”

Remya Nair contributed to this story.