INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
changer", Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday said savings made through its implementation can fund three public welfare schemes of
attributed successful implementation of Aadhaar to decisive leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying Congress-led UPA remained
"half-hearted" towards it because of its own contradictions and indecision.In a Facebook post titled 'Benefits of Aadhaar - where it stands
today', Jaitley said its use in delivery of subsidies has helped saved Rs 90,000 crore in last few years till March 2018 by eliminating
several duplicate, non-existent and fake beneficiaries
The Digital Dividend Report prepared by World Bank estimates that India can save Rs 77,000 crore every year by use of Aadhaar, he said."The
savings through Aadhaar can fund three schemes of size of Ayushman BharatAadhaar is a game changer," Jaitley said
Ayushman Bharat - Pradhan Mantri Jan Aarogya Yojana aims to provide a coverage of Rs 5 lakh per family annually, benefiting more than 10.74
crore poor families for secondary and tertiary care hospitalisation through a network of empanelled healthcare providers.Since its launch in
September, nearly 7 lakh poor patients have been provided free hospital treatment
through Aadhaar now equals Rs 1,69,868 crore
"With elimination of middlemen benefits go directly to bank accounts
This is a unique technology implemented only in India
The monies saved through Aadhaar is money fruitfully employed for poor elsewhere," Jaitley said.Since The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of
Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill was passed in 2016, in last 28 months over 122 crore Aadhaar numbers have been
About 99 per cent of adult population of India above age of 18 stands covered
He said 22.80 crore PAHAL and Ujjwala beneficiaries are given cooking gas subsidies through direct benefit transfer (DBT) in their
Aadhaar-linked bank accounts.Jaitley said 58.24 crore ration card holders stand linked and 10.33 crore MGNREGA card holders get wage payment
through DBT in their bank accounts
So do 1.93 crore beneficiaries of national social assistance programme
The Income Tax Department has already linked 21 crore PAN card holders with their Aadhaar numbers
A total of 2,579 crore authentications have been undertaken till date
Everyday, 2.7 crore authentications are done
UIDAI has capacity of 10 crore transactions to be authenticated per day.In most schemes, direct benefit transfer takes place to
beneficiaries' 63.52 crore bank accounts that had been linked with unique identity as on December 15, 2018
The total number of subsidy transactions through Aadhaar are almost about 425 crore
Jaitley said a senior minister in UPA government blocked idea of Unique Identity Number (UID) conceived by Nandan Nilekani and it was a
"The Prime Minister was indecisive
The enrolment continued, though at a very moderate pace," he said
It was only a decisive Prime Minister Narendra Modi who decided to go ahead with idea of Aadhaar after formation of NDA government in May
2014, he added.The UPA legislation, Jaitley said, was inadequate as it did not contain adequate safeguards on privacy and did not mention
for which purpose UID would be used
"The NDA Government re-examined issue and legislation was completely changed
The pith and substance of new law was that Government spends a large part of public resources in subsidising poor
This subsidy became an indefinite amount which is given to an unidentified section of people."There are several cases of duplication and
thus unique identity based on biometrics would eliminate these aberrations and relief would travel only to intended
This was thrust of new law," he said
Jaitley said Supreme Court upheld whole concept of unique identity and rejected challenge that it violated Right to Privacy
"It held that Aadhaar meets concept of constitutional trust, limited government and good governance and empowers marginalised section of
It also introduced several safeguards to ensure that it is not misused
The Judgement of Supreme Court added balance to concept of Aadhaar," Jaitley said.Two individuals deserve a special credit for Aadhaar,
"Shri Nandan Nilekani, who started it and Dr Ajay Bhushan Pandey, who subsequently provided it with direction and expansion
