Aadhaar Roundup-4

These are excerpts from some of the leading news dailies and magazines and with the spate of articles turning into a hurricane you can guess how important getting aadhaar numbers will be. These article extracts are not in chronological order.  The aadhaar roundup will now be monthly, rather than yearly, starting from November, 2014.

Volte Face:

The imperatives of governance have a tendency to make political parties think differently once they are in power and revisit earlier misgivings. Nothing illustrates this better than the Narendra Modi government’s decision to go ahead with the ‘Aadhaar’ scheme aimed at giving unique identification numbers to residents. The Bharatiya Janata Party had on some occasions in the past voiced its reservations about the viability and desirability of the scheme and questioned the legal basis of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) set up by the previous United Progressive Alliance regime. Many had questioned the lack of statutory basis for the project, voiced concern over the security implications of the possible enrolment of non-citizens, and argued that collecting biometric data without enabling legal provisions violated constitutional rights.

The Home Ministry has in a letter to the States come out in support of the Aadhaar scheme, saying it is a sound way of authenticating beneficiaries of government schemes and services.

Along with the announcements on diesel deregulation and the gas price hike, the government made another important announcement about relying on direct benefit transfer (DBT) to save money especially for liquefied petroleum gas (LPG). However, the government's preparedness on DBT will depend on hassle free banking system and the reach of Aadhaar cards.

PMJDY makes use of aadhaar in a big way:

Anurag Jain, Joint Secretary, Department of Financial Services says the Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna (PMJDY) aims to provide bank accounts to everyone in the country and the movement has been initiated in a very big way. According to him, the government wants to ensure that every micro planning area is being serviced via a bank. The move will give way to the DBT of the subsidy into the account. Nearly 291 districts are ready for the DBT rollout. He believes subsidy can also be provided without a compulsion of Aadhaar card as money can be directly transferred into bank accounts of individuals. Jain further suggest that DBT must be of two types, one is the Aadhaar-based and the other non-Aadhaar as there are only 69 crore people (out of 125 crore) with Aadhaar account currently. "Aadhaar coverage is 55-60 percent and increasing.

Aadhaar not necessary for social sector schemes:

Haryana Social Justice and Empowerment Minister Kavita Jain said that beneficiaries of various social security schemes are not required to produce Aadhaar card for availing these. She said that she has come to notice that beneficiaries were being asked to produce Aadhaar cards at the time of disbursement of pension. As a result, there is sense of resentment among the beneficiaries, she said, according to an official statement. Jain said that those beneficiaries who did not have the Aadhaar Card would also get the benefit of these schemes.

New Direct Benefit Transfer to save 14000 crore:

Petroleum and natural gas minister Dharmendra Pradhan is holding video-conferences with the district authorities where the scheme is being launched for direct transfer of LPG subsidy to consumers. “The petroleum ministry is working overnight to ensure that there is coordination between the oil companies and banks so that consumers smoothly get the LPG subsidy in their bank accounts,” a petroleum ministry official said. Special emphasis is being laid to ensure that the problems people faced last time are not repeated.  “We revisited the design of the scheme, and the modified scheme is being launched after a thorough review,” the official said. The scheme will be relaunched in 54 districts on November 15 and all across the country by January 1, 2015. It is expected to save the government upto Rs 14,000 crores in subsidies.

Indian govt launches biometric attendance system:

The Indian government is making its employee attendance records available online. Using the Aadhaar system, employee attendance data will be tracked in real-time and made publicly visible via an online portal. The portal is currently providing a graphical representation of government attendance numbers for nearly 50,000 registered employees in 150 government organizations based in New Delhi.

Aadhaar number to be included in service book:

After introducing aadhaar-based biometic attendance system for government servants, the government has issued fresh instructions making it mandatory to list an employee's aadhaar number in his/her service book. The service book, maintained in respect of each and every government servant, presently contains records such as biodata, posting details, qualifying service, security details, BHA, CGHS, CGEGIS, LTC etc. "It has been decided to include the respective aadhaar numbers of all government servants in their service books. All ministries/departments of the government of India are requested to ensure that the service books of all employees have an entry of the employees' aadhaar number," the DoPT on Monday instructed all ministries and departments of the government of India.

Real estate transactions to be tracked via aadhaar:

The government has come to the view that there are better ways of looking at tackling the black money problem at home rather than trying to get back all the money that has left the Indian shores.

Before we get any further it is important to define what black money is. A ministry of finance white paper published in May 2012 suggests that, “There is no uniform definition of black money in the literature or economic theory.” It then goes on to define black money as “assets or resources that have neither been reported to the public authorities at the time of their generation nor disclosed at any point of time during their possession”.

A serious effort of tackling black money problem will mean looking into real estate transactions, which generate a significant portion of black money in India. The finance minister, Arun Jaitley, recently talked about making Aadhaar cards compulsory for real estate transactions. While that is a good move, there are certain underlying distortions that need to be set right in the real estate sector, which comprises of close to 11 per cent of the Indian gross domestic product.

Mobile connections to be linked with aadhaar numbers:

Department of Telecom (DoT) has asked all mobile operators to collect 'Aadhaar' number along with customer application form for issuing new connections and store the unique identification number in their database. The DoT has also asked the operators to amend their database in two months for adding the 'Aadhaar' number. "It has been decided to collect Aadhaar number along with customer application form (CAF) of mobile telephone applications and store the same in the database along with other data," DoT sources said. Sources added that the directive will be applicable in all cases irrespective of the fact that mobile connection is issued by taking 'Aadhaar' card or any other document as proof of identity and proof of address.
The government has termed the aadhaar linking as having an additional incentive of enabling mobile banking and financial transactions via mobile phones.

Human-Less Banking:

At SBI, a person who walks into the branch can open a zero balance account in 15 minutes. A machine allows any of the approved KYC documents to be scanned, the signature to be captured on the machine using a stylus, and biometric verification to be done with a finger scan to authenticate the person's ID with the Aadhaar database. A machine next to it can print your debit card instantly.

These branches offer a near human-less banking experience. Almost every banking transaction, including opening an account, can be performed with virtually no human intervention. At the Citibank branch outlet, for instance, a machine performs the role that a teller typically does in a bank — counts the cash, deposits and dispenses it. "There is no need for manual reconciliation at the end of the day," says Anand Selvakesari, consumer banking head, ASEAN & India, Citibank.

Government to link all social schemes with aadhaar:

To link unique identification or Aadhaar number with disbursement of welfare funds from the next financial year, the Prime Minister’s Office has asked the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and National Population Register (NPR) to advance enrollment of all eligible residents from June to March 2015.

 The move is part of the bigger government agenda to plug leakages in the social sector schemes aimed at better fiscal management. It is also aimed at incorporating the concept of Aadhaar based direct benefit transfer for all government expenditure worth Rs. 3,00,000 crore every year from the next fiscal, which would bring paradigm shift in administering of the poorly managed government schemes.

Government planning aadhaar based Health Scheme:

Government is planning to link the universal health assurance scheme for providing medical treatment to all citizens with Aadhaar number to check ghost beneficiaries and fraudulent claims. Under its flagship National Health Assurance Mission (NHAM) which will be launched shortly, government has planned to cover the entire population. "The government has planned to seed Aadhaar numbers with its universal health programme NHAM. The experts think that this would help in keeping a check on any fraudulent insurance claims or ghost beneficiaries under the scheme," a source privy to the development said.

Transport Department to seed aadhaar number of vehicle owners and licenses:

It will help the Transport Dept. streamline vehicle registration, update details regarding change of vehicle ownership and monitor payment of taxes. The State government has decided to provide Aadhaar seeding to all registered vehicle owners and driving licence holders. While Aadhaar card is mandatory for registering new vehicles and obtaining driving licence, the government has decided to link all existing vehicle owners and driving licence holders with Aadhaar number. The exercise, which is being taken up as a pilot project at Nandyal town, will commence on November 10.

Indian city to use Aadhaar numbers to clean voter lists:

Officials in India’s fourth-largest city, Hyderabad, have revealed plans to link electoral photo ID cards with Aadhaar identity numbers, which are only issued following a biometric de-duplification. The Election Commission of India-backed plan - the first of its kind in India - will see voting lists checked against Aadhaar numbers to delete duplicate, dead, or migrated voters. Details of citizens whose Aadhaar details do not match or are not available, will be handed over to electoral officers who will visit these houses and collect information manually.

India to launch biometric airport entry pilot:

Indian authorities plan to roll out a pilot of fingerprint scanners at airport entry points that will be linked to the country’s Aadhaar unique ID number project. From January, passengers with an Aadhaar number can place his or her fingerprint on a biometric kiosk at airport entry gates in Bangalore’s Kempegowda International Airport, with the details then checked against details held by the Central Industrial Security Force. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), CISF and Kempegowda International Airport Limited (KIAL) will work on the project. The UIDAI invited bids for it on 23 October, reported the Economic Times.

Marriage portals to firewall fake grooms:

Married men posing as single, serial daters looking to hook up and stalkers on the prowl, beware. Matrimonial websites may soon set up firewalls against men who put up fake profiles. Increasing instances of women being cheated while looking for grooms online has prompted women and child development minister Maneka Gandhi to intervene. In a meeting this week with senior representatives of leading websites such as Bharat Matrimony and Jeevansathi.com, she advised beefing up security features and suggested making Aadhaar numbers mandatory to keep out or track down frauds.

Prisoners to be enrolled for aadhaar:

1,000 inmates of Central Prison in Bengaluru already enrolled. The Prisons Department has taken up an initiative to issue Aadhaar cards to inmates in the Central Prisons and sub-jails in the State. Around 1,000 inmates of the Central Prison at Parappana Agrahara in Bengaluru, which was the first to launch the Aadhaar enrolment drive a month ago, had been enrolled for the cards. Additional Director-General of Police (Prisons) K.V. Gagandeep told The Hindu that the department had planned to issue Aadhaar cards to 14,500 inmates housed in jails across the State.

AIIMS launching portal to let people book beds online:

In a few months from now, you can book online a bed in All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), just like you make reservations for a train or buy your movie ticket on the internet. While the institute has already gone online for fixing appointments for its out patient department (OPD), AIIMS is now working on a final module to allow bed allotment through the system. the department plans to make the complete system online by December which will enable a patient with PAN or Aadhaar card to log into the system and get a UHID directly. AIIMS has already started issuing unique health identification (UHID) number that enables individuals to seek an appointment with their doctor through the institute's patient portal. At present, a patient is required to visit the hospital for the first time to get registered and obtain the UHID.
Read More(on Aadhaar):
Why Aadhaar is an Important Document?
Aadhaar Roundup-3,
Aadhaar Roundup-2,
Aadhaar Roundup, 
A Compelling Case for the Twelve Digits