Thursday 26 September 2013

Govt may ask SC to allow Aadhaar-linked benefits for schemes

TIMES NEWS NETWORK 


New Delhi:The government is exploring the option of approaching the Supreme Court for relief to allow Aadhaar-linked entitlements under UPA’s welfare schemes. 
    The government is worried as enacting a legislation to provide statutory status to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) may take time, which may delay rollout of its direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, touted as UPA’s game-changer for the 2014 general elections. 
    MoS for planning Rajiv Shukla had said that National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, to provide statutory status to the UIDAI, was likely to be cleared in the winter session of Parliament. The bill was introduced in Rajya Sabha in 2010 but was rejected by Parliament’s standing committee on finance, chaired by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha. 
    “The bill was sent back to the Planning Commission, with some amendments. We 
will soon take it to the Cabinet and try to push the draft for passage in the winter session,” Shukla said However, enrollments for Aadhaar numbers will continue. 
    The SC’s interim order has not stopped UIDAI from enrolling people, said an official. The apex court had said that enrolling in Aadhaar couldn’t be made a condition to access government services or subsidies. 
    However, an UIDAI official argued that Aadhaar card was only an instrument for better service delivery to ensure that benefits of welfare schemes reached the right people.


Source:::: The Times of India, 26-04-2013, p. 10,  http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Default/Client.asp?Daily=TOIM&showST=true&login=default&pub=TOI&Enter=true&Skin=TOINEW

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