Aadhaar-based subsidy outgo schedule likely

Finance minister Pranab Mukherjee is set to outline a schedule for Aadhaar-based entitlements and cash disbursal of subsidies in the coming budget.

The Unique Identifiaction Authority of India (UIDAI) is expediting creation of platforms for implementing the model, likely to include coverage of the Public Distribution System and other areas of subsidy, and also government’s social sector schemes.

UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani on Tuesday said the government was considering the report of a panel he’d headed which had suggested a nationwide, Aadhar-based network for delivery of PDS.

He added at a workshop on ‘Aadhaar enabled service delivery’ that UIDAI was trying to create strong platforms in the areas of financial inclusion in association with banks; cash disbursal of subsidy for petroleum products, including cooking gas, with oil marketing companies; online verification with the help of Aakash computer tablets in coordination with the department of education, and mobile know-your-customer enforcement rules with the help of the department of telecom.

“The next stage of application would be driven by working in very close partnership with the stakeholders,” said Nilekani. Adding the Aadhar-based wage delivery experience, currently on in Jharkhand as a pilot project, needed to be scaled up through the country.

He noted total entitlements and subsidies of the government of India was around Rs 3,00,000 crore in a year. “If we can really take all the entitlements and subsidies and payment on the Aadhar platform, to make sure they go directly to either their bank accounts or entitlement accounts, and then create a distribution channel so that people get their entitlements on time, wherever they are...this will be a huge change and this is not something which will take a lot of time,” he added.

UIDAI is packaging this on the basis of the Jharkhand experience. “Over the next 12 months, we have to roll this out in our partner states, so that benefits could reach the identified beneficiaries. The kind of architecture we are proposing will empower people to have choice and will also allow convergence of different programmes,” said Nilekani.