Aadhaar should not be undermined by critics: Ashok Lavasa

Lavasa said for years Indians applauded developed economies which had common unique identification

Amid mounting criticism by Opposition and civil society on the government’s efforts to make Aadhaar mandatory for a number of schemes, including to pay income taxes, Finance Secretary Ashok Lavasa defended the move and said the government’s initiatives should not be undermined. Speaking at an industry body event on Wednesday, Lavasa said for many years Indians applauded developed economies which had common unique identification for their citizens.

“I think this platform of Aadhaar which has been created should not be undermined. It is very important. Linked to this is the whole gamut of public expenditure which is a matter of concern not only for those who want more efficiency in public spending but also all of us who are concerned with transparency and removal of corruption,” Lavasa said. “It (Aadhaar) is revolutionary in the sense and what it has done is something which has not been done anywhere in the world. You have 105 crore (1.05 billion) people who have a unique identity.” 

Apart from central government schemes such as the rural employment scheme, employee pension benefit, food security act, livelihood missions, schemes for expecting mothers, small businesses, crop insurance policies, anganwadi schemes and various other programmes with or without direct benefit transfers, the Narendra Modi government has also passed rules or amended existing acts to make Aadhaar mandatory to pay taxes and to link with all mobile numbers. This even as the Supreme Court has stated that Aadhaar is not compulsory to avail benefits under central government schemes. 

The criticism has increased after Finance Minister Arun Jaitley tried to bring in additional amendments in the Finance Bill to make mandatory the linking of Aadhaar with PAN cards. Not only Opposition MPs like Derek O’Brien of the Trinamool Congress and Tathagata Satpathy of the Biju Janata Dal, but even Rajeev Chandrashekar, affiliated to the ruling party, raised concerns on privacy issues related to unique identification database.

Lavasa also said the direct benefits transfer (DBT) in various social sector schemes have resulted in savings to the tune of Rs 34,000 crore for the Centre. “There have been some palpable achievements in some of the schemes where DBT has been implemented. There is an assessment that in all these schemes, the quantum of savings would be about Rs 34,000 crore. So far, DBT has been implemented in 78 schemes and there are many more in which it has to be implemented,” he said.

Stating that use of technology has made the system more transparent, he said Aadhaar seeding has brought about efficiency and inter-linking of beneficiaries has enabled weeding out bogus and un-deserving people.

“About 1.73 lakh (173,000) public distribution scheme shops have point of sale machines and all these are Aadhaar-enabled. The fertiliser depots are in the process of installing PoS machines. The subsidy in fertiliser has remained where it was in previous years, but the subsidy in kerosene has come down tremendously, the finance secretary stated as an example.

Lavasa also reiterated India’s gross domestic product growth for 2016-17 was expected to be around seven per cent and could be higher than 7.5 per cent for 2017-18. Speaking on the increasing trend among western leaders stressing on protectionism, Lavasa said at a time when people were talking about building walls, literally and figuratively, and when global trade was expected to reduce as a share of global growth, Indian industry should focus on deepening and strengthening the local economy. “It is important for industry to look into the Indian market in a bigger way, how to strengthen the rural economy,” he said.