Montek: Pilots to pave way for Aadhaar-based models

Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chaiman of the Planning Commission, told Business Standard the success of pilot projcts to test its ideas would pave way for Aadhar-based entitlements and subsidy disbursal.

“When the pilots work, politicians and people running governments will see what the experiment is doing,” he said.

Ahluwalia stressed the Commission had constantly said this must be done and the finance minister had also announced it would begin as an experiment in the case of kerosene supply.

“Nandan (UIDAI chairman) is working on that. They are already doing it for MGNREGS in Jharkhand. We have hundreds of schemes and it’s not logical to start it everywhere when you have one or two pilots available. The moment one pilot is deemed to have succeeded, there would be nothing to stop it,” he said.

Adding: “I think they are going to do the same thing with kerosene. So, give it another six months, and my guess is that a very comprehensive assessment will be possible. Do the people, the ‘aam aadmi’ for whom this is being done, appreciate it? Experience in our situation suggest that when the people want something to be done, no government is going to fail to respond, especially if that is the government scheme,” he said.