Govt. tables bill in LS to give statutory status to Aadhaar

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Thursday introduced the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, in the Lok Sabha.

The bill to provide Aadhaar statutory backing and make it the mainstay of the government's Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) programme for subsidies was tabled in the House as a money bill.

Leader of the Congress in Lok Sabha, Mallikarjun Kharge, raised his objections to the bill being introduced as a money bill.

Kharge said the Congress Party is ready to cooperate on the bill, but added that it should not come as a money bill.

The Finance Minister in response said the bill is substantially different from what the Opposition is talking about.

Jaitley said the substance of the bill is that whoever gets subsidies will have to produce Aadhaar.

The bill seeks to provide good governance, efficient, transparent and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers.