Govt to set up a platform for social security schemes: Sinha

Government is considering to put in place a universal social security platform through which all government transfers would be made and premium for social securities schemes collected, Minister of State for Finance Jayant Sinha said.
"If our companies flourish, if innovation, competition flourish and you people flourish...We are going to generate resources and opportunities to be a pro-poor government," he said at the India Digital Summit here.
"So we are a pro-poor government and we are a pro-market government and with that philosophy and that mindset we are working on very very transformational undertaking for India and Indian citizen and that is the social security platform that we are building," he said.

The minister said that the social security platform requires one true database of Indian citizens. The government needs to have unique ID for citizens through Aadhaar and have certain demographic information to decide whether an individual is eligible for certain government programmes or not.
Once the data base is assembled with associated bank account seeded with Aadhaar, he said the government will be able to pay beneficiaries of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) programme directly into bank accounts in 100 per cent cases as compared to 90 per cent cases at the moment.
"Once the money is in bank account, we have the opportunity to make you participate in various programme like Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY) and Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), Atal Pension Yojana (APY) and other schemes," he said.