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NEW DELHI: The Centre said today that no one will be deprived of benefits for the lack of an Aadhaar card.

In a statement issued today, the Centre reiterated that until an Aadhaar number is assigned to an individual, they can use alternate means of identification to receive benefits linked to the card. The Centre also directed departments to provide Aadhaar enrolment facilities to beneficiaries under Regulation 12 of the Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations 2016.

Considering the usefulness of Aadhaar in curbing leakages and bringing transparency to the delivery system, the Government recently issued orders to use Aadhaar for several other welfare schemes funded from the Consolidated Fund of India. While these orders require beneficiaries of these programs to give their Aadhaar number, it has also been ensured that no one is deprived of the benefits for want of an Aadhaar card.

In the case of the Mid-Day Meal scheme and for the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS), schools and Anganwadis have been asked to collect Aadhaar numbers of child beneficiaries and in case a child does not have Aadhaar, the school or ICDS functionary will be required to provide enrolment facilities to a child and till Aadhaar number is assigned, the benefits will continue.

Aadhaar has been given to more than 112 crore people. With such wide and extensive coverage, Aadhaar has become an important tool of transformation, good governance and empowerment of people. It ensures that benefits reach only the deserving and are not cornered by fake persons and middlemen.

Various studies and surveys had earlier pointed out massive leakages in welfare schemes. During the last two and half years, Aadhaar has helped in direct delivery of benefits to crores of people through the Direct Benefit Transfer in schemes such as LPG subsidy under Pahal, Scholarships, MNREGA, and Pensions.

In the Public Distribution System, Aadhaar is also ensuring that food grains are received only by genuine beneficiaries and not diverted by any middlemen or unscrupulous elements. It has, thus, saved huge sums of public money which otherwise was being siphoned away by middlemen. The total savings because of plugging of leakages due to Aadhaar during the last two and half years in just a few schemes where Aadhaar has been implemented amount to more than Rs 49,000 crore.

