Beneficiaries must provide proof of possession of UID

Aadhaar has now been made mandatory to get subsidy on kerosene and benefits of the Atal Pension Yojana.

Those getting kerosene subsidy or subscribing to the pension scheme will be required to furnish proof of possession of the unique ID or undergo the enrolment process to get the benefits, officials said on Sunday.

The last date to get Aadhaar or enrol for getting it is September 30 in the case of the kerosene subsidy. For the pension scheme, the deadline is June 15, they said.

However, till Aadhaar is obtained, ration card, driving licence, voter identity card, Kisan passbook with photo, job card issued under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme or a certificate issued by a gazetted officer or a tehsildar will be considered as proof of identity for the benefits.

Link ration card

It has been also decided to link Aadhaar with the ration card issued to beneficiary households or with the bank account for cash transfer.

The Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas has introduced direct benefit transfer through which subsidy is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, who purchase the PDS kerosene at non-subsidised rate.

The decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for these two schemes is expected to prevent leakages.

The Centre allocates subsidised kerosene to the States and Union Territories as affordable cooking fuel for domestic use, mainly to those living below the poverty line.

Under the pension scheme, a subscriber gets a minimum pension of ₹1,000 to ₹5,000 a month, depending on contributions made, from the age of 60.