Aadhaar-based relief in job scheme tough

The government’s move to switch to Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS) to disburse Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) wages seems an uphill task.

Several states have been very slow in linking the unique identification numbers of the beneficiaries with the database of the scheme.

Gujarat, which had Modi himself as the chief minister till last May, is among the slowest, as the unique identifications of only 3.39 per cent of the total beneficiaries having Aadhaar numbers in the state’s 10 selected districts have so far been seeded in the MGNREGS database.

West Bengal is the only state to do it slower than Gujarat. The Aadhaar numbers of only 2.38 per cent of MGNREGS beneficiaries having the unique identification in four selected districts of West Bengal have so far been linked to the database, an internal document of the ministry of rural development revealed.

The Centre, however, has now set a target of seeding the Aadhaar numbers of at least two crore more beneficiaries in the selected 287 priority districts with the MGNREGS database by December 31.

The state governments have been asked to pursue it in a campaign mode, particularly in 175 districts, where a substantial number of beneficiaries of the scheme have been issued the unique identification numbers.