On August 8, 2013, the Parliament in India was informed that the Aadhar card is not mandatory for availing certain services, like opening a bank account, obtaining passport or admission in school. Rajeev Shukla, Planning Minister, informed about this latest information in a written statement to Rajya Sabha.
Shukla said that the Aadhaar card is not mandatory for availing some of the basic services. However, it was also clarified by the Planning Minister that consumers need to seed their Aadhaar numbers with their bank accounts. The seeding of the document is essential in order to avail subsidy on domestic cooking gas after three months since the launch of Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG in their area.
The Direct Benefit Transfer has been launched by the government for LPG consumers in 20 districts in India. There are also plans to launch the DBT in other parts of the country. The Minister also went on to say that the Aadhaar is not mandatory for receiving domestic LPG cylinder at market determined price.
Shukla, in another reply, also informed that the total number of enrollments reached was 39.36 crore and the number of enrollment packets under process was 42.65 crore. In Delhi, about 1.44 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated.
Photo Credits: Jai Maharashtra News
