'Enough leeway for DBT scheme to go on after SC order'

New Delhi: Allaying fears over any affect of the Supreme Court order about use of Aadhaar on direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme, Cabinet Secretary P K Sinha on Friday said there is enough leeway for DBT to go on and it is not a banned activity.

"The order says the usage of Aadhaar is limited to certain schemes and it should not be made mandatory... It should be made voluntary. But recently, number of other schemes have also been allowed, so I think there is enough leeway for DBT to go on," Sinha said at the Delhi Economics Conclave.

Last month, lifting its earlier restriction, the apex court had allowed voluntary use of Aadhaar for welfare programmes including MGNREGA, all pension schemes, provident fund and Pradhan Mantri Jan Dhan Yojna.

Before the order, the use of Aadhaar was restricted to public distribution system (PDS) and disbursal of cooking gas subsidy.

However, allowing the use of the UID number for more schemes, the court had also made it clear that "Aadhaar card scheme is purely voluntary and not mandatory till the matter is finally decided by this court, this way or the other way."

Sinha said, "The DBT is not a banned activity. If there are beneficiaries under different programmes and they have their bank accounts... Transfer of money to their banks account is not a banned activity."

He added, "The (Supreme) Court judgement talks about usage of Aadhhar and does not restrict the enrollment of Aadhaar. The process of enrollment of Aadhaar is on."

"93 percent of the adult population above 18 years of age is already covered and the remaining will be covered by the end of December. Even the population below 18 years, the officers assured us, that would be covered by March 2016."

About dealing the any technological issue related to DBT, he said: "If technology is creating problem in implementation due to one reason or the other then the solution has be technological. It is easier to find technological solution to technological problems rather than giving up on technology."

According to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) website, 93.18 crore Aadhaar number have been issued so far as against country population of 121 crore as per 2011 census.