Aadhaar card is not mandatory for central government employees availing pension benefits, according to Jitendra Singh, Minister of State for Personnel, Public Grievances and Pensions.
The Minister’s announcement assumes significance since in the recent times there have been some apprehensions raised by some retired employees facing difficulty in getting the pension in the absence of Aadhaar linkage with their bank accounts.
Speaking at the 30th meeting of the Standing Committee of Voluntary Agencies in the capital, Singh spoke about the utility of Aadhaar in facilitating seamless delivery of many social welfare services of the Government. For Pension purposes, he clarified Aadhaar would remain an additional facility to enable the use of technology for submission of life certificate without the need for visiting banks.
Currently, there are about 48.41 lakh central government employees and 61.17 lakh pensioners.
Termed as the ‘the most sophisticated ID programme in the world’ by the World Bank, and being hailed by many nations across the world for employing cutting edge technology, India’s largest biometric-based identification system Aadhaar is a 12-digit number that acts as identification and address proof for Indian citizens.
Going by the data made available by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Government body responsible for issuing Aadhaar cards, of the total of more than 1.2 billion Indians, more than 121 crore residents of India have Aadhaar as their identity, resulting in a saving of Rs 50,000 Crore for the country.
According to the Aadhaar Act, any person residing in India for more than 180 days is eligible for applying for an Aadhaar number.
