"States have also been asked to check with the Chief Post
Master General for involving post offices.
" NEW DELHI: Enthused by the success of direct benefit
transfer in paying the beneficiaries of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural
Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), the Centre has asked states to hold
special two month camps to achieve 100% Aadhaar-seeded bank accounts for those
employed under the flagship rural job programme.
The government had last week said that the direct benefit
transfer (DBT) scheme helped it save Rs 3,000 crore or 10% of the total funds
allocated for MGNREGS in 2015-16.
A senior government official told ET that a new "consent
form" has been designed by the
Centre that the workers employed under MGNREGS workers will be
"convinced" to sign and voluntarily seed their Aadhaar number into
the bank account where they get wages through DBT.
A self-attested copy of the Aadhaar letter will have to be
attached to the consent form and their details will be authenticated by the
Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI). This comes even as the passage of the
Aadhaar Act as a money bill has been challenged before the Supreme Court by
Congress leader Jairam Ramesh.
At present, 60% of MNREGS accounts are seeded with Aadhaar but
only 16% of payments to 10-crore odd MGNREGS workers are done using the Aadhaar
Payment Bridge.
MGNREGS remains India's biggest DBT subsidy programme with
nearly Rs 2,400 crore paid every month.
"It is the PMO's top priority to increase Aadhaar seeding
in MGNREGS," an official said.
The government is of the view that seeding of Aadhaar numbers
into all MGNREGS bank accounts could lead to even more savings by weeding out
fake beneficiaries and ensuring that only the genuine workers receive the
wages.
The Centre has asked the states to depute gram rozgar sewaks for
mobilising MGNREGS workers and ensuring their presence in these special camps,
where they will be explained the advantages of seeding their Aadhaar numbers
into their bank accounts and sign the new consent forms.
It has been specified that MGNREGS workers can also submit their
Aadhaar consent forms to the 'bank mitra' in their areas. States have also been asked to check with the Chief Post Master General
for involving post offices in the exercise as the Department of Posts is in the
process of rolling out micro-ATMS at all of its 1.29 lakh rural post offices
and has migrated 85% of its accounts to the CBS platform.
The new consent forms involve the worker authorizing the bank
and the government to seed his Aadhaar number into his bank account, use his
Aadhaar details to authenticate him from UIDAI and enable all DBT credits to
come through that account with due SMS alerts sent to his registered mobile
number.
