Press Information Bureau

Government of India

Ministry of Finance

07-June-2012 19:14 IST

Union Finance Minister Writes to the Chief Ministers of 16 States/Union Territories to Expand the Number of Districts in their Respective State/UT for Initiation of Pilots Related to Certain Government Schemes based on the Aadhaar Platform

The Union Finance Minister Shri Pranab Mukherjee has written a letter today to the Chief Ministers of 16 States/Union Territories in connection with the rollout of Aadhaar enabled payments for various Central Government Schemes. He said that he had mentioned in his Budget Speech of 2012-13 that the Aadhaar platform is now ready to support payments under various schemes directly to the beneficiaries’ accounts in the selected areas. The Chief Minsiters to whom the Finance Minister has written letter include the Chief Minister(s) of Kerala, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh(HP), Punjab, Rajasthan, Sikkim, Tripura, Goa, Gujarat, Jharkhand, Delhi, Puducherry, Karnatka, Madhya Pradesh(MP), Andhra Pradesh(AP) and Maharashtra.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee further said that Fifty Districts have been identified in the aforesaid 16 States/Union Terriotries for this purpose based on the extent of Aadhaar enrolments, healthy mix of urban and rural population, percentage of BPL population, per capital income, migration patterns, remittance corridors and status of e-governance rollout etc. chosen throughout the country for initiation of pilots related to the certain Government schemes. The Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee also asked the Chief Ministers to further expand the list of districts already chosen in their respective States/Union Territories for running these pilots.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee mentioned in his letter to the Chief Ministers that the Secretary to Government of India, Department of Expenditure, Ministry of Finance has already written to the Chief Secretary of their respective State/UT seeking the cooperation of the State Government for expeditious completion of pilots. He said that pilots are proposed to be run for Public Distribution System, LPG distribution, Kerosene disbursal, Government pension schemes, Janani Suraksha Yojana, Government Scholarships, Financial Inclusion, Kisan Credit Cards (KCCs) and MGNREGS wage disbursal. He said that this is only an illustrative list and the Chief Minister(s) may like to include other schemes in their respective State/Union Territory for initiation of pilots based on the Aadhaar platform.

The Union Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee further mentioned in his letter that given the huge potential of the Aadhaar initiative to streamline delivery and empowring the common citizen while at the same time curbing the expenditure, it is indeed in our mutual interst to get these pilots going at the earliest. The Finance Minister Shri Mukherjee also mentioned that lessons of the pilots would have a huge bearing on the eventual rollout of the scheme in the country. He requested the Chief Ministers to please ensure that the pilots are rolled out in the selected districts of their State/UT at the earliest.

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DSM/Hb

Aadhaar-enabled payments to expand district pilots for direct benefit transfers across multiple government schemes, seeking state cooperation for rapid rollout. Initiation of pilots to enable Aadhaar platform-based payments for central government schemes is to be expanded across additional districts, selected based on Aadhaar enrolment, demographic and economic criteria, with state cooperation sought to run pilots for an illustrative list of delivery streams including PDS, fuel distribution, pensions, maternal health transfers, scholarships, financial inclusion, KCCs and rural wage disbursal.