Voter ID cards, not Aadhaar, to be basis for accessing panchayati raj benefits: Union minister
· Scroll
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Union minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh on Friday said that voter ID cards, not Aadhaar, will be the basis for availing benefits under panchayati raj schemes.
“Aadhaar won’t remain the basis for making payments to beneficiaries,” Singh, the panchayati raj minister, said during a national workshop on the Jan Yojana Abhiyaan.
“Organisations that issue Aadhaar cards are available in every locality now,” Singh said. “They can create an Aadhaar card for anyone within five minutes. So, Aadhaar won’t be the basis [for identifying beneficiaries].”
Instead, beneficiaries will need to provide their biometric data and their Elector’s Photo Identity Card, or voter ID number, he said.
It was unclear what benefits Singh was referring to. But the comments came while talking about the new Pradhan Mantri Viksit Gram Swaraj Yojana, which replaces the Rashtriya Gram Swarajya Abhiyan.
The new scheme is aimed at strengthening gram panchayats as the authorities for “integrated and participatory development planning”.
The announcement came amid the Opposition, activist and citizens’ groups raising concerns about how voters were being deleted during the special intensive revision of electoral rolls, alleging that 13 crore electors had been removed where the exercise has taken place.
Since the revision began, concerns have been raised that the exercise could eliminate genuine voters from the rolls and even shape electoral outcomes, as Scroll has reported.
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