NEW DELHI: The Aam Aadmi Party Government on Tuesday ruled that Aadhaar card will not be required to access the benefits of widow, old age and disability pensions.
The Delhi Cabinet on Tuesday gave a nod to the proposal of the Social Welfare Department to delink welfare schemes from Aadhaar.
"Many people face problems due to the inability of banks to link Aadhaar with their bank account. The Cabinet has decided to delink Aadhaar from the widow and old age pension," said Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, who chaired the meeting.
Recently, the Supreme Court also ruled that Aadhaar should not be made mandatory for any pension funds in the country.
"The decision today by our Cabinet ensures immediate relief to beneficiaries. Now beneficiaries would not be penalized for system-related reasons. They will get enhanced pension, as well as pension at old rates, stopped due to lack of Aadhaar" said Rajendra Pal Gautam Minister of Social Welfare, Delhi government.
According to the department, as many as 33,191 old age pension beneficiaries and 9,799 disabled persons were unable to avail the benefits of the scheme since 2016. There are around 5 lakh beneficiaries in total, of which 4.18 lakh have already been remitted the amount for the month of April-2018.
This assistance is available to all senior citizens who have been residents of Delhi for at least five years and have a family income of Rs 1,00,000 or less per annum.
Currently, the assistance provided by the government is Rs 2,000 per month to beneficiaries between 60-69 years of age and Rs 2,500 per month to beneficiaries aged 70 years and above. However, an additional Rs 500 per month is given to beneficiaries between 60-69 years belonging to SC/ST/minority categories.
"Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016 clearly stipulates that in no case should the beneficiary be denied benefit for want of Aadhaar or failure of Aadhaar authentication," said the social welfare department’s proposal.