NEW DELHI: The Congress on Thursday targeted the Modi government over Union Panchayati Raj Minister Rajiv Ranjan Singh’s reported remarks that voter ID cards would replace Aadhaar for identifying beneficiaries of social welfare programmes, saying that “vote chori” was just the trailer and the full picture was “haq-huqooq (rights) chori”.
Singh, also known as Lallan Singh, reportedly said that access to financial benefits and welfare payments under schemes of the Ministry of Panchayati Raj would require an Elector’s Photo Identity Card (EPIC) number along with mandatory biometric authentication.
He questioned the reliability of Aadhaar as a means of identifying beneficiaries, arguing that enrolment facilities were widely available and the document could be obtained within minutes. However, he did not specify which schemes would come under the proposed arrangement.
Reacting to the remarks, Congress general secretary in-charge of communications Jairam Ramesh said the minister had made the statement twice in recent days.
“Is this now the official Modi government policy?” Ramesh asked, adding that such a move would mean Aadhaar would no longer be used for the primary purpose for which it was conceived. Ramesh said the use of Aadhaar had already raised legitimate concerns, with lakhs of people allegedly being denied access to social welfare and security schemes.
“Making SIR the basis will end up excluding even more people on a massive scale,” he said, referring to the Special Intensive Revision of electoral rolls. “‘Vote Chori’ is just the trailer. The full picture is haq-huqooq (rights) chori,” Ramesh added.
The proposed move has also raised questions about its scope, as the Ministry of Panchayati Raj does not directly administer schemes involving payments to individual beneficiaries. Aadhaar is currently used for beneficiary identification and payments under several other central government programmes, including rural housing assistance, PM-KISAN and social security pensions.
Announcing that a new panchayati raj scheme would render Aadhaar-based payments and benefits outdated, Lalan Singh had stated that biometric authentication, along with the voter identification card number or EPIC number, would now be the only valid method for receiving payments and benefits.
“Aadhaar is the basis for payments to beneficiaries, but it will no longer be considered the primary means of identification,” Singh had said, adding, “Going forward, the Aadhaar card will no longer serve as the basis for identifying beneficiaries.”