The Narendra Modi government is advancing the deadline for implementing the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer scheme in the hope that the initiative will boost the Bharatiya Janata Party’s performance in assembly elections due from next year, particularly in Bihar, Assam and Uttar Pradesh.
Prime Minister Modi has asked that the collection of biometric details for the generation of Aadhaar cards be finished throughout the country by March 2015, an official said. The earlier deadline was September 2015.
Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and the top bureaucrat in the government, has been asked to make sure that the new target is met.
Gaining time
Under the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, cash can be moved directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries of programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
“The previous deadline of September 2015 would not have helped the BJP in Bihar, where elections are due in November 2015,” a senior official said. “With the changed deadline, the government hopes to get seven-eight months for implementing the direct transfers successfully.”
The new deadline would also give Modi more time to win over beneficiaries in Assam, where elections are due in May 2016, and Uttar Pradesh, which is expected to go to election in May 2017.
Far off target
In the three states in which the BJP aims to profit the most from the scheme, Aadhaar enrolment has so far made little progress. In Bihar, only 66 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been generated out of an estimated target of eight crore people. In Uttar Pradesh, a little over two crore people have been covered against the target of 17 crore. In Assam, the enrolment is yet to begin in a meaningful way.
The United Progressive Alliance government could not turn the Aadhaar-based scheme into a game-changer before the Lok Sabha election because it could not achieve the massive targets.
The Modi government too may fail to meet the deadline, said a senior bureaucrat involved in the process. In case it pushes too hard, there is a likelihood of errors creeping into the generation of Aadhaar numbers.
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Prime Minister Modi has asked that the collection of biometric details for the generation of Aadhaar cards be finished throughout the country by March 2015, an official said. The earlier deadline was September 2015.
Nripendra Misra, Principal Secretary in the Prime Minister’s Office and the top bureaucrat in the government, has been asked to make sure that the new target is met.
Gaining time
Under the Aadhaar-based Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, cash can be moved directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries of programmes like the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
“The previous deadline of September 2015 would not have helped the BJP in Bihar, where elections are due in November 2015,” a senior official said. “With the changed deadline, the government hopes to get seven-eight months for implementing the direct transfers successfully.”
The new deadline would also give Modi more time to win over beneficiaries in Assam, where elections are due in May 2016, and Uttar Pradesh, which is expected to go to election in May 2017.
Far off target
In the three states in which the BJP aims to profit the most from the scheme, Aadhaar enrolment has so far made little progress. In Bihar, only 66 lakh Aadhaar numbers have been generated out of an estimated target of eight crore people. In Uttar Pradesh, a little over two crore people have been covered against the target of 17 crore. In Assam, the enrolment is yet to begin in a meaningful way.
The United Progressive Alliance government could not turn the Aadhaar-based scheme into a game-changer before the Lok Sabha election because it could not achieve the massive targets.
The Modi government too may fail to meet the deadline, said a senior bureaucrat involved in the process. In case it pushes too hard, there is a likelihood of errors creeping into the generation of Aadhaar numbers.