Don’t deny work over Aadhaar card, govt tells states

In what could be an acknowledgment that the ambitious Aadhaar-based Direct Benefits Transfer scheme did not take off as planned, the government has eased out Aadhaar requirement for the rural job guarantee scheme, asking states not to deny work to any worker for not possessing an Aadhaar card.

The Rural Development Ministry said no rural household applying for work under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme shall be denied work for not having a bank account, and no job card holder would be denied work for not having an Aadhaar card.

The project has been plagued by problems such as low rate of enrolment. With Lok Sabha polls round the corner, the government does not want any beneficiary to miss out on its welfare schemes.

While the government never made Aadhaar mandatory to get work under MGNREGA, it was brought under the Aadhaar-based DBT scheme and importance was given to Aadhaar for payments.