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Journalism of Courage
Promising easy cash transfers and a single card that will serve as identity proof for opening bank accounts,gas and mobile connections,UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi along with Prime Minister Manmohan Singh launched the payment mechanism on Saturday morning in Dudu,60 km from Jaipur.
Over the last two years,the Unique Identification Authority of India UIDAI has generated over 20 crore Aadhaar numbers and number 21 crore was handed over to one Bali Devi of Udaipur on Saturday by Sonia at a function here which was also attended by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,Finance Minister P Chidambaram and Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot among others.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh,addressing the gathering in Dudu,underlined the benefits of the initiative. The UPA government has always thought about the welfare of the common man. The Aadhaar project was started with the aim to reach the common man his due. So far there was no way to identify the authentic beneficiaries of our social welfare schemes. However,with this card,students,who need identification proof most often can show this to avail of all our schemes, he said. Cash transfers will become much easier for us and we can ensure that money reaches the right beneficiaries.
So far 1.5 crore students avail of scholarships,2 crore avail of old age pension,3 crore families get medical facilities and another 5 crore avail of the MNREGA scheme,Singh said. We want to ensure that all these beneficiaries get an Aadhaar card and make the most of these schemes.
Through video-conferencing,the audience was shown success stories of social welfare schemes in remote parts of the country. Easy gas connections in Mysore to pension benefits in Aurangabad in Maharashtra and old age pension in Tripura,live stories of beneficiaries streamed on screens.
When we started out in Maharashtra two years ago,we had resolved to reach this to every household. In the last two years we have managed to achieve a lot and now we have come to Rajasthan with the 21 crore Aadhaar number. It is not an easy task. This is possibly the biggest social welfare initiative across the world, Sonia said.
UIDAI has been mandated to cover 60 crore people by March 2014 across 18 states including Delhi,Haryana,Punjab,Tamil Nadu and Rajasthan.
