Plans to use UID cards to reach out to beneficiaries, following successful pilot project in Alwar, Rajasthan

The government said today that it planned to provide direct subsidy to beneficiaries of kerosene oil and a pilot project in this regard in Alwar district of Rajasthan was yielding good results. "Direct subsidy on kerosene is planned in future...We have to move towards it. It will be done using UID cards... We are benefiting from the pilot project," Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas RPN Singh said in the Rajya Sabha.

New Delhi: In a first, the All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) has given 12-digit Identification Number (ID) to 89,000 inhabitants of Ballabhgarh in Haryana to keep track of health care services being delivered to them. The unique ID keeps a record of immunization, births and deaths among the select populace in the region where the community medicine departmentof the premier medical institute runs its rural health services.

Prompt payment through bank; corruption eliminated; in fact, some workers have a saving. They are all manual workers earning Rs. 100 daily under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme and some of them have a bank balance — no matter how small — made possible because of their financial inclusion and the introduction of technology that links their accounts biometrically through the Aadhaar number.

Migration curbed

For the first time, 500 NREGS workers have drawn their wages in January utilising the UIDAI Adhaar, a micro ATM, and biometric data. The pilot project, to ensure transparency and timely disbursal of wages, has been welcomed by villages. Launched simultaneously at Meru in Hazaribagh and Ratu in Ranchi on January 5, the project is expected to cover 30 villages soon.

NEW DELHI: In a relief to slum dwellers, the Delhi government today decided to give ownership rights of flats given to them through a central city modernisation scheme after the 15-year lease period. The decision was taken at a meeting of the Delhi Cabinet chaired by Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit here. She said the Cabinet approved certain amendments in guidelines for allotment of flats constructed under Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for eligible slum dwellers in Delhi to facilitate grant of ownership rights to the allottees.

Biometrics, UID methods used for identifying beneficiaries

The Delhi Cabinet has approved certain amendments in guidelines for allotment of flats constructed under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) scheme for eligible slum dwellers in Delhi to facilitate grant of ownership rights to the allottees. Besides, bio-metrics and unique identity (UID) mechanism are being used to help in the process of allotment and about 1,300 allottees have been identified for the first round.

Only 26% of the state’s population has enrolled for the Unique Identification (UID) card scheme so far. The target was to enroll 80% of the state’s population by March 2012. It seems impossible to meet the target.
The state launched the UID drive in January 2011.It registered 1crore citizens in July, taking it to 3,10,51,958this week. Though the registration has gathered momentum, the registration has reached only 26% as per the data available on November 20, 2011.

Resolves to fight graft with several legislations in first address after illness; Mum on retail row
Congress president Sonia Gandhi has said the UPA government was committed to eradicating corruption and sought the Opposition’s help in the passage of a variety of antigraft legislations, including the Lokpal bill.

The appeal coincided with the Opposition rejecting the Parliament standing committee’s draft recommendations on Lokpal and anti-graft activist Anna Hazare’s threat to revive his protest on December 27.

AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi landed in Varanasi on Tuesday morning and went on a tour of villages in Naxal-affected Chandauli and Mirzapur districts of eastern UP. He held chaupals and interacted with the villagers, asking them about their problems, implementation of Centrally funded schemes, especially MGNREGA and whether payments were made regularly.

At a time when the government is seized of the matter of duplication of biometric data collection for the UID and NPR (National Population Register) projects, and the costs involved therein, the Rural Development Ministry may pitch in with data collection.