Aadhaar verdict: Ministries read the fine print to assess impact

NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Women and Child Development (WCD) is likely to review its stand on the use of Aadhaar to deliver its cash benefit programmes and the Integrated Child Development Scheme (ICDS) that provides nutrition, non-formal health and education services to children and their mothers through anganwadis. This after the SC upheld the constitutional validity of the biometric ID and its requirement for government welfare schemes.

Senior officials said Aadhaar seeding was being carried out by the government for ICDS and cash benefit schemes like the PM’s Matru Vandana Yojana, but it was never mandatory. “We will now have to re-strategise on the use of Aadhaar for these schemes and see whether enrolment will have to be made mandatory. This will be decided over the next few days,” a senior ministry official said.

Meanwhile, several ministries were poring over the fine print of the SC judgment to assess its implications for schemes that had already been linked to Aadhar numbers.


Human resources development minister Prakash Javadekar held a meeting on Wednesday to assess the implications of the SC verdict on various education schemes. Several University Grants Commission scholarships had been linked to Aadhar over the past two years.

The court verdict says that only schemes funded through the Consolidated Fund of India can be Aadhaar-linked and hence the financing of schemes are being closely examined.