Union Budget 2012: Nandan Nilekani's Aadhaar Scheme gets a boost

NEW DELHI: Former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani's ambitious scheme of Unique IDs for all is set to get a boost in 2012-13, as the Indian Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee on Friday approved about Rs 1,758 crore for his Aadhaar scheme.

The budget sanctioned will help enrollments of about 40 crore Indian residents, aimed to be complete by June 2013.

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"We have made it quite clear that Aadhaar will form the underlying platform. The proposal to bring 40 crore people under Aadhaar scheme has been accepted. We will use modern technology to cut out leakages in the delivery mechanisms," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in an interview post Union Budget 2012-13.

Finance Minister Mukherjee informed the Lok Sabha during his Union Budget address that UIDAI has completed about about 20 crore enrollments. About 14 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued till date.

He also gave an approval stamp to the 'IT strategy' proposed by Nandan Nilekani for direct transfer of subsidy into bank accounts of beneficiaries. He informed the Lok Sabha that the Aadhaar payments platform for services such as scholarships, pensions, was ready for a rollout.

The Minister also said that pilot projects are in progress in various parts of the country, for direct subsidy disbursal based on Aadhaar numbers for LPG subsidy.

He also said that the government plans to plug leakages in fertiliser subsidy disbursal with a mobile-based based fertilizer management system. The system will aim to integrate retailers and manufacturers.

All such systems will aim to include Aadhaar number as the underlying denominator.