Shillong, May 31: The Office of the Development Commissioner, Government of Meghalaya has urged all citizens of Meghalaya, who have not yet registered for Aadhar, to get themselves registered at the earliest. This plea comes at the backdrop of the UIDAI’s circular of three-month extension for Aadhar enrolment for states, failing which the non-registered citizens may be unable to avail various central government subsidies and benefits.
It is to be noted that due to low Aadhar coverage in Meghalaya, residents without Aadhar number may soon be unable to avail several Central Government welfare schemes. The most affected lot in this regard will be women and children who will lose out on the Supplementary Nutrition Programme (SNP) under ICDS of the Social Welfare Department. In the absence of an Aadhar number, they will receive only 10% of the supplementary nutrition for infants and children in the 0-6 years category, and pregnant and lactating mothers, from the next quarter onwards. Moreover, in other schemes like Ayushman Bharat being implemented in the state as Megha Health Insurance Scheme (MHIS) – Aadhar is deemed as mandatory for any new enrolment.
Although Meghalaya had initially exempted its citizens from compulsory Aadhaar registrations, it is imperative to note that benefits of certain central governments may not be availed without Aadhaar number. There is an existing provision in section-7 of the Aadhaar Act to facilitate a person who has not been assigned an Aadhaar number, to avail of the benefits, subsidies, and services “through alternate and viable means of identification for delivery of the subsidy, benefit or service,”.
Therefore, in order to ramp up the efforts in an attempt to be able to cover all residents of the State to avail Central Government Welfare Schemes, the “50 days Aadhar saturation programme” has been being launched in the State. This is being done mostly in an effort to reach out and enrol new-borns, infants, small children, women and all others who do not yet have an Aadhar number. Especially in the category of new-borns, infants and toddlers in the age group of 0-6 years, on account of very low Aadhar enrolment, seeding and coverage through various schemes – the situation is dismal as the Aadhar enrolment is just about 10-12 %.
As part of the “50 days Aadhar saturation programme”, emphasis will be laid on Aadhar registration of children below 5 years of age. In this regard, it may be mentioned that biometrics of children below 5 years are not required for Aadhar registration. In addition, children without birth certificates will also be provided support under the “50 days Aadhar saturation programme” of the State.
Therefore, to accelerate Aadhar enrolment across the State, all the districts are preparing Action Plans, as part of which enrolment camps will be held on a mission mode. For this, all Deputy Commissioners will be deploying all resources available at their disposal to make use of the officials and available funds of various stakeholder Departments like Community & Rural Development, Food & Civil Supplies, Education, Health Department and stakeholder organization like Meghalaya State Rural Development Society (MSRLS). The Nodal Department for Aadhar in the State Government, that is the General Administration Department has already taken the lead in Aadhar saturation approach by their support teams and have also assigned funds for this “50 days Aadhar saturation campaign”.
