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| Edited By: Neeraj Thakur |Source: DNA |Updated: Mar 17, 2018, 04:38 AM IST
The Unique Identification (UID) Project (or Aadhaar, as it is now called), the dream project of the Manmohan Singh government, faces the financial scalpel.
Sources said the finance ministry is likely to slash the budget for its implementation in the first phase by close to 60%.
This will also impact the number of people that the scheme can enroll in the phase.
According to sources in the government, North Block may reduce the budgetary allocation for implementing Aadhaar to Rs 3,000 crore from Rs 7,000 crore earlier.
With this revision, Aadhar can enroll only 10 crore people in the first phase, down from its earlier target of 60 crore, estimates suggest. UID Authority of India (UIDAI) chairman and former Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani could not be contacted for his comment on this development.
According to sources, the finance ministry may have decided to reduce the expenditure on the implementation of Aadhaar after the Planning commission approached it to seek additional funds for implementation of its Integrated Action Plan (IAP) for 35 Naxalite-affected districts in nine states.
The Planning Commission has asked for a whopping Rs 13,742 crore for the developmental work in Naxal areas.
Even as the government is trying to bring the fiscal deficit down by reducing subsidies, it needs to spend serious money on implementing ambitious schemes under the ambit of the Food Security Act, Right to Education Act and Aadhaar. In the past few months there have been demands for additional funds to address the Naxal threat in the country.
The move to set up the UIDAI, under the aegis of the Planning Commission, is aimed at providing a unique identity to the targeted population of the flagship schemes, to ensure that the benefits reach them.
The Authority will identify the targeted groups for various flagship programmes.
An empowered group of ministers headed by finance minister Pranab Mukherjee (who was then the external affairs minister), had approved the establishment of the UIDAI. Nilekani was appointed chairman of the UIDAI in June 2009 with the rank of a cabinet minister.
