Tourism, Culture ministries make Aadhaar mandatory for beneficiaries

The ministries of tourism and culture have issued notifications making it mandatory for beneficiaries of their various schemes to have Aadhaar numbers.

The notifications state that beneficiaries of their various schemes need to have Aadhaar as an identity document for delivery of services, benefits and subsidies from the government. The schemes of the tourism ministry are mostly programmes to train individuals in short-term courses to generate employability. The schemes of the culture ministry are mostly financial assistance in the form of scholarships and fellowships to people in the field of culture.

These two ministries now have joined five other central government ministries which have issued 14 similar notifications for 11 schemes, including access to primary and secondary education. "Any individual desirous of availing the benefits under the scheme is hereby required to furnish proof of possession of Aadhaar or undergo Aadhaar authentication," said the notification from the tourism ministry. The 14 notifications earlier were issued by the ministries of social justice and empowerment, human resource development, health and family welfare, labour and employment, and women and child development.

Most of these ministries have asked beneficiaries to enrol for Aadhaar in order to avail benefits under their schemes. The tourism ministry's May 12 notification states that those who had applied for Aadhaar before March 30, 2017 would be able to avail benefits.

The culture ministry's May 3 notification has, however, set a deadline of May 31 for beneficiaries who do not possess the Aadhaar number to make an application for it.