SHILLONG, April 20 - Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad Sangma today informed the House that over 7.5 lakh people in the State have enrolled under Aadhaar, which is about 23 per cent of the total population.
Making a statement during a Call Attention Notice moved by KHNAM MLA, Adelbert Nongrum, the Chief Minister said, that 7,56,529 people out of the total population of the State, which is 32,30,132, have enrolled under Aadhaar so far.
Sangma added that through Aadhaar, launched in 2008, India aims to provide a unique identity number for every resident and is the largest biometric identification programme in the world.
�It further aims to achieve social inclusion for achieving efficient public and private service delivery and Aadhaar is used for several public purposes such as digitalising Government subsidy flows, financial services, recording attendance of Government employees, issuance of Passport and other forms of IDs,� he said.
Some of the benefits under Aadhaar, he said, are that the card provides a universal card. The card can be used for a number of purposes, making it universally acceptable Government-issued card.
One of the most important uses of Aadhaar card is that it permits the holder to avail of all eligible government subsidies. Moreover, the Chief Minister said that Aadhaar card can be applied online, which is known as e-Aadhaar and is the downloadable version of the physical copy of the card.
For Government purposes the card can be used to speed up Government and bureaucratic process such as acquisition of passport, opening bank accounts, digital life certificate and receipt of monthly pension.
Sangma informed the House that some of the mechanisms implemented by the State Government to issue the card is through the EPIC card. In the absence of an EPIC, writing from the Rangbah Shnongs, Nokma, headmen certifying the genuineness of the enrollee or Passport issued by External Affairs Ministry.
The Chief Minister said that Government of India has extended the deadline for providing Aadhaar to avail of various services under section 7 of the Aadhaar Act to June 30, 2018. A notification extending the deadline was issued by Government of India on March 28, 2018.
He further mentioned that Supreme Court of India has refused to pass an interim order extending the deadline of March 31, 2018 for linking Aadhaar with Government welfare schemes where benefits are transferred to citizens from the Consolidated Fund of India.
�Hence the Supreme Court has allowed the Government to link Aadhaar card of the beneficiaries for transfer of benefits of schemes funded from the Consolidated Fund,� the CM informed the House.
However, Sangma said, the Supreme Court has extended indefinitely, till further orders, the mandatory linking of bank accounts, mobile phones, passport, PAN card with Aadhaar card.
