NEW DELHI, March 11 - Thousands of crores of rupees will be saved by routing government subsidy through the Aadhaar system, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said today, as the Lok Sabha passed a Bill to give statutory backing to the unique identity number scheme.
The Bill �will empower the States to distribute resources of the State to deserving people and save the resources that undeserving people get,� the Minister said while replying to short debate on the �Aadhaar (Target Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016�.
�The effect is going to be on the Centre and State governments which will save thousands of crore (of rupees),� Jaitley said just before the measure was adopted by a voice vote.
Moving the Bill for consideration and passage earlier, Jaitley said targeted subsidy through Aadhaar cards of LPG consumers had resulted in savings of over Rs 15,000 crore at the Centre. Four States which had started PDS delivery by a similar exercise on a pilot basis, had saved more than Rs 2,300 crore.
Last week, Parliamentary Affairs Minister M Venkaiah Naidu had said the passage of the Bill would save Rs 20,000 crore by avoiding subsidies taken by the undeserving.
The Bill provides for statutory backing to Aadhaar scheme for transferring government subsidies and benefits. It provides for �good governance, efficient, transparent and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers to such individuals�, a summary of the Bill said. � PTI
