DeitY To Develop India’s 1st Social Security Platform; But Is It Really Needed After Aadhaar Card?
Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY) has been assigned the task to develop and create India’s first and only Social Security platform, which will give every Indian a unique identity through which he or she can be identified, and provided social welfare schemes and assistance.
This decision was taken by Prime Minister Office, after a tussle between Labor, Finance and IT Departments created a logjam in this matter. These three Ministries had been asked to formulate a plan regarding India’s own Social Security platform, but due to difference in opinion, they couldn’t conclude on a decision.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had mentioned creation of a massive social security platform during the Union Budget 2015 announcements.
But What About Aadhaar & Jan Dhan?
Questions have risen regarding the need of such a new platform, especially when we already have Aadhaar Card and Jan Dhan bank accounts which can be used to disperse social welfare schemes; and used as an identity for every citizen?
It seems that the new social security platform would be used in sync with both Aadhar and Jan Dhan, as these would be the ‘authentication’ tool for the same.
An official said, “It has been decided that DeitY will use the socio-economic caste census to establish the identity of all resident beneficiaries. This will be seeded with Aadhaar and Jan Dhan accounts of all the beneficiaries for direct transfer of benefits as we go forward”
How Will Social Security Work in India?
As per preliminary reports, beneficiaries of various Govt. schemes need to register with the concerned Ministries, and then their application shall be verified using Aadhaar Card details.
For example, in case an Indian citizen wishes to get benefits under Suraksha Bima Yojana (accident cover), Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (life insurance cover) and the Atal Pension Yojana (old age pension); then he or she will need to register with Health Ministry, provide Aadhaar Card details, and then pass the eligibility criteria for receiving the concerned benefits.
Once these procedures are completed, the concerned financial benefits would be automatically transferred to the beneficiary’s bank account (most probably using Jan Dhan route).
Although this whole process seems complicated, but it seems that Indian Govt. wants to replicate the reach and utility of USA’s Social Security Number (SSN) platform which was the base of Aadhar Card platform as well.
We hope that the system is simplified, as the really needy of such Govt. schemes: the poor and the sidelined will have to walk a long mile before getting benefitted with such schemes.
We will keep you updated as more details come in..
