ModiCare Will Now Have Aadhaar-Like Platform; Delhi To Ditch Aadhaar For Ration Distribution!

ModiCare, which has been declared as world’s largest healthcare system will now have an Aadhaar-like identification platform, which will make it the world’s largest such healthcare IT platform.

In a related news, AAP-led Delhi Govt. has decided to ditch Aadhaar for ration allocation and distribution, as it is leading to chaos and confusion.

Will other states also follow Delhi?

ModiCare To Get Aadhaar-Like Identification Platform

100 million families across India will soon get medical insurance up to Rs 5 lakh, and this way, 500 million individuals will be covered under a pan-India healthcare scheme.

Analysts are already comparing it with ObamaCare, which is a similar healthcare program in the US.

ModiCare was announced in the Union Budget this month.

Now, reports are emerging that ModiCare will have an Aadhaar-like identification platform, and high-level meetings are already on regarding this.

Along with Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, senior officials from NITI Ayog, Union health ministry, the UIDAI and the NIC have already met and discussed the scope of the project.

As per information received, this new identification system will have portability feature, which will make availing health benefits easier.

The official name of ModiCare is National Health Protection Scheme (NHPS), and citizens from different states would be able to easily avail health benefits, due to portability feature. Say a family migrates to Maharashtra from Bihar. Using Aadhaar-like platform, they port their benefits from Bihar to Maharashtra, thereby using the health insurance benefits.

NITI Ayog adviser Alok Kumar said,

“We wanted to learn from the Aadhar experience because they have had a large rollout,”

A two-track system is being worked out, wherein state-wise and country-wise, both are covered.

Such similar identification platform already exists in Rajasthan, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, West Bengal and Karnataka; and now, the same would be studied and integrated with a new Aadhaar-like platform.

6 working groups from NITI Ayog, Union health ministry, the UIDAI and the NIC are already working on it.

Delhi Will Ditch Aadhaar For Ration Distribution!

Meanwhile, AAP-led Delhi Govt. has decided to ditch Aadhaar platform for distributing ration to its citizens.

This is the first instance of a state quitting Aadhaar, and rolling back to the previous system for distribution of ration.

Deputy Chief Minister of Delhi, Manish Sisodia said,

“A few months back, a decision was taken by the Delhi Cabinet to stop stealing of ration, but what was implemented by the officials, apparently in some different form than what was decided by the Cabinet earlier,”

This decision to use the old system has been taken for some time now, as per the Minister.

He said, “Therefore, it will go back to the old system for some time now. Aadhaar card will not be mandatory.”

Starting January 1st, Aadhaar-based point-of-sale machines were installed across 2,254 fair price shops in Delhi. But due to a system glitch, 2.5 lakh families were not able to avail ration and experienced hardships.

The decision to roll back to old system was taken so that all beneficiaries are able to have food.

After cases emerged where poor people were not able to take ration due to a mismatch in Aadhaar details or non-availability of Aadhaar, UIDAI has strictly instructed all states that non-availability of Aadhaar cannot be the reason for denial of essential services, which includes food as well.