Aadhaar must for subsidised LPG cylinder

Farhim Bano and Urmashi Devi’s common grouse of not having received Aadhaar number for a year has put them in danger of losing Rs. 3,000 -- yearly subsidy for six cooking gas cylinders.

Updated on: Jan 14, 2013, 01:25:06 IST

Hindustan Times | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

Prefer HTon Google

Share via

Copy link

Farhim Bano and Urmashi Devi’s common grouse of not having received Aadhaar number for a year has put them in danger of losing Rs. 3,000 -- yearly subsidy for six cooking gas cylinders.

The government from New Year has decided to make Aadhaar number mandatory for transfer of subsidy amount into the bank account of a LPG gas cylinder subscriber of oil companies in 43 pilot districts. It comes three months after the oil companies obtained bank account numbers of all its customers through new know your customer (KYC) regime.

A senior government official told HT that the shift from bank account to Aadhaar number was a step to put the cooking gas subsidy regime on unique identification of Aadhaar payment-bridge, which the government has introduced on pilot basis in 20 districts from January 1 for seven central government schemes.

Once the new system comes into force, the entire subsidy would be transferred into the Aadhaar linked bank account, whose information the oil companies have already collected. “It will help us (the government) to keep a check on subsidy,” the official said.

Bano and Devi, who does not understand the fiscal nitty gritty of new regime, are on a look-out for their Aadhaar number.

“I enrolled a year ago and haven’t received Aadhaar number,” she said, outside an Indian Oil gas dealer at Badli in north Delhi, wondering how she can get the most important number for her.

Like many other migrant labourers, including Devi, she had changed her home since Aadhaar enrolment and does not know whether she can get the number now or not. She was instructed by the gas dealer to visit an Aadhaar enrollment centre in Samaipur flocked many people having grievance similar to her.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has enrolled about 300 million people but has dispatched Aadhaar to less than half of them. Most of those enrolled for Aadhaar number Home Ministry’s national population register six months ago are yet to receive their numbers.

The only reprieve is that the new regime of transferring subsidy directly into bank accounts would be applicable from new financial year --- April onwards --- and by them the consumers can submit their Aadhaar numbers.

“Cash transfers will start with Aadhaar number and mostly likely in 43 pilot districts first,” an official said. Currently, the price of a subsidised LPG cylinder in Delhi is Rs. 410.42, against the market price of Rs. 895.50.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

Catch every big hit, every wicket with Crickit, a one stop destination for Live Scores, Match Stats, Infographics & much more. Explore now!

Stay updated with all top Cities including, Bengaluru, Delhi, Mumbai and more across India. Stay informed on the latest happenings in World News along with Delhi Election 2025 and Delhi Election Result 2025 Live, New Delhi Election Result Live, Kalkaji Election Result Live at Hindustan Times.