Welfare beneficiaries may get smart cards
New Delhi, Jan. 31: The Delhi government is to take up a proposal to issue smart cards to the beneficiaries of all the social welfare schemes. The proposal, which will cost Rs 100 crores, is likely to come up for the consideration of the Delhi Cabinet soon.
Senior Delhi government officials said that a survey would be commissioned to identify the beneficiaries of about 16 different kinds of social welfare schemes. The initiative is part of the mission convergence of the Delhi government, which seeks to bring all the social welfare schemes run by the city government on a single platform. The proposed project is to be executed by the Samajik Suvidha Sangam (SSS), which is overseeing the mission convergence of the city government.“The proposed smar card will have an embedded chip which can read eyes and face and would be biometric in nature. The whole project will cost Rs 100 crores to the city government. All the departments of the Delhi government will be part of the project and will assist the SSS in completing the project,” stated a senior official.A Cabinet note has reportedly been prepared by the concerned department and is likely to be approved in February. The SSS in its earlier survey had identified about 50,000 socially vulnerable people in the city.The official added that even the department of the food and civil supplies would be part of the project. The Delhi government has already begun a survey to authenticate about 3.5 lakh below poverty line (BPL) and Antyodya Ahar Yojna (AAY) card holders in the city.“The BPL and AAY card holders will also be covered under the scheme and the PDS beneficiaries would also get smart cards to curb slippage in the PDS distribution and weed out dubious card holders. The Delhi government has already initiated biometric authentication of BPL and AAY card holders,” added the official.The Delhi government gives pensions to widows, handicapped and old age people. Recently, the city government began giving pension to even destitute women, who are abandoned by their relatives.
Age Correspondent
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