The National Automated Clearing House and Aadhaar Based Payment System-ABPS routes for wage payments have been extended by the Centre until the end of current year. The Ministry of Rural Development has also made it clear to all the States that, while the beneficiary should be asked for their Aadhaar number when they arrive for work, employment would not be denied on this basis absent a compelling reason. It was said that a beneficiary’s eligibility for APBS would not alter their demand for work if they did not express an interest in finding employment.
The Ministry has made it clear that job cards cannot be revoked because an employee is ineligible for ABPS. The Ministry said that there is a greater success percentage of 99.55 percent or above where the Aadhaar is enabled for Direct Benefit Transfer, citing data from the National Payments Corporation of India. For account-based payments, this success rate is around 98%.
The Aadhaar-based payment system is nothing more than a means of depositing funds into beneficiaries’ accounts. The Ministry further stated that by screening out bogus beneficiaries, APBS plays a crucial role in assisting legitimate beneficiaries in receiving their just compensation and in reducing corruption. The Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, according to the statement, has chosen an Aadhaar-based payment system rather than one that supports Aadhaar-enabled payments.