The Central government has asked all states to ensure that Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries should not be refused work due to the unavailability of Aadhar number.

The beneficiary who comes for work should be requested to provide their Aadhaar number but will not be refused work on this basis, it said.

Also, it mentioned that if a beneficiary does not demand for work, in such a case, her/his status about eligibility for the Aadhaar-Based Payment Bridge System (APBS) does not affect the demand for work. Job cards cannot be deleted on the basis of the reason that the worker is not eligible for APBS.

It has been brought to the notice of the Central government that in many cases due to frequent changes in the Bank Account Number by the beneficiary and non-updating of the new account number by the Concerned Programme Officer of the same, due to non-submission of a new account by the beneficiary on time, several transactions of wage payment are being rejected (due to old account number) by destination bank branch, the government highlighted.

The Centre said that in consultation with different stakeholders, it was found that to avoid such rejections, the Aadhaar Payments Bridge System (APBS) is the best route for making wage payments through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). It will help the beneficiaries in getting their wage payment on time.

APBS is helping genuine beneficiaries to get their due payment and is instrumental in curbing corruption by weeding out fake beneficiaries. Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has not adopted Aadhaar-enabled payment. This scheme has opted for the Aadhaar-based Payment Bridge system.

The progress of the Aadhaar-based Payment System (ABPS) has been reviewed and the mixed route of wage payment (NACH and ABPS route) has been extended till 31st December 2023 or till further order.

It is to be noted that under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, APBS has been in use since 2017.

Out of the total 14.33 crore active beneficiaries, the Aadhaar has been seeded for 13.97 crore. Against these seeded Aadhaar, a total of 13.34 crore Aadhaar have been authenticated and 81.89 per cent of active workers are now eligible for APBS. In the Month of July 2023, about 88.51 per cent of the wage payment has been made through APBS.

Also, the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data shows that there is a higher success percentage to the extent of 99.55 per cent or above where Aadhaar is enabled for DBT. In the case of Account-based payment such success is about 98 per cent.