MGNREGA beneficiaries will now get their wage payments through the Aadhaar Based Payment Bridge System (ABPS) to ensure there are no failures in receipt of wages due to frequent changes of bank accounts by beneficiaries, or non-updating of such changes by concerned officers.

The Ministry of Rural Development on Saturday said there were several cases of wage payments being rejected due to the changes of bank accounts.

Consultations were held with different stakeholders, and it was found that to avoid such rejections, the ABPS is the best route for making wage payment through direct benefit transfer (DBT). It will help the beneficiaries in getting their wage payments on time.

The Central government has, however, made it clear to all states that a beneficiary who comes for work should be requested to provide Aadhaar number, but will not be refused work on this basis. Job cards cannot be deleted on the basis that a worker is not eligible for ABPS.

Under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), ABPS has been in use since 2017. After almost universal availability of Aadhaar numbers to every adult person, the Government decided to extend the ABPS to beneficiaries under the scheme.

The payments land through ABPS only to the account associated with ABPS, which means that it is safer and faster way of payment transfer.

Once Aadhaar is updated in the scheme database, beneficiary need not update account numbers due to change in location or change in bank account number.

Money will be transferred to the account number which is linked with Aadhaar number. In case of more than one account of the beneficiary, which is rare in the context of MGNREGA, a beneficiary has the choice to select the account.

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

Out of the total 14.28 crore active MGNREGA beneficiaries, Aadhaar has been seeded for 13.75 crore. Against these seeded Aadhaar, a total 12.17 crore Aadhaar cases have been authenticated and 77.81 per cent are now already eligible for ABPS.

During the Month of May 2023, about 88 per cent of wage payments have been made through ABPS.

As per UIDAI, more than 98 per cent adult population has Aadhaar numbers. In case an individual needs Aadhaar number, she or he can get by visiting appropriate agency or nearby Aadhaar centre. States have been requested to organize camps and follow up with beneficiaries to achieve 100 per cent ABPS.

If a beneficiary does not demand for work, in such case her/his status about eligibility for ABPS does not affect the demand for work.

The Aadhaar based payment system is nothing but a route through which the payment is getting credited in the accounts of beneficiaries. There are well defined steps adopted in this system and roles of beneficiaries, field functionaries and all other stakeholders are clearly defined.

ABPS is instrumental in curbing corruption by weeding out fake beneficiaries. The Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has not adopted Aadhaar-enabled payment, it is stated. This scheme has opted for Aadhaar Based Payment Bridge system.