By June, govt aims to link 5.58 lakh ration shops with Aadhaar

By June, govt aims to link 5.58 lakh ration shops with Aadhaar NEW DELHI, FEBRUARY 10:  

The government said it would make 5.58 lakh ration shops Aadhaar-enabled by June 30, adding that it would not force it on the people and request those who chose to stay out, to come and join the platform(मंच) . This follows a Food Ministry notification(अधिसूचना) making Aadhaar

mandatory(अनिवार्य)  for food subsidies, and asking those not enrolled(दाखिला लिया) to do so by June 30.  Speaking to media persons, Electronics and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said his Ministry was in talks with the Food and Consumer Affairs Ministry to work together toward meeting the goal.

Prasad said all ration shops in Gujarat, Andhra Pradesh and Rajasthan have already been made Aadhaar-enabled. “In Gujarat, even payment in ration shops is being made using thumb impression linked to Aadhaar,” he added. 

Rules for digital wallets

The Minister said the government was working on new rules for digital wallets and the draft would soon be placed in the public domain for comments. “Our Act will be framed under the IT Act. It will take care of consumer interests and cyber security,” he said.

Citing from this year’s Budget proposals, Prasad said the government had approved ₹681 crore as seed capital for building a total corpus(कोष) of over ₹6,800 crore under the electronic development fund (EDF) meant to support entrepreneurship(उद्यमिता)  and innovation in electronics and IT.

Prasad said investments in electronic manufacturing, which were just ₹11,000 crore in June 2014, had increased to ₹1,27,880 crore and from six crore mobile handsets in 2014-15, India’s mobile manufacturing capacity had increased to 11 crore in 2015-16.

Electronics production in the country had also increased across segments with the value of LED products registering a rise of 65 per cent to ₹3,590 crore in 2015-16 from ₹2,172 crore in 2014-15.

“The value of mobile handsets produced in India has increased by 185 per cent to ₹54,000 crore in 2015-16 from ₹18,900 crore in 2014-15. Next year, it is going to cross ₹90,000 crore,” he added.