• Aadhaar has now been made mandatory to get subsidy on kerosene and benefits of the Atal Pension Yojana.
• Those getting kerosene subsidy or subscribing to the pension scheme will be required to furnish proof of possession of the unique ID or undergo the enrolment process to get the benefits.
• It has been also decided to link Aadhaar with the ration card issued to beneficiary households or with the bank account for cash transfer.
• The Ministry of Oil and Natural Gas has introduced direct benefit transfer through which subsidy is transferred directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiaries, who purchase the PDS kerosene at non-subsidised rate.
• The decision to make Aadhaar mandatory for these two schemes is expected to prevent leakages.

About Atal Pension Yojana:

• The Atal Pension Yojana became operational from June 1, 2015 and is available to all the citizens of India in the age group of 18-40 years.
• Under the scheme, a subscriber would receive a minimum guaranteed pension of Rs 1,000 to Rs 5,000 per month, depending upon his contribution, from the age of 60 years.
• The same pension would be paid to the spouse of the subscriber and on the demise of both the subscriber and the spouse, the accumulated pension wealth is returned to the nominee.
• The Central Government would also co-contribute 50% of the total contribution or Rs. 1000 per annum, whichever is lower, to each eligible subscriber account, for a period of 5 years, that is, from 2015-16 to 2019-20, to those who join the NPS before 31st December, 2015 and who are not members of any statutory social security scheme and who are not Income Tax payers.

Source:TH