October 10, 2023: The ministry of rural development has said that the job cards issued to the beneficiaries under the National Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGA) can be deleted for a variety of reasons, but not due to the Aadhaar Payment Bridge System (APBS).
“Job cards cannot be deleted on the basis that the worker is not eligible for APBS,” it said in a statement issued on October 5.
“Updation/deletion of job cards is a regular exercise conducted by states/UTs. A job card can be deleted in case it is a fake job card (incorrect job card)/ duplicate job card/ household not willing to work/ family shifted from Gram Panchayat permanently/ single person in job card and that person is expired,” it added.
While stating that a total of 13.99 crore Aadhaar numbers were seeded in the Management Information System (MIS) ─ this is 97.87% of total active workers ─ The ministry said that states have been told that the NREGA beneficiaries should be requested to provide Aadhaar numbers, but they should not be refused work if they fail to provide the number.
According to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), ABPS is “a unique payment system which uses Aadhaar number as a central key for electronically channelising government subsidies and benefits in the Aadhaar-Enabled Bank Accounts (AEBA) of the beneficiaries”. To opt for the ABPS, a NREGA job Card holder must link his bank account with Aadhaar. The same account must also be connected to the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) mapper.
After December 31, 2023, all NREGA workers who wish to find employment under the NREGA must switch to the ABPS. This means that till December 31, 2023, NREGA workers are allowed to get wages in two modes: account-based and Aadhaar-based.
See also: What is NREGA Aadhaar-based payment system?
“In many cases, due to frequent changes in bank account number by the beneficiary and non-updating of the new account number by the programme officer concerned, and due to non-submission of new account by the beneficiary on time, several transactions of wage payment are being rejected by the destination bank branch. In consultation with different stakeholders, it is found that to avoid such rejections, APBS is the best route for making wage payment through direct benefits transfer. It will help the beneficiaries in getting their wage payment on time,” the ministry said.
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