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 December 31 or till further order by the Ministry of Rural Development. The Ministry has made it clear to all the states that the beneficiary who comes for work should be requested to provide the Aadhaar number but will not be refused work on this basis.
If a beneficiary does not demand for work, in such a case her or his status about eligibility for APBS does not affect the demand for work. Job cards cannot be deleted on the basis of reason that the worker is not eligible for APBS. Mahatma Gandhi NREGS has not adopted Aadhaar-enabled payment. This scheme has opted for Aadhaar Based Payment Bridge system.
Under Mahatma Gandhi NREGS, APBS has been in use since 2017. After almost universal availability of Aadhaar numbers to every adult population, the Government of India decided to extend APBS for beneficiaries under the scheme. The payment will land through APBS only to the account associated with APBS, which means that it is a safer and faster way of payment transfer.
Out of the total 14.33 crore active beneficiaries, the Aadhaar has been seeded for 13.97 crore. Against these seeded Aadhaar, a total 13.34 crore Aadhaar have been authenticated and 81.89% of active workers are now eligible for APBS. In the Month of July 2023, about 88.51% of the wage payment has been made through APBS.
It has been brought to the notice of the Central Government that in many cases due to frequent changes in 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 new account by the beneficiary on time, several transactions of wage payment are being rejected (due to old account number) by destination bank branch.
In consultation with different stakeholders, it is found that to avoid such rejections, Aadhaar Payments Bridge System (APBS) is the best route for making wage payment through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT). It will help the beneficiaries in getting their wage payment on time.
Once Aadhaar is updated in the scheme database, beneficiaries 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 the Aadhaar number. In case of more than one account of the beneficiary, which is rare in the context of MGNREGA, the beneficiary has the choice to select the account.
The National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) data shows that there is a higher success percentage to the extent of 99.55% or above where the Aadhaar is enabled for DBT. In case of account based payment such success is about 98%.
