Database of savings schemes linked with Aadhaar in offing

Cabinet Secretariat has directed that all GPF, EPF, PPF account data be seeded

FILE- In this May 16, 2012 file photo, an operator helps an elderly woman scan her fingerprints as she enrolls for Aadhar, India's unique identification project in Kolkata, India. India's top court has ruled that the right to privacy is a fundamental right of every citizen of the country. The landmark verdict was in response to many petitions filed in courts questioning the validity of a government scheme to assign a unique biometric identity card to every individual. (AP Photo/Bikas Das, File)

The Cabinet Secretariat is keen on a central database of government and private sector employees who have subscribed to the general provident fund (GPF), public provident fund (PPF) and employees’ provident fund (EPF) with Aadhaar as the primary identifier.

It has directed the various departments monitoring such savings schemes to ensure that 100% Aadhaar seeding of all salaried accounts takes place by December 31, according to the minutes of the meeting seen by The Hindu .

The proposal came up in a meeting chaired by the Cabinet Secretariat with the Ministry of Finance, Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology and the Ministry of Labour and Employment on August 25 to discuss the “interoperability of savings schemes” and linking them to Aadhaar.

“The objective of meeting is to deliberate on Aadhaar linking of GPF, PPF and EPF accounts of employees, examine the possibility of a centralised repository of employees’ fund details with Aadhaar as the primary identifier and establishing portability of fund accounts across organisations,” Peeyush Kumar, Joint Secretary [Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) Mission], Cabinet Secretariat, said in the meeting.

The Department of Economic Affairs informed that small savings schemes, including PPF, were operated by post offices, public sector and private banks. The Cabinet Secretariat asked the Ministry of Finance to examine whether a centralised platform of all savings schemes was being worked out as all banks had their own systems in place.

Employees’ information

For government employees, the Ministry of Finance said that it is developing Employees’ Information System, an online salary application system, which may also be used to maintain information related to GPF.

While EPF is the savings scheme for private sector employees, the GPF is meant for government employees and PPF can be subscribed to by all workers.

The Department of Posts informed the Cabinet Secretariat that 4.7 crore out of 56 crore PPF accounts in post offices were linked with Aadhaar. “All stakeholder departments to ensure 100% Aadhaar seeding of GPF, PPF and EPF accounts by December 31, 2017” the Cabinet Secretariat directed.