The Centre assured the Rajya Sabha on Friday that children would not be deprived of midday meals if they did not have an Aadhaar number.
“I want to tell this House that no one will be deprived of midday meals. Everybody will get midday meal and they will get Aadhaar card as well,” Human Resource Development Minister Prakash Javadekar said in response to concerns expressed by Congress leader Motilal Vora during Zero Hour.
Asserting that the government had made Aadhaar mandatory under the midday meal scheme, Mr. Vora said: “It seems the government has decided to take away the free food scheme from school children.” Mr. Javadekar said a large number of beneficiaries already had an Aadhaar number and facilities would be made to enrol other students. Where facilities for an Aadhaar number could not be made available, the States would provide unique numbers to the students.
