President Kovind praises Aadhaar but Congress says BJP has made mockery of it

"Aadhaar is a very good idea implemented horribly," says Jairam Ramesh

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh (Photo: PTI/File)

New Delhi: Just on a day when President Ram Nath Kovind praised Aadhaar and said that it has helped the government in "eliminating middlemen" and save over Rs 57,000 crore, Congress leader and former union minister Jairam Ramesh commented that Narendra Modi government has made mockery of "a good idea" like Aadhaar by implementing it "horribly". "Aadhaar is a very good idea implemented horribly. The UPA (United Progressive Alliance) vision of Aadhaar was that it should be implemented only for delivery of social benefits. Aadhaar was meant to be an instrument of eliminating fraud and duplicate identity in delivery of social programmes. "I never expect aadhaar for airline tickets, bank accounts, mobiles...this is ridiculous. They (the Modi government) have made mockery of Aadhaar," he told IANS in an interview on the sidelines of the Tata Steel Kolkata Literary Festival. Further, Ramesh said, "People are dying because of Aadhaar card as they are not getting ration, pension without the biometric card. Aadhaar is inducing deaths of people." The President said in his address to the joint sitting of both the Houses that, "Aadhaar has helped in securing the rights of the poor by eliminating middlemen. At present, digital payments are being carried out in more than 400 schemes of the government." He said through digital payments, the government was able to save over Rs 57,000 crore from reaching the middlemen. Kovind also said the 'BHIM' application launched by the government is promoting digital transactions across the country. "BHIM App is playing a major role in promoting digital transactions. The recently launched 'Umang App' has also made more than 100 public services available on mobile phones," he said. The President said in the electronic manufacturing sector, there are now over 113 mobile phone companies working in the country. "There were only two mobile manufacturing companies in India in 2014," he said. "Through this, the number of youths across the country are getting more opportunities of employment," he added. The President hailed the Prime Minister's Rural Digital Literacy Programme, saying the government has started the world's largest digital literacy programme in the country. "Under this programme, the government has been able to make over one crore people digitally literate," he added.