The Centre has extended the date for Aadhaar enrolment for about 135 notifications of the government dealing with pensions, scholarships and other welfare programmes. In a new circular issued on Wednesday, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said the date for enrolling Aadhaar to avail of the benefits of various schemes has been extended to December 31. Earlier, the Centre had asked beneficiaries to enrol in Aadhaar before September 30 to avail the benefits. “Such beneficiaries are required to enrol for Aadhaar by December 31, 2017, and provide their Aadhaar number or enrolment ID as required under section 7 of the Aadhaar Act,” the circular said.

It added that the respective ministries and departments must take special measures to issue Aadhaar numbers to women, children, senior citizens, persons with disability, unskilled and unorganised workers, nomadic tribes or to persons without houses or permanent dwelling. The Mid Day Meal Scheme and the MGNREGA are also among the 135 programmes that need Aadhaar number for identity verification. Our Bureau