Aadhaar as access card

Direct Benefit Transfer - one of the United Progressive Alliance's ambitious flagship welfare programmes - may have made a slow start, forcing the government to postpone the second phase. This has not, however, stopped it from installing an Aadhaar-linked attendance system in the Planning Commission. The move has left many employees perplexed: what does Aadhaar have to do with daily attendance formalities? Perhaps it has something to do with the fact that the Unique Identification Authority of India, which is responsible for the Aadhaar programme, has an office attached to the Planning Commission.