Lok Sabha Question No. 6064 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-04-04
Subject: Use of Mobile Numbers for Beneficiary Verification
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6064 TO BE ANSWERED ON 4 TH  APRIL, 2018

## USE OF MOBILE NUMBERS FOR BENEFICIARY VERIFICATION

†6064. SHRI RAVINDRA KUMAR PANDEY:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) the  details  of  various  Government  services/facilities  available  on  the  digital platform;
- (b) whether the Government proposes to use mobile number for the verification of the beneficiaries for the provision of benefits under various Government services;
- (c) if so, the details thereof;
- (d) the safeguards adopted by the Government in this regard; and
- (e) the current status of the said proposal?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) Ministry  of  Electronics  and  Information  Technology  is  implementing 'Digital India' programme to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy.  The  'Governance  &  Services  on  Demand'  is  one  of  three  vision  areas  of Digital India. In line with this vision area, several schemes/projects  are being implemented by Central Ministries/Departments and State/Union Territory (UT) Governments to deliver various e-Services.

The  digital  footprint  has  gone  up  through  Aadhaar  seeding  and  Direct  Benefit Transfer  (DBT).  Aadhaar  enrolment  has  increased  to  120  Crore  approximately  in February,  2018.  The  Government  is  keenly  pursuing  JAM  (Jandhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) for financial inclusion. The Government services are being delivered at the doorstep of citizens  through  2.92  lakh  Digital  Seva  Kendras  (Common  Services  Centres-CSC) functioning across the country while increasing transparency, efficiency and reliability. Details of the Services being delivered through CSC - Digital Seva Centres are attached as Annexure-I .

Under  the  Digital  India  programme,  ' e-Kranti '  is  being  implemented,  which envisions  making  all  government  services  accessible  to  the  common  man,  through

Common Service  Delivery  outlets  such  as  Digital  Seva  Kendras.  Under  e-Kranti,  44 Mission  Mode  Projects  (MMPs)  covering  wide  domains  including  Health,  Education, Passport Seva, Trade, Income Tax, Excise & Customs, Corporate Affairs, India Post, ePolice, Land  Records,  e-courts  etc. are  being  implemented  by  various  Central Ministries/Departments  and  State/UT  governments.  Under  e-Kranti,  29  MMPs  are providing full/partial services. 3541 e-services are being provided through 44 MMPs and States/UTs  e-Governance  projects.  More  than  3081  crore  e-transactions  with  an average of 252 crore transaction per month were done during the year 2017.

The Government has undertaken several initiatives to introduce new Information Technology (IT) products and technologies and to strengthen existing ones in its various e-Governance projects wherever applicable. These include Meghraj- GI (Government of India) Cloud project to utilize and harness the benefits of Cloud Computing, Digital Locker for  online  storage  and  sharing  of  Government  documents  and  certificates, eSign (e-Signature) for hassle free online electronic signature with Aadhaar authentication, Geographical Information System (GIS) for decision support system, National Scholarships Portal for all government scholarships on a single website, eHospital to  eliminate  long  queues  in  the  hospital  and  easy  maintenance  of  health records, MyGov portal to enhance  digital empowerment  and  enhance  citizens' partnership  in  the  governance  eco  system, Jeevan  Pramaan to  provide  biometric enabled  digital  services  for  pensioners  and Vikaspedia to  provide  a  multilingual collaborative content creation platform, Mobile Seva to provide government services to the people through mobile phones and tablets, PayGov India and National Services Delivery Gateway for  expeditious and cost effective implementation of e-Governance projects, etc.

Several  new  initiatives  including  uniform  mobile  platform  for  all  Government services  namely UMANG(Unified  Mobile  Application  for  New-age  Governance) , National  Centre  for  GeoInformatics  (NCoG) for  providing  GIS  based  services, Government e-Market Place for online procurement of Goods and Services, etc. have also been implemented.

(b) to (e) At  present,  there  is  no  such  proposal  to  utilize  the  mobile  number  for verification of beneficiaries for extending benefits under various Government services. However,  in  order  to  transfer  the  cash/benefits  directly  under  various  Government schemes, Aadhaar is preferably used as an identifier for authentication & verification of beneficiary  and  the  mobile  number  is  used  only  for  the  purpose  for  dissemination  of information to the beneficiary.

Contd….3/-

## Annexure-I

## KEY SERVICES THROUGH CSC NETWORK (Digital Seva Platform)

## G2C Services -

-  Central Government Services (Passport, PAN card, PMAY, Vendor Registration  under  FSSAI,  Swachh  Bharat  Abhiyan,  Pradhan  Mantri  Fasal Bima Yojana, Soil Health Card, etc.)
-  E-District/SSDG  Services  (Caste,  Domicile,  Income,  etc  Certificates,  land records, etc)
-  Aadhaar Services ( Aadhaar Card Printing)
-  Election Commission Services - Registration, EPIC Printing

B2C Services e-Recharge, bill collection, e-Commerce, IRCTC berth Reservation

## Financial Services -

-  Banking Services (deposit, withdrawal, remittance)
-  Insurance Services (premium collection, policy)
-  Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS)

## Educational Services -

National Digital Literacy Mission, (NDLM) - Digital Saksharata Abhiyan (DISHA) / Pradhan  Mantri  Gramin  Digital  Saksharata  Abhiyan  (PMGDISHA),  Cyber  Gram Yojana, National Institute of Open  Schooling (NIOS), National Institute of Electronics & Information Technology (NEILIT) Courses, Tally Courses, Animation course, accounting, Legal Literacy, Investors' Awareness Programme.

- Skill  Development  Data  Entry  Operator,  electric,  Auto  Mechanic,  Scheme  for Differently Abled Persons (PWD)

Utility  Services  -  Bharat  Bill  Payment  System  (BBPS) ,  Electricity  Bill  Payment, Water Bill Payment

Health Services Tele consultation, Jan Aushudhi

Connectivity Services Wi-Fi Choupal under the project & guidance of Department of Telecommunications (DoT)

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