Government Claims Child's Aadhar Not Mandatory For Availing Benefits Of POSHAN Scheme

The Women and Child Development Ministry have clarified that a child's Aadhaar card is not mandatory for availing the benefits of the nutrition scheme and that these can be accessed using the mother's biometric card to register on the Poshan tracker app.

The clarification came in response to a media report which claimed that "millions of children will soon need Aadhaar IDs to access their right to a nutritious meal". The WCD ministry insisted the Aadhar details of children are not mandatory and the ministry is ensuring that the benefits of the nutrition scheme are delivered using the Aadhar ID of the mother.

The Press Information Bureau fact-check also made the clarification in a tweet. "A media report claims that the Aadhar card of children is mandatory for availing the benefits of the POSHAN scheme#PIBFactCheck...This claim is #fake, the Aadhar card of children is not mandatory, the Aadhar ID of the mother is required for the Poshan Tracker," it tweeted.

The ministry recently proposed that the Anganwadi services should be digitized through the Poshan tracker to keep a tab on the nutrition access of the children moving across states. "When you move from one place to another, it becomes easier for beneficiaries to identify you as part of the program as a whole and that is why when we are proposing to the states that you universalize Poshan access...we are riding on the Aadhar linkage of the beneficiary," an official had said earlier this month.