The Aadhaar number is not mandatory for booking rail tickets, the Centre told the Rajya Sabha on Friday, August 4.
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The Union Minister of State for railways Rajen Gohain, in his written reply, to the Rajya Sabha said that as of now, the Railway Ministry had no plans to make the 12-digit unique identification number compulsory for booking rail tickets.
"At present, there is no proposal to make the Aadhaar number compulsory for booking tickets for rail journey," said Gohain.
He also rectified that the need of Aadhaar card number to opt for concessional railway tickets was also not mandatory.
"However, with effect from January 1, 2017, the requirement of Aadhaar verification for getting concessional railway tickets for senior citizens has been introduced on a voluntary basis," Gohain added.
Aadhaar NOT complusory for death certicate?
The minister's statement came in the same day when the Central government announced the importance of Adhaar card for the purpose of establishing the identity of the deceased while applying for a death certificate.
Acccording to initial reports, it was said that the Adhaar numbers would be made mandatory for the issuance of death certificates to residents of all states and union territories except Jammu and Kashmir, Meghalaya and Assam from October 1, 2017.
However, late on Friday night, the government clarified that Adhaar number was not mandatory for registration of death of an individual.
The Ministry of Home Affairs has said that any individual, who is applying for a death certificate, does not know the Aadhaar number or the Aadhaar Enrolment ID Number (EID) of the deceased, the person will have to provide a certificate stating that the deceased person does not possess an Aadhaar number to the best of his/her knowledge.
In the last few months the government has made the Aadhhar card number mandatory to avail various services.
Providing the Aadhaar number for services and schemes like bank accounts, filing taxes, availing tuberculosis treatment under the Revised National Tuberculosis Control Programme (RNTCP), availing the benefits under the Maternity Benefit Programme and Integrated Child Protection Scheme and other schemes for farmers, labourers, students etc is mandatory, according to PTI reports.
