Aadhaar for rest, but babus resist link for CGHS

Over 3,100 DBT schemes and 360 public services rely on Aadhaar-based authentication, yet the bureaucracy that demands Aadhaar from citizens has resisted linking their Central Govt Health Scheme cards to Aadhaar. CGHS beneficiaries include serving and retired central government employees and their families, sitting and former MPs, judges, and Delhi journalists.

Aadhaar linking has improved targeted, transparent, and leak-proof service delivery while eliminating duplicate and ineligible beneficiaries. However, bureaucrats are not setting an example.

There is no annual verification to remove dead pensioners or their ineligible dependents. Despite multiple directives from the government to link CGHS beneficiary IDs with Aadhaar since June 2015, the bureaucracy has resisted. The last withdrawal of the directive happened in July 2024, when the government had to keep the linkage "in abeyance till further orders."

The linkage is now voluntary for central government employees, though it is mandatory for the poor who receive Rs 300 daily as a wage under the employment guarantee scheme. While Aadhaar is mandatory for welfare schemes funded by the Consolidated Fund of India, bureaucrats argue that CGHS is a contributory scheme, not a DBT scheme, despite 90% of its spending coming from the Consolidated Fund.

Their contributions make up a tiny portion of the annual expenditure. CGHS has a higher per capita expenditure than ECHS and the railway health scheme if ineligible beneficiaries and deceased people are removed. Pensioner cards from 2005 remain active in the system without any checks, increasing the chances of fraud and misuse.