Use of Aadhaar for its health insurance scheme desirable but not mandatory, govt clarifies

New Delhi: The government on Thursday clarified that Aadhaar is "desirable" but not mandatory to avail benefits under the Centre's ambitious Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission. The clarification came after a section of the media reported that the Centre had published a gazette notification making Aadhaar mandatory for beneficiaries under its health insurance scheme. "Notification of the Ayushman Bharat - National Health Protection Mission being issued by the Health Ministry under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, merely enables the implementation agencies to ask for the beneficiary Aadhaar Card to authenticate their identity. The Health Ministry said that the draft notification also provides for exception handling mechanism -- production of alternative identification mechanisms such as ration card, voter ID card, MGNREGA card among others in case the beneficiary does not have Aadhaar number.