Govt extends deadline for linking Aadhaar with saving schemes like post office deposits, Kisan Vikas Patra

New Delhi: Government has extended the deadline for linking of biometric identification Aadhaar to small savings schemes like post office deposits, Kisan Vikas Patra by three months to 31 March, 2018. “It has now been decided to extend the last date for submission of ‘Aadhaar’ number from 31 December, 2017 to 31 March, 2018,” a Finance Ministry notification said. [caption id=“attachment_4293327” align=“alignleft” width=“380”] Representational image. Courtesy - News18.[/caption] The government has insisted on quoting Aadhaar for bank deposits, obtaining mobile phone and several other utilities to weed out benami deals and blackmoney. The depositor was required to submit Aadhaar number at the time of opening of account/purchasing certificates, it said. Further, that every depositor who had not given his Aadhaar number at the time of application for such deposit was to submit his Aadhaar number on or before 31 December, 2017. In October, the government made 12-digit Aadhaar mandatory for all small savings schemes like post office deposits, PPF, the National Savings Certificate scheme and Kisan Vikas Patra. Existing depositors were given time till 31 December, 2017 to provide the unique number. It is to be noted that the government extended the deadline for mandatory linking of Aadhaar to avail the benefits of various government schemes till 31 March. As many as 135 schemes (of 35 ministries) including the free cooking gas (LPG) to poor women, kerosene and fertiliser subsidy, targeted public distribution system (PDS) and MGNREGA will be covered by the extension.