Gandhinagar, April 29 (IANS) The Gujarat government has brought its 20 most frequently accessed public services under the ‘Digital Gujarat’ portal with mandatory Aadhaar authentication, aiming to ease delivery and ensure benefits reach only eligible beneficiaries.

The decision was taken at a Cabinet meeting held in Gandhinagar on Wednesday under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel.

Briefing on the decisions, government spokesperson and Minister Jitu Vaghani said the move follows recommendations of the Gujarat Administrative Reforms Commission (GARC) and is intended to make citizen services more transparent, accurate and efficient.

“The most widely used services, including income certificates, caste certificates, non-creamy layer certificates, economically weaker section certificates and ration card-related services, have been included under the ‘Top-20’ high-volume category on the Digital Gujarat platform,” he said.

According to him, Aadhaar authentication has been made mandatory for availing these services.

“Authentication will be carried out either through a one-time password sent to the Aadhaar-linked mobile number or through biometric verification wherever facilities are available,” Vaghani said.

He added that prior consent of applicants will be required before Aadhaar verification is undertaken.

He further stated that once Aadhaar authentication is completed successfully, applicants will not be required to submit any additional documents as proof of identity or residence, thereby making the process simpler and paperless.

The minister said safeguards have been introduced to ensure inclusivity in service delivery.

“If a citizen does not possess an Aadhaar card or if authentication fails due to technical reasons, the individual will not be denied service. In such cases, verification will be carried out through alternative identity documents,” he said.

On data security, Vaghani said the full Aadhaar number will not be displayed at any stage in the system.

Only masked Aadhaar showing the last four digits will be visible where required, and all UIDAI security guidelines will be strictly followed.

The 20 services brought under the portal include income certificates for rural, urban and Gram Panchayat applicants; socially and educationally backward class certificates for rural and urban applicants; non-creamy layer certificates issued by the state government for rural and urban areas as well as under the central government category; Scheduled Caste certificates; Scheduled Tribe certificates; and economically weaker section (EWS) certificates for both rural and urban applicants.

They also include ration card services such as addition of names, deletion of names, corrections, issuance of new ration cards, applications for separate ration cards, duplicate ration cards, requests for copies, as well as issuance of affidavits and related documentation services.

–IANS

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