Aadhar not necessary for disabled persons to avail pension: Minister

New Delhi, Jan 4: Aadhar card was not necessary for Persons with Disability (PwD) to avail pension from state governments, Minister of State for Social Justice and Empowerment Krishan Pal Gurjar said in the Rajya Sabha on Thursday.

The Minister said the Modi government had made it mandatory for all states to provide a Unique Disability Identity card (UDID) to PwD which shall be recognised all over the country. 
The eligible PwD will have to show UDID to avail pension. 
'Earlier the disability identity procured from one state was not good for another state. But we have made it mandatory for the UDID to be valid throughout the country,' Mr Pal said answering supplementaries during 
Question Hour. 
He said 12 states had already issued such cards.
The Minister said the government had recently enhanced the reservation for PwD to 4 per cent from 3 per cent earlier.
To a specific query, he said when the NDA government came to power in 2014, the backlog of vacancies in jobs for PwD was 15,684.
``In the last three years, 14000 vacancies had been filled up and now there was a backlog of only 1000,’’ he said to the thumping of desks by BJP members. 
He said the government had provided up to Rs 150 crore to states like Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Chhattisgarh and Rajasthan who had sought funds for up gradation of infrastructure facilities such as provision of ramps, lifts, toilets etc. at railway stations, bus stations, government buildings for the disabled.
Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Puri intervened to clarify that four blind students who were “displaced” in Delhi were being used as a “ruse” to encroach upon DDA land by vested interests.
'They were sent to an institution for the blind and taken care of,' he added. UNI