New Delhi, Nov 2 (IANS): Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Wednesday said no poor person shall be deprived of welfare measures just because he or she does not have an Aadhaar card, adding that the Centre has issued directives to all state governments in this regard.

The remarks of the Union Minister of Electronics and Information Technology came in the wake of recent reports of deaths because of starvation, as the deceased reportedly did not receive ration for months due to non-linkage of their ration card with Aadhaar.

Talking about privacy concerns of Aadhaar, Prasad told reporters that Aadhaar card were safely encrypted and there was nothing to worry about the privacy of data.

"Law is tough. Aadhaar is governed by laws passed by Parliament and any violator would face strict punishment, ranging up to fine of Rs 10 Lakh or even seven-year imprisonment," he said.

Prasad also said that to date, 32 crore bank accounts had been linked to Aadhaar.

Two Goa AAP leaders raise questions on donations, party denies charges
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Panaji, Nov 1 (IANS) Two AAP members from Goa on Wednesday accused state and central leadership of maintaining non-transparency on donations collected for the February 4 assembly elections and non-clearance of expenditure dues of party candidates.

The party, however, denied the charges and said the reimbursement of money spent by AAP candidates has since been made.

Despite repeated reminders and requests, party leadership has not been able to provide proper accounting of donations received by the Aam Aadmi Party and the poll expenditure, Milind Gauns and Sainath Patekar told the media here.

Gauns and Patekar had unsuccessfully contested from Sanquelim and Bicholim seats respectively.

"The AAP talks of transparency and anti-corruption. But the leadership has not been able to disclose how much money was collected during assembly elections and how much was spent. Anyone who asks for the break-up is banished by the state committee," Gauns alleged.

Both claimed that AAP had promised to reimburse to candidates the expenses incurred on banners, posters, food, and campaign vehicles, but failed to do so once the elections were over.

"We feel let down. There is no mention of payments for expenses incurred, although we have submitted the bills," Gauns said.

AAP Goa unit General Secretary Pradeep Padgaonkar told IANS that the party had paid money to all its candidates for poll-related expenditure in all the constituencies. "As far as I know, all payments have been made by the party," Padgaonkar said.

As for the charge that AAP did not disclose the amount of donations it collected, Padgaonkar said: "The donations were done online. The process is transparent and the details are easily available."