RAS question
The Jan Aadhaar Yojana of Rajasthan serves primarily as which of the following?
Correct answer: (A) A unified family identity card and service delivery platform.
Rajasthan's Jan Aadhaar Yojana is primarily a unified family identity card and service delivery platform for accessing state government schemes and services.
Explanation
Jan Aadhaar is best understood as Rajasthan's family-based public service identity system, not as a single-sector welfare scheme. It replaced the earlier Bhamashah Card and gives each family one Jan Aadhaar card with a unique 10-digit family ID. The Rajasthan Economic Review 2024-25 frames the scheme as "one number, one card, one identity" and says it is meant to simplify and make transparent the delivery of cash and non-cash benefits from public welfare schemes. It also identifies the Jan Aadhaar portal as a Direct Benefit Transfer platform and notes that it is integrated with more than 175 schemes and services. That is why option A captures both parts of its core function: identity and service delivery.
Why the other options are wrong
- (B) A health insurance scheme is a separate welfare intervention; Jan Aadhaar functions as the family identity and delivery platform through which many benefits may be accessed.
- (C) Crop insurance is not Jan Aadhaar's primary purpose; the question asks about the platform's identity-and-service role, not an agriculture risk-cover programme.
- (D) Senior citizen pension is a separate beneficiary scheme, while Jan Aadhaar supplies the unified family identity and DBT/service delivery layer for such welfare delivery.
Concept
This tests Rajasthan's digital governance and welfare-delivery architecture, especially the shift from standalone scheme databases to a unified family registry. RAS repeats this concept because Jan Aadhaar links administrative identity, DBT and service access in state schemes.