Village first to get biometric smart cards

For the first time in the state, the Tiruvannamalai (India) district administration has issued biometric smart cards to beneficiaries of social security schemes to ensure a paperless and transparent system, through which social security payments can be made. Of the total 1,70,500 beneficiaries of eight social security schemes, including the Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme, Indira Gandhi National Disabled Pension Scheme, Destitute and Deserted Wife Pension and Destitute Widow Pension in the district, the district administration, in association with 12 public and private sector banks, issued smart cards to 18,500 beneficiaries.