PM CARES Scholarship 2026: If your child receives a scholarship under the PM CARES for Children Scheme and doesn’t yet have an Aadhaar card, there’s no need to worry. The central government has clarified that eligible children will not be denied benefits simply because they don’t have an Aadhaar number or because their identity verification has failed. The government has established alternative documentation and identity verification for such cases.
The Department of Social Justice and Empowerment issued a gazette notification in this regard on October 14, 2026. Under the new rules, alternative arrangements have been set for problems ranging from Aadhaar enrolment to biometric verification.
How will you get scholarship if you don’t have an Aadhaar card?
According to the rules, eligible children who have not yet received an Aadhaar number must apply for Aadhaar enrollment. The receipt from the enrollment center must contain the enrollment ID. If the child is under 18 years of age, the consent of the parent or legal guardian is required for Aadhaar enrollment. Until the Aadhaar number is issued, the child can prove their identity through prescribed alternative documents. Proof of relationship with the parent or legal guardian must also be provided.
What paperwork do kids under 18 need?
For younger kids, you’ll want to grab things like a birth certificate, Indian passport, or a 10th or 12th grade mark sheet or certificate from a legit education board to show who they are and how old they are. If the kid’s living in a registered child care facility, a birth certificate from the right authority works too.
You can use a photo ration card, passport, and other official government docs mentioned in the notice to prove the child’s connection to their parent or legal guardian. If it’s an adopted kid or one under a legal guardian’s care, paperwork from a court or authorized official should do the trick.
What about people 18 and up?
If your beneficiary is 18 or older and doesn’t have an Aadhaar number, they gotta bring the Aadhaar enrolment acknowledgement plus the right ID docs. We’re talking voter ID card, ration card, Indian passport, driving license, and 10th or 12th grade certificate. ID cards from certain government places or public sector companies and disability ID docs might work too, though it really depends on which category they fall into and what the notice says.
What happens when Aadhaar biometric verification doesn’t work?
Sometimes fingerprints, iris, or facial recognition just won’t cooperate. No worries—there are other ways to verify. When possible, you can confirm identity through different biometric methods or OTP.
If biometric and OTP verification both bomb out, you can verify Aadhaar using a secure QR code or the Aadhaar Paperless Offline e-KYC document. This happens through offline checking of the UIDAI digital signature.
Why’d the government do this?
The whole point is to make sure no eligible kid misses out on scholarships and other perks because of tech glitches or missing paperwork.In such cases, the relevant department will be required to verify the identity and relationship with the parent. Records of these cases will be maintained and periodically reviewed and audited.
When did the new rules come into effect?
According to the Department of Social Justice and Empowerment’s notification number S.O. 5628(A), the new rules have come into effect from the date of publication in the Gazette on October 14, 2026. Eligible children and their parents should keep their Aadhaar enrolment status and available identity documents ready for alternate verification if required.