Prakash Javadekar said no one will be deprived of mid-day meals.
Children will not be deprived of mid-day meals if they do not have an Aadhaar card, government said today.
The issue was raised by Congress leader Motilal Vohra during the Zero Hour in Rajya Sabha, saying the government has made Aadhaar mandatory under the mid-day meal scheme.
"It seems the government has decided to take away the free food scheme from school children," he said, adding that about 12 crore children are enrolled under the scheme.
HRD Minister Prakash Javadekar refuted the suggestion saying all beneficiaries will get mid-day meals and the government will ensure that all the beneficiaries get the 12-digit unique identification number also.
"I want to tell this House that no one will be deprived of mid-day meals. Everybody will get mid-day meal and they will get Aadhaar card as well," the Minister said.
He said a large number of beneficiaries already have the Aadhaar card and facilities will be made to enroll the remaining students as well.
Mr Javadekar said in cases where facilities for Aadhaar cannot be created, the state governments will provide the unique numbers to the students.
He said that since the linking of Aadhaar cards with the mid-day meal scheme, leakages have come down.