Children can no longer be turned away during admissions for not having an Aadhaar card, but they will soon be denied basic rights such as mid-day meals and scholarships. The Maharashtra government has found a back-door route to make Aadhaar mandatory again for school kids, just months after the Supreme Court ruled that students cannot be denied admissions or any benefits just because they do not hold Aadhaar cards.

Parents, teachers and school administrators had all breathed a sigh of relief when the Supreme Court scrapped the Aadhaar mandate for school and college admissions in September 2018. But a new order issued by the state government on January 19 has put all of them in a dilemma. The order also states that while Aadhaar is not mandatory for admissions, in order for students to avail of facilities like mid-day meals and scholarships, their Aadhaar details should be mandatorily uploaded on the SARAL portal — the state's database on students.