News:Recently,State of Aadhaar report has been released on the completion of the tenth year of its existence.
Facts:
About the report:
- The ‘State of Aadhaar’ report is based on the most extensive survey ever on Aadhaar.The survey was done by the IDinsight and Omidyar Network of India.
- The survey can provide valuable lessons for other countries on improving public services for the vulnerable.
Key Highlights from the report:
- In 2009,nearly 5 million births were unregistered,over 250 million people were illiterate and between 16-41% of food grain meant for the poor was diverted.
- Despite these conditions,Aadhar was introduced to provide a unique digital identity to every resident.However,the Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) has made Aadhar huge success with 95% of adults holding the identity card in 2019.
- Aadhaar has also become the first identity document for around 65-70 million individuals.This benefitted them in opening bank accounts, accessing food rations among others.
- The report has also stated that 80% of participants felt that Aadhaar improved the reach of government schemes and services faster.
- However,34% of Indians still worry about linking Aadhaar to too many services and a comparable number fear losing access to a service because of it.
About Aadhar:
- The Aadhaar number is a verifiable twelve-digit unique identity number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to the residents of India.It is linked with the resident’s demographic and biometric information.
- The Aadhaar project was conceptualised in the year 2006 and launched in the year 2009 with the creation of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
- The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 provides legislative backing to the project.
About UIDAI:
- The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of Aadhaar Act 2016 under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology.
- It is mandated to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID)-Aadhaar to all residents of India.
