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The Aadhaar initiative has covered 98 per cent of the adult population in India and, as of September 7, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has generated cards for 105.11 crore people.
“If we take the 2015 census, Aadhaar today covers 98 per cent of the adult population and 50 lakh people of India are accessing their biometrics on a daily basis.
“Around 32 crore people have also linked their bank accounts to Aadhaar,” Ravi Shankar Prasad, IT and Law Minister, told reporters here.
The total number of transactions on the Aadhaar platform has reached 131.11 crore, involving transactions worth ₹37,184.81 crore, he said, adding: “We have saved about ₹36,000 crore from Aadhaar-based transactions.”
According to a World Bank report published in January, if Aadhaar is used in all the schemes in India — by both the Centre and States — it will lead to savings of around ₹70,000 crore a year, the Minister added.
Asked if Aadhaar will be made mandatory once the enrolment covers the nation’s entire population, he said: “No services will be denied to a person not holding Aadhaar, but one will be encouraged to go for it.”
The legal framework of Aadhaar is very stringent and enshrines enough provisions to ensure privacy, security and secrecy of personal data, he added.
Administers oathThe Minister administered the oath of office and secrecy to J Satyanarayana, retired 1977 batch IAS of Andhra Pradesh cadre, who has been appointed part-time Chairman of UIDAI as per the Aadhaar (Targetted Delivery of Financial And other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act 2016.
He also administered the oath to IT company netCore’s founder and Managing Director Rajesh Jain and Persistent Systems’ CMD Anand Deshpande, who have been appointed as part-time members of UIDAI.
However, the new UIDAI Chairman has not been given Cabinet rank, as was given to Nandan Nilekani earlier.
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