The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has generated 100 crore Aadhaar numbers, touching a “historic” milestone in a span of five-and-a-half years, Communications & IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announced here on Monday.

“Among the 100 crore people, 93 per cent are adults, 67 per cent are between 5-18 years old and 20 per cent belong to the 0-5 years age group,” Prasad said at a press conference, while complimenting the entire UIDAI team, including its first Chairman, Nandan Nilekani, who set the ball rolling for issuing nation-wide unique identification numbers during the previous UPA regime. Prasad said covering the country’s entire population of an estimated 125 crore people was just a matter of days, as about 5-6 lakh Aadhaar numbers were being added every year. Recently, the NDA government got a legislation Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits, and Services) Act 2016 passed by Parliament by bringing its as a money Bill.

Largest digital platform “Aadhaar is now the largest digital platform in the world for good governance and transparent delivery of services of subsidies and services,” he said.

Commenting on privacy concerns, Prasad said “All safeguards are in place and have been legally validated. The data is very secure in two centres in Manesar in Haryana and Bengaluru in Karnataka.”

According to the Centre, the use of Aadhaar has so far saved it ₹14,672 crore via direct benefits transfer (DBT) of LPG, ₹2,346 crore across four States (Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry, Delhi) in the public distribution system, ₹272 crore in distributing scholarships in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Punjab, and roughly ₹66 crore on pensions in Jharkhand, Chandigarh and Puducherry.

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