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Mr Nandan Nilekani's Aadhaar has shot into prominence with a number of schemes now riding on it.
After a lot of roadblocks, the endorsement of Aadhaar by the Finance Minister has brought additional cheer to Mr Nilekani. In the Budget, the Finance Minister allocated additional funds to complete another 40 crore enrolments for Aadhaar starting from April. The total enrolments in Aadhaar have crossed 20 crore and 14 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated till date.
The task force headed by Mr Nilekani on the way technology can be used to transfer subsidies directly have been accepted and a mobile-based Fertiliser Management System has been designed to provide information on fertiliser subsidies as it moves from the manufacturer to the retailer. This roll out will start next month and is estimated to benefit 12 crore farmers.
“Scaling up of the Aadhaar project as well as enabling it to support PDS will greatly benefit the common man,” said Mr Naresh Wadhwa, President and Country Manager, Cisco India & SAARC.
According to Mr Rajesh Janey, President, EMC India & SAARC, this will also provide impetus to the domestic IT sector.
With huge issues surrounding unavailability of LPG, the three public sector Oil Marketing Companies have launched LPG transparency portals to improve customer service and reduce leakage, which will be reflected in their Aadhaar accounts. A pilot is being run in Mysore along these lines.
Aadhaar is also being used to validate PDS ration cards in Jharkhand and these endeavours will be extended to other government schemes in 50 districts within the next six months. In December 2011, the Standing Committee on Finance had objections related to national security concerns and the possibility of illegal residents getting Aadhaar numbers.
The announcements did bring cheer for RCom, HCL Infosystems and Satyam-Morpho whose stocks were down at the end of trading on Friday.
> venkatesh.ganesh@thehindu.co.in
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