In a move to revitalize the ambitious Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Narendra Modi Government is all set to push legislation to ensure legal sanctity to the authority. UIDAI was conceptualized to generate unique identification numbers, popularly known as Aadhaar numbers to 1.2 billion residents of the country.
The government will soon approach the Supreme Court for the purpose of seeking vacation of the stay on government’s move for making Aadhaar mandatory to avail benefits of welfare schemes. After receiving the due approval from Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the UIDAI will soon accelerate the project to ensure Aadhaar enrollment for around 930 million people by the end of next year.
The UIDAI has already given Aadhaar numbers to around 640 million residents, with 177 coming from the National Population Register (NPR).
Rajesh Bansal, the Assistant Director General of UIDAI confirmed that the authority is receiving full cooperation from the state governments and already 3,000 stations have been set up in UP and 1,000 in Bihar. More stations will be coming up to speed up the enrollment process in the above mentioned states.
The agency had completed authentication or de duplication for 10 crore people last week. The Prime Minister has also asked Arun Jaitley, the finance minister to clear up all legal issues surrounding Aadhaar. The fast tracking of Aadhaar numbers by the Modi government soon came after realizing the fact that subsidy burden could be reduced only when the duplication and leaks in welfare schemes are being properly checked.
The strong message from Modi is expected to end the speculations involving the fate of Aadhaar numbers and the UIDAI project. According to UIDAI officials, the authority was a bon a fide legal entity and was administered like any other office of the government, fully accountable to the Parliament, Comptroller and the Auditor General of India.
The Modi government had already allocated INR 2,039 crore in its first budget to accelerate the unique identification project in the current fiscal.