Aadhaar set to cross 100 cr mark, aims to boost govt plans

Aadhaar enrolments are set to cross the 100 crore mark in a couple of days, a development which will boost the government's plan to provide subsidies and benefits under various social sector schemes directly.

As per the website of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is implementing the Aadhaar project, "99.91 crore is the total number of Aadhaars issued as on date. Portal counts/reports are not updated due to maintenance activities. Portal will be updated shortly." Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad will hold a press conference on Monday to announce the 100 crore mark of Aadhaar enrolments.

The government has already passed the Aadhaar Bill, providing statutory backing to the scheme.

The government wants to complete the enrolment process under the unique identification project at the earliest to use Aadhaar as a tool to provide subsidies and benefits under various social sector schemes directly.

Under the Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme, benefits like scholarships, pension and cooking gas subsidy are directly transferred to beneficiaries' bank accounts.

The government intends to use Aadhaar as a tool to authenticate the identity of people to weed out ghost beneficiaries and plug leakages in spending on various social sector schemes.