NITI Aayog Chief Executive Officer Amitabh Kant on Wednesday said that Aadhar has become a “bedrock” for the government welfare schemes and it has saved over 2 Lakh crore by “eliminating fake and duplicate identities.”

Speaking at a workshop on ‘Recent Initiatives for Simplifying Aadhaar usage’ in Delhi, Kant said, “Aadhar has ensured faster benefit transfers without any intervention or intermediaries and saved a vast amount of money.”

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He further said “Aadhaar is one of the world’s “most successful” biometric-based identity schemes, prompting discussions and deliberations with major multilateral bodies such as the World Bank and the United Nations to see how the Aadhar architecture could be replicated in other nations.”

The aadhaar number is a 12-digit random number provided by the UIDAI (“Authority”) to residents of India who have completed the Authority’s verification process. Anyone who is a resident of India, regardless of age or gender, can freely enrol to receive an Aadhaar number. 

During the free enrolling process, the person who wishes to enrol must supply basic demographic and biometric information. A person only has to register for Aadhaar once. Only one Aadhaar will be generated after de-duplication, as uniqueness is ensured by demographic and biometric de-duplication.

The Aadhaar number can be verified in a cost-effective and online manner. It is distinct and resilient enough to eliminate duplication and fake identities, and it can be used as the foundation/primary identity for a variety of government assistance systems and programmes, fostering transparency and good governance. This is the only programme of its kind in the world that provides people with a free state-of-the-art digital and online ID on such a broad scale, and it has the potential to alter the way service delivery works in the country.

NITI Aayog CEO stated that “It is commendable to know that 315 Central Schemes and 500 state schemes are leveraging Aadhaar to ensure effective delivery of services…Aadhaar has now become the bedrock for government welfare schemes, ensuring faster benefit transfers without any interruption or intermediaries, saving Rs 2.22 lakh crore rupees to the government by eliminating fake and duplicate identities.”

(Inputs from ANI)