Usage of Aadhaar
The Government of India, as well as the State Governments, fund a number of social welfare schemes and programs that are focused on the poor and most vulnerable sections of society. Aadhaar and its platform offer a unique opportunity for the government to streamline its delivery mechanism under welfare schemes, thereby ensuring transparency and efficiency. The use of Aadhaar as an identity document enables beneficiaries to get their entitlements directly in a convenient and seamless/hassle free manner by obviating the need to produce multiple documents to prove one’s identity.
For Governments, Service Agencies
UIDAI issues Aadhaar numbers to the individuals seeking to enroll, only after de-duplicating their demographic and biometric attributes against its entire database. Aadhaar seeding enables elimination of duplicates under various schemes which leads to substantial savings to the government exchequers. It also provides the government with accurate data on the beneficiaries and enables implementation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) programmes. Aadhaar authentication enables the implementing agencies to verify the beneficiaries at the time of service/benefits delivery and also ensures the targeted delivery of benefits to them. All these activities will lead to:-
Curbing Leakages through Targeted Delivery: All social welfare programmes where beneficiaries are required to be confirmed before the service delivery, stand to benefit from UIDAI’s authentication services. This will result in curbing leakages and ensuring that services are delivered to the intended beneficiaries only. Examples include subsidized food and kerosene delivery to Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries, worksite attendance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries, etc.
Improving Efficiency and Efficacy: With the Aadhaar platform providing accurate and transparent information about the service delivery mechanism, government can improve disbursement systems and utilize its scarce development funds more effectively and efficiently.
For Aadhaar number holders
Aadhaar system provides single source offline/online identity verification across the country for the Aadhaar number holders. Once Aadhaar number holders enroll, they can use their Aadhaar number to authenticate and establish their identity multiple times using electronic means or through offline verification, as the case may be. It eliminates the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents each time a Aadhaar number holder wishes to access services, benefits or subsidies. Since Aadhaar is universal identity accepted across the whole country, the Aadhaar system enables mobility to millions of people who migrate from one part of the country to another by providing a portable proof of identity that can be verified through Aadhaar authentication on-line anytime, anywhere.