Citing ‘Aadhaar’ as game changer; FM Arun Jaitley pens down various benefits of UIDAI adhered to people

NewsBharati    07-Jan-2019
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New Delhi, January 7: Marking credibility for its validity and Right to privacy for the citizens of India, Aadhaar never failed to make news. The authenticity of Aadhaar card had been questioned every now and then and has proved to be for the benefit of the people. Hailing credits to Nandan Nilekani, who started it and Dr. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, who subsequently provided it with the direction and expansion. He masterminded the Government strategy to repel the legal challenge.

Pitching Aadhaar to be a game changer, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley penned down some of the many benefits given by Aadhaar to the beneficiaries in his Facebook post. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the use of Aadhaar has saved around Rs 90,000, till March last year and several duplicate, fake, and non-existent beneficiaries have been eliminated.

 

Finance Minister Jaitley said that decisive Prime Minister Narendra Modi made it possible and the NDA government re-examined the UPA law and completely changed it. He further stated that over 122 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued in the last 28 months and 99% of the adult population of India stands covered.

 

The Supreme Court verdict implied using the linking of Aadhaar to welfare schemes have benefited people on a large margin. Many state schemes and DBT mechanism have been linked to Aadhaar. The Income Tax Department has already linked 21 crore PAN card holders with their Aadhaar numbers.

 

Mentioning ahead, Jaitley highlighted that according to the World Bank Digital Dividend Report, India can save Rs 77,000 crore per year by using Aadhaar. He further added saying, Aadhaar is a game changer and the UPA remained half hearted about Aadhaar because of its contradictions and indecision.

Pointing the data relating the benefits adhered on people of India, Finance Minister stated that:

· 22.80 crore of PAHAL and Ujjwala beneficiaries are given cooking gas subsidies through DBT in their Aadhaar linked bank accounts .

· 58.24 crore ration card holders stand linked. 10.33 crore MGNREGA card holders get wage payment through DBT in their bank accounts.

 

· 1.93 crore beneficiaries and other beneficiaries of the national social assistance programme.

· 2579 crore authentications have been undertaken till date. Everyday 2.7 crore authentications are done.

· UIDAI has the capacity of 10 crore transactions to be authenticated per day.

In most schemes the direct benefit transfer takes place to the beneficiaries’ 63.52 crore bank accounts that had been linked with the unique identity as on 15 December, 2018. The total number of subsidy transactions through Aadhaar are almost about 425 crore. The total amount of subsidy transferred through Aadhaar now equals Rs. 169,868 crores. With the elimination of middlemen the benefits go directly to the bank accounts. This is a unique technology implemented only in India.

Authenticating the validity and privacy of people intact, the use of aadhaar has gone down the hammer for various reasons and has emerged victorious. The UPA, because of its contradictions and indecision remained half-hearted about Aadhaar. Instead of taking credit for it, Congress lawyers challenged it in Court and appeared as the anti-technology, anti-Aadhaar faces.