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The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which is the issuing agency for ‘Aadhaar' cards as identification for Indian citizens has covered 10 per cent of the population (12 million cards) as on January 20.
Currently, enrolment and card issuance has picked up in 32 States and Union Territories . Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka have topped the list of States having the highest cards at present.
Demographics data shows that people in the age group between 16 and 30 years and 31 and 45 years have been responding well in all the States.
Announcing this to reporters today, the UIDAI Chairman, Mr Nandan Nilekani, said, “The authority by harnessing the technology available in the world has been able to achieve issuance of one million cards per day. We have set a target to complete 60 per cent or 600 million cards by 2014.”
“In few States ‘Aadhaar' card has become an empowering tool offering people below the poverty line (BPL) basic identity, portability and offer services,” he added.
Referring to the Union Home Minister, Mr P.Chidambaram's doubts on capturing the biometric data and merging of national population registry, Mr Nilekani said it is before the Union Cabinet and it will take an appropriate decision when it meets.
He confirmed that there was a group for the merger.
Mr Ram Sewak Sharma, Director General and Mission Director, UIDAI, said the authority has initiated few pilot projects along with issuing of ‘Aadhaar' cards.
The ongoing pilot projects use Aadhaar cards for financial inclusion account opening in Tumkur in Karnataka. The authority has been able to cut down costs by bringing in innovation in project execution.
Mr Sharma said, “We have adopted open scale-out designs for technology along with an eco-system approach to the field operations while collecting multi-modal biometrics.
“This solution balances speed, scale, quality and cost while adhering to the country's democratic principles, constitutional framework and government's process.”
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