Unique Authority of India (UIDAI) was established to provide enrollment services to the residents of India. The overall aim was to make the entire system transparent & foolproof. This has helped many residents to enjoy various Government subsidiaries. The introduction of the electronic system turned the way people are handled throughout the country.
In an effort to achieve this objective, Aadhar cards were introduced. Residents of India have to visit the Aadhar enrollment center to avail themselves of the Aadhar card. They have to provide supportive documents such as PAN card, voter id card, passport and ration card, etc along with their Aadhar application form. The introduction of Aadhar has helped Government in controlling corruption, transparency, and terrorism in society. The Government is now well-aware of the problems of the people. The tax system improved just because of the UIDAI Aadhar system.
UIDAI is now a statutory Government organization. Initially, it was a part of the Planning Commission office. Maharashtra has the honor that it became the first state whose residents got the first-ever Aadhar card in the country. That card was issued on September 29, 2010.
The Aadhar card issued by UIDAI has the following characteristics:
- It is a 12 digit number.
- It is a unique number. It means that the number you have will not be issued to the other person in the country.
- At the time of enrollment, your personal information such as name, address, mobile number, etc, and biometric details are also taken.
- Personal information is called demographic details while biometric data is referred to as eye and fingerprint scans. This makes the entire registration process transparent & reliable.
- There are no charges for the Aadhar card. Every resident of India can apply to get it free.
- It works as a means to link your other services such as to link bank account & provident fund etc.
- It acts as a basic infrastructure over which other applications and systems can be developed.
- It encompasses the unique feature of portability. It can be authenticated at any place in the country. Now, you do not need to take support from your local office. The whole country is your town now.
- Aadhar’s electronic form is called Eaadhar. It is just like the original Aadhar card. It is acceptable at all places in India as an alternate.
- UIDAI’s Aadhar system allows the resident to claim various Government subsidies such as rebates in LPG charges etc.
- UIDAI has structured the Aadhar system in such a way that it can easily be expanded due to its highly relational database system. This allows the system to be integrated with any other system. The introduction of the eKYC (Electronic Know Your Customer) system is the best example that allows the integration of the UIDAI database with the service provider’s system with the consent of the Aadhar cardholder. The service provider validates the credentials of the customer using UID & Biometric details.