India’s UID project registers one millionth citizen

At noon on Thursday, fifteen year old Sukrity, a resident of North Tripura, became the one millionth resident whose Aadhaar number was generated by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

?It took us nearly six weeks to cross one lakh enrolments,? Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the UIDAI said. ?However, it has taken us almost the same time to ramp up from one lakh to one million Aadhaar enrolments. This success is an auspicious milestone, en-route to our goal of issuing 600 million Aadhaar numbers in the next four years.?

The speed of UIDAI?s registrars in deploying enrolment stations across the country, and in training large numbers of operators, has ensured this milestone in such a short period, the government agency said.

The youngest person to receive their Aadhaar number so far is a 13 day old infant; the oldest person to receive their Aadhaar number was 103 years old.

According to the UIDAI, its systems have held up impressively to the large numbers of people enrolling across the country. In addition, the training and quality controls the Authority has put in place have been critical in minimising problems in data collection, which will ensure that the Aadhaar number will be a secure, reliable form of identification.

“Enrolment for the Aadhaar number will accelerate further in the coming weeks, as more registrars begin enrolling residents,” R.S. Sharma, UIDAI?s Director General & Mission Director said. So far, over 60 registrars have signed MoUs with the UIDAI, and more than fifteen of these registrars have begun enrolments.

India’s Finance Ministry recently recognised the Aadhaar number as sufficient proof of identity and proof of address, for individuals to get a bank account.

“This move will be an impetus for registrars in the financial sector to begin enrolling people for the number. It will also be pivotal in bringing financial services to the millions of unbanked people in the country, who have been excluded so far because of their lack of identification,” the UIDAI said.

Part of the Planning Commission of India, the UIDAI is tasked with the responsibility for implementing the envisioned Multipurpose National Identity Card or Unique Identification card (UID Card) project in India.

The project aims to create a national ID for every Indian citizen with the objective of increasing national security, managing citizen identity and facilitating e-governance.