After a lull, Aadhaar enrolment to reboot

BANGALORE: Worry not, your 'unique' identity is safe. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the agency that issues biometric identification numbers to citizens, is set to revamp the Aadhaar project. This comes after the Narendra Modi-led NDA government gave a thumbs-up to UPA's pet scheme, making budgetary allocations for the same.
Soon, the enrolment drive to issue Aadhaar numbers, which had almost come to a halt, will resume in Karnataka, as elsewhere in the country.
The authority has been instructed to hold fresh meetings with all stakeholders, including state governments, to revamp the drive.
UIDAI regional deputy director Ashok Dalwai said the Centre has asked regional offices to furnish a database on Aadhaar-linked beneficiaries (existing and proposed) under various public services like subsidized LPG, pension schemes, student scholarship and PDS. "We are also providing details on the status of Aadhaar linkage to various government schemes," he added.
Another senior UIDAI official said there will be a massive public awareness campaign to encourage people for enrolments as the balance population in every state is yet to be covered.
"In a way, we have to start from scratch. There's a lot of mistrust about the project, following a Supreme Court ruling making Aadhaar not mandatory for government schemes. In Karnataka alone, enrolment dropped from 28 lakh in December to a few lakhs in the recent months," he added.
Aimed to give unique identification numbers to 1.2 billion Indians, the Aadhaar project ran into a controversy after it was linked to the subsidized LPG delivery project and subsequent SC intervention. UIDAI has so far given Aadhaar numbers to 640 million people.