Why Aadhaar

Unique features of Aadhaar

• Universality, which is ensured because Aadhaar will over time be recognised and accepted across the country and across all service providers.
• The number will consequently form the basic, universal identity infrastructure over which Registrars and Agencies across the country can build their identity-based applications.
• Aadhaar will ensure increased trust between public and private agencies and residents. Once residents enroll for Aadhaar, service providers will no longer face the problem of performing repeated Know Your Customer (KYC) checks before providing services. They would no longer have to deny services to residents without identification documents. Residents would also be spared the trouble of repeatedly proving identity through documents each time they wish to access services such as obtaining a bank account, passport, or driving license etc.
• By providing a clear proof of identity, Aadhaar will empower poor and underprivileged residents in accessing services such as the formal banking system and give them the opportunity to easily avail various other services provided by the Government and the private sector.
• The centralised technology infrastructure of the UIDAI will enable 'anytime, anywhere, anyhow' authentication. Aadhaar will thus give migrants mobility of identity.
• Aadhaar authentication can be done both offline and online, online authentication through a cell phone or land line connection will allow residents to verify their identity remotely.
• Remotely, online Aadhaar-linked identity verification will give poor and rural residents the same flexibility that urban non-poor residents presently have in verifying their identity and accessing services such as banking and retail.
• Aadhaar will also demand proper verification prior to enrollment, while ensuring inclusion. To prevent duplicate entries, residents are enrolled into the database with proper verification of their demographic and biometric information. This will ensure that the data collected is clean from the beginning of the program. However, much of the poor and under-privileged population lack identity documents and Aadhaar may be the first form of identification they will have access to.
• The UIDAI will ensure that its Know Your Resident (KYR) standards do not become a barrier for enrolling the poor and has accordingly developed an Introducer system for residents who lack documentation. Through this system, authorised individuals ('Introducers') who already have an Aadhaar, can introduce residents who don't have any identification documents, enabling them to receive their Aadhaar.

How is Aadhaar different from any other identity issued by the government?

Aadhaar is essentially a paperless online anytime-anywhere identity assigned to a resident to cover his/her entire lifetime. The verification of his identity is done online with the help of authentication devices which connect to UIDAI’s Central Identity Repository and return only a ‘yes’ or ‘no’ response to the basic query-“Is the person who he/she claims to be?” based on the data available with UIDAI.

The Aadhaar authentication service is fully functional and in use in several service delivery schemes across the country. The Aadhaar Card or the e-Aadhaar (electronic copy of Aadhaar) are essentially given to residents to know their own Aadhaar.

Source: UIDAI