The man behind the unique identity project and Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani said on Sunday he is happy that the new government has put its weight behind the Aadhaar project. He expects the entire population to be covered under the scheme within three years.
Aadhaar, the biometric-based identification project, which was under cloud after the regime change at the Centre, has however become an important platform for many an e-governance initiatives of the Narendra Modi government.
“By March 2014, when I left UIDAI, 60 crore people got Aadhaar cards. Now the number has reached 75 crore,” said Nilekani, while delivering the keynote address at the social enterprise summit organised by Action For India social enterprise summit in Bengaluru.
“I expect Aadhaar will go toa billion people within a year or so... The government is putting its weight behind Aadhaar,” he said.
According to Nilekani, after various government schemes, the country is beginning to see many social and business innovations riding on the unique identity platform with the emergence of companies focused on Aadhaar-based applications.
The Aadhaar-based subsidy transfer for LPG customers is also beginning to get implemented. The election commission is planning to use Aadhaar to prevent duplication of voter identity cards.
{{/usCountry}}The Aadhaar-based subsidy transfer for LPG customers is also beginning to get implemented. The election commission is planning to use Aadhaar to prevent duplication of voter identity cards.
{{/usCountry}}Nilekani said he hoped its wider application in areas such as passport issuance, online identity verification and attendance in government offices will be seen in the coming days.