No let-up in rush for Aadhaar ID

Doubt among people that new government may revive project

Over a month after the Centre put on hold its ambitious scheme of transferring cooking gas subsidy to the bank account of the household, something for which it had made Aadhaar number a pre-requisite, there are little signs of any let-up in the rush in the State for getting the unique identity number.

“People continue to come [to get Aadhaar] like before,” says M.R.V.Krishna Rao, Joint Director of Census Operations & Controlling Officer, Directorate of Census Operations here.

The senior officer of the Directorate functioning under the Union Ministry of Home, who supervises the operations leading to issue of Aadhaar numbers, says as on February 28, over 4.44 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated in Tamil Nadu.

With the target population – comprising those aged above five – being a little over 6.74 crore in the State, what this means is the identity numbers have been generated for almost two-third of the people. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which assigns the number, says the 12-digit number “establishes uniqueness of every individual on the basis of demographic and biometric information.”

As a percentage of the people from whom biometric details have been collected, the coverage is much more. According to Mr.Rao, given that biometric enrolment has been completed for 4.87 crore people, the Aadhaar numbers generated correspond to 91.22 per cent.

But Aadhaar could be much more than a mere number since the government plans to make it mandatory for people to avail a host of its social welfare schemes. It will also serve as a proof of identity and address anywhere in the country.

For a bulk of the households, however, Aadhaar had come to become central for availing liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) subsidy. Though it proved to be an arduous task, many still endured as absence of Aadhaar number, in districts where the Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG subsidy was launched, meant foregoing the subsidy of over Rs.500 per cylinder.

Forming the foundation for the Aadhaar number was the information collected during the Household Listing Survey in 2010, which in turn was one of the activities performed under the National Population Register (NPR) project. The State government had also recently announced that it would be using the NPR data while issuing new family (ration) cards. Another reason for the continuing Aadhaar rush is that there is a doubt among people that the new government may revive the project with vigour.