From a modest beginning of enrolling a crore of the population of the country in September, 2010, the number has reached a staggering 114.08 crore of an estimated 128 crore India’s population.
These were figures disclosed by Chairman of the Unique Identity Development Authority of India (UIDAI), J. Satyanarayana in his presentation at the celebration of the World Telecom & Information Society Day here on Wednesday, organised by the Institute of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE) and the Centre for Telecom Management & Studies (CTMS).
The former Union Information Technology Secretary said while the investment on Aadhaar cards as the ultimate proof of identity was about ₹7,000 crore till now, the return on investment could be easily over ₹50,000 crore.
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Fake identities
Explaining further, he said that with Aadhaar cards leading to a drastic reduction in fake identities, the savings in terms of different benefits from Government ending up in the wrong hands was erased. Simply put, an Aadhaar was a citiziten’s online digital identity.
For example, in Telangana the numbers of duplicate, ghost ration cards identified and deleted were 38.63 lakh. This had led to a savings between January and July, 2016 of about ₹55.6 crore in the form of 23,177 metric tonnes of foodgrains, he pointed out.
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As for Andhra Pradesh, the number of cards reduced on Aadhaar seeding was 8.58 lakh.
Earlier, CTMS Director and telecom expert T.H. Chowdary was felicitated and Mr. Satyanarayana delivered the 13th ‘T.H. Chowdary – CTMS Endowment Lecture’, followed by a panel discussion on ‘Big Data for Big Impact’.
Forensics
Later, K.P.C. Gandhi, a forensic science expert and founder of Truth Labs, made a presentation on how important forensics had become in solving different types of crimes today. He cited the example of how investigators had solved the crime concerning the Italian ship that rammed and killed Indian fishermen off the coast of Kerala.
IETE chairman G. Laxminarayana explained the importance of the World Telecom & Information Society Day and outlines IETE’s activities. Others who spoke included senior vice-president of the Federation of Telangana and Andhra Pradesh Chambers of Commerce Gowra Srinivas.