Government targets to enrol 60 crore people by 2014-end under Aadhaar: Nandan Nilekani

NEW DELHI: The government has the target to enrol about 60 crore people by the end of 2014 under the Unique Identification Authority of India ( UIDAI) enabled Aadhaar cards, its Chairman Nandan Nilekani said today.

"The original commitment that we made when we started is about 600 million by the end of 2014. The idea of the project (UIDAI) is to give ID to every Indian resident," Nilekani said during Mindmine Summit 2013 here today.

Till February 2013, UIDAI has generated over 28.78 crore Aadhaar numbers.

Nilekani further said large number of Indians do not have any record to prove their identity or birth certificates while the government is increasing its spending for social welfare, thus the idea of UIDAI was floated.

"...the government is increasing its public welfare spending and they want to be more efficient. So the ID programme began like that. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is an application of the ID platform for the purpose of distributing benefits," Nilekani said.

He said the government has already rolled out the DBT scheme is 43 districts in last three months to extend benefits such as pension and scholarships.

He said Aadhaar enrolment has eliminated duplication and fraud so as to extend such benefits to the intended people.

Aadhaar numbers have also helped the government on the fiscal front, he added.