As per the website of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Aadhaar means foundation. Therefore, it is the base on which any delivery system can be built. Aadhaar can be used in any system which needs to establish the identity of a resident and/or provide secure access for the resident to services/benefits offered by the system.
Aadhaar has uniqueness. Each individual has a unique Aadhaar number. This is achieved through the process of demographic and biometric de-duplication. The de-duplication process compares the resident’s demographic and biometric information, collected during the process of enrolment, with the records in the UIDAI database to verify if the resident is already in the database or not. An individual needs to enrol for Aadhaar only once and after de-duplication only one Aadhaar shall be generated. In case, the resident enrols more than once, the subsequent enrolments will be rejected.
The core purpose of Aadhaar Card is mentioned in the Preamble to the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016. As per this, Aadhaar is to provide for, as a good governance, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Government Funds, to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers to such individuals.
Aadhaar can be used in the delivery of the following programs (as per UIDAI):
- Food & Nutrition – Public Distribution System, Food Security, Mid Day Meals, Integrated Child Development Scheme.
- Employment – Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, Swarnajayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana, Indira Awaaz Yojana, Prime Minister’s Employment Guarantee Program
- Education – Sarva Shikhsha Abhiyaan, Right to Education
- Inclusion & Social Security – Janani Suraksha Yojana, Development of Primitive Tribe Groups, Indira Gandhi National Old Age Pension Scheme
- Healthcare – Rashtriya Swasthya Bima Yojana, Janashri Bima Yojana, Aam Aadmi Bima Yojana
- Other miscellaneous purposes including Property Transactions, VoterID, PAN Card etc.
Your other question is beyond the scope of this Forum. We are not supposed to conduct an international survey of similar projects in the world. You can professionally engage some research agency to do this job for you by paying them appropriately for their work, or otherwise you can yourself do it for your benefit, may be by reading quality articles / resources on the Internet.
Dr. Ashok Dhamija is a New Delhi based Supreme Court Advocate and author of law books. Read more about him by clicking here. List of his Forum Replies. List of his other articles. List of his Quora Answers. List of his YouTube Videos.
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