Government has so far spent Rs 5,630 crore on UID project and generated as many as 78.65 crore Aadhaar numbers under the scheme, Parliament was informed.
“The approved outlay for UID Scheme is Rs 13,633.22 crore for the period 2009-2017. The total amount spent on the project up to February 28 is Rs 5,630.48 crore,” Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to Lok Sabha. He further informed the House that a total of 78.65 crore Aadhaar have been generated in the country as on March 10.
The Unique Identification Authority of India came into existence in January 2009, to issue a unique identification (UID) number to all Indian residents. One of the objectives of the project is to eliminate duplicate and fake identities. Singh agreed that some cases of delayed delivery and non-receipt of Aadhaar letter have been reported from time to time.
He said that the Department of Posts is responsible for timely delivery of Aadhaar letters to the residents at the given address and has internal mechanism to monitoring it.
The minister further said that residents can post their complaints on the UIDAI website and a facility of downloading e-Aadhaar from UIDAI’s web portal has been provided. On the providing legal status to UIDAI project, the minister said that the National Identification Authority of India Bill (NIDAI Bill), 2010 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha on December 3, 2010. Subsequent to the Report of the Standing Committee on Finance, a notice for introduction of Official Amendments was moved in the Rajya Sabha on November 28, 2013.
The Bill is pending consideration of Rajya Sabha, at present. The proposed Bill seeks to establish the NIDAI for the purpose of issuing Aadhaar numbers to residents of India and to certain other categories of individuals and manner of authentication of such individuals. This would enable establishing identity and facilitate access to various benefits and services to eligible individuals.