Unique Identification Authority of India

Why is in news? UIDAI urges residents to keep their documents updated in Aadhaar

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has urged the residents to keep their documents updated in Aadhaar issued 10 years back.

Residents can update their Aadhaars by uploading supportive documents either online through myAadhaar portal or offline by visiting the nearest Aadhaar centre.

Aadhaar number has emerged as a universally accepted proof of identity of residents in India.

More than 1100 government schemes and programmes including 319 run by the central government use Aadhaar-based identification for the delivery of services.

Unique Identification Authority of India:

The Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI is an agency under the central government of India mandated to collect demographic and biometric information of the country’s residents, store the data in a central database, and issue to each resident of the country a 12-digit unique identity number called Aadhaar.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

The Aadhaar Act 2016 has been amended by the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019.

UIDAI was created to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as "Aadhaar", to all residents of India.

The UID had to be (a) robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and (b) verifiable and authenticable in an easy, cost-effective way.

As on 30^th November 2022, the Authority has issued 135.1071 crore Aadhaar numbers to the residents of India..

Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI is responsible for Aadhaar enrolment and authentication, including operation and management of all stages of Aadhaar life cycle, developing the policy, procedure, and system for issuing Aadhaar numbers to individuals and perform authentication and the security of identity information and authentication records of individuals.

Vision: To empower residents of India with a unique identity and a digital platform to authenticate anytime, anywhere.