What to study about Aadhaar Bill?

While preparing for competitive exams, Aadhar Bill is a topic that you might not want to miss. It is imperative to be a part of GK section of various entrance exams. To help you understand the concept, let’s break it down in what and how you need to prepare:

Why Aadhar Bill – our Government’s perspective

How Aadhar Bill is beneficial to us as a citizen of India

What is the role of Banks in implementing Aadhar

While it is difficult to cover all the above mentioned aspects in a single post, I have clubbed the first two as a part of this post.

Just the way United States of America issues SSN (Social Security Number) to its  citizens and permanent residents, Modi Government proposed a similar concept and called it as the Aadhaar Card Bill.

Answering the topic – Why Aadhar Bill – our Government’s perspective, it’s direct – to track individuals for social security purposes & to protect their rights and provide them significant benefits. How can this be done – by issuing Aadhaar number to individuals. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) collects the biometric and demographic data of every Indian resident, stores them in a centralised database, and issues the Aadhaar number which is a 12-digit unique identity number. According to the Aadhaar bill, every Indian resident who has lived in India for 182 days in the  year preceding the date of application for Aadhaar is entitled to have the unique identity number.

How would this benefit me or you as a citizen of this country?

We need to answer the above so that we are totally convinced while applying for Aadhar Card. The merits of Aadhar are:

1. Identification through Aadhaar number: Currently, the recipient has to establish his or her identity and eligibility many times by producing multiple documents for verification. The verification of such documents is already done by multiple authorities under Aadhaar card. So, Aadhaar card can be used as a reliable identification document for all purposes.
2. Cashless economy: Creation of Aadhaar identity, if done successfully, would transform the Indian economy into a more cashless state in few years, as provision of subsidies and other benefits would start taking place through bank accounts.
3. Eliminates middlemen: Primarily, this is for our not so educated counterparts who are at the plight of middlemen to avail government subsidies. The scheme reduces chances of rent-seeking by middlemen who siphon off part of the subsidy. In the new system, the cash shall be transferred directly to individual bank accounts and the beneficiaries shall be identified through Aadhaar.
4. Reduction in duplicate and ghost beneficiaries: The Aadhaar number is likely to help eliminate duplicate cards and cards for non-existent persons or ghost beneficiaries in schemes such as the PDS and MNREGS.
5. Protection of personal data: To protect personal data of individuals, the bill demands severe punishment for any individual, who illegally accesses the database and divulges information stored in it.
6. Efficient delivery of subsidies: Aadhaar bill would assure efficient implementation and delivery of government subsidies and schemes. The centralised database maintained through Aadhaar would benefit the beneficiaries in a speedy way.

Hope the above post gave you a clear understanding of the Aadhar Card concept and its benefits to us. We will keep you posted on a sequel to this post to add to your understanding.

Stay connected!