Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi launch UID project in Maharashtra village
Nandurbar (Maharashtra): The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and Congress
president Sonia Gandhi launched the ambitious Aadhaar/ Unique Identity (UID) project in Tembhli village in Maharashtra's Nandurbar district on Wednesday. Both Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi distributed the first ten 'Aadhaar' cards of the Unique Identification Authority of India to ten residents of the tribal village. Speaking
on the occasion, Dr Manmohan Singh said: "The poor did not have any identity
proof. Due to this shortcoming, they could not open bank accounts or get ration
cards. They could not avail the benefits of government welfare programmes because
of this and many times, these benefits were pocketed by others." "We will give every
opportunity to live a dignified life to our poor, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes
people. We are moving fast in the field of technology. Nowhere in the world has
technology been used in such a big way. I hope every citizen will get this number very
soon," he added. Sonia Gandhi also echoed similar views saying the unique
identification numbers will help plug the loopholes in the Public Distribution System
(PDS). "The problem of fake ration cards will be over now," she said. Maharashtra
Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra Governor K Shankaranarayanan,
Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Alhuwalia and Unique
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chief Nandan Nilekani were present on the
occasion. The Unique Identification Authority of India started working in August
2009. The Government had committed to issuing the first set of Unique ID numbers
in 12 to 18 months. In the ensuing period of last one year, the infrastructure for this
complex project has been set up. With the launch date for the project scheduled for
September 29, the Unique ID Mission has achieved its goal of on-time delivery. The
goal of the UID Mission is to deliver Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) to
every resident in the country. In addition, it aims to establish a cost-effective,
ubiquitous authentication infrastructure to easily verify these identities online and in
real-time.
