JOIN USOver 28.78 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated till February this year, led by Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra, Parliament was informed today.
"28,78,41,507 Aadhaar numbers have been generated as on February 28, 2013," Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs and Planning Rajeev Shulka said in a written reply in Rajya Sabha today.
Andhra Pradesh generated 5.36 crore Aadhaar numbers -- the highest in the country--, followed by Maharashtra at 4.85 crore, Kerala at 2.29 crore, Madhya Pradesh at 1.85 crore, Rajasthan at 1.49 crore, Punjab at 1.34 crore, Jharkhand at 1.33 crore, Delhi at 1.29 crore and Tamil Nadu at 1.28 crore, he said.
The government has taken various steps such as increasing number of registrars from 90 to over 100 for speedy Aadhaar generation, uploading resident data packets within 20 days of enrolement, and engaging multiple printers to print Aadhaar letters, the Minister said.
But, there are some problems during enrolment, he said.
"Availability of proper infrastructure such as access to villages, public buildings for enrolment electricity, availability of verifiers appointed by the registrars, are some of the problems being faced during Aadhaar enrolment."
The Registrar General (RGI) is creating a National Population Register (NPR) of persons usually residing in India.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is issuing Unique Identification called Aadhaar numbers to all residents as a development initiative, he said, adding RGI is one of the registrars of UIDAI.
On whether there were differences between UIDAI and Home Ministry over acceptance of Aadhaar for all purposes, he said, earlier there was a difference of opinion between the Home Ministry and the UIDAI regarding acceptance of biometric data of other registrars of UIDAI eco-system.
"Now this difference has been resolved during the meeting of the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI held on January 27, 2012," Shukla said.
It has been decided that the NPR enrolment will continue as envisaged, but, if in the course of enrolment, a person indicates that he or she is already enrolled for Aadhaar, the biometric data will not be captured again.
"Instead, the Aadhaar number/enrolment number will be recorded in NPR and biometric data will be given to the RGI by UIDAI. Aadhaar number will be printed on the proposed Resident Identity Card," he added further.