Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Saturday called for adopting new technologies to curb corruption and bring transparency and accountability in governance.
Speaking at the launch of Aadhaar-enabled service delivery system here, he said "Aadhaar is a major initiative in this direction."
The unique identity numbers would come to the aid of about 1.5 crore students currently availing of scholarships, two crore elderly getting old age pensions, three crore receiving health insurance and five crore people employed under Mahatama Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act.
The scheme is aimed at directly transferring cash to beneficiaries under social security and welfare programmes to the people avoiding middle man, he said.
"By giving benefits directly to the needy, complaints of dishonesty and delay will reduce,” he said At a function where he handed over the 21st crore Aadhaar number to Smt Vali, a resident of Meghwalon ka Mohalla, Kurawar, in Udaipur district.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has generated 21 crore Aadhaar numbers since the first one was issued on September 29, 2010.
In the past two years, the prime minister said, the government has enrolled 24 crore people for Aadhaar and it is expected to give Aadhaar cards to around 60 crore by 2014.
Addressing the function, UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi said the Aadhaar scheme not only gives identity to the common man but is also a tool to claim benefits.
Using the Aadhaar card, she said, the common man can claim his rights anywhere in the country.
“Aadhaar is the world’s largest social inclusion programme. It was the dream of Rajivji the power of technology be used for the service of common people. The Aadhaar programme is the logical next step in fulfilling of this dream,” she said.
"The Aadhaar card will help the government ensure that subsidy reaches the targets directly and the poor will not have to run from pillar to post to claim their rights," she said.
“It is our aim that every resident should have an Aadhaar number. The poor will benefit the most from Aadhaar as the government will be able to correctly identify beneficiaries of various social sector schemes based on the Aadhaar number. The ongoing pilots have also proved that Aadhaar is a boon to targeted beneficiaries,” Finance Minister P Chidambaram said. UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani said the government is using state-of-the-art technology to ensure Aadhaar provides the best service for the people.
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