{"id":31405,"date":"2024-10-26T18:28:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-26T12:58:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=31405"},"modified":"2024-10-26T18:28:28","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T12:58:28","slug":"indias-aadhaar-system","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/26-10-2024\/indias-aadhaar-system","title":{"rendered":"India&#8217;s Aadhaar system"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/ Governance<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Nobel laureate Paul Romer, who won the 2018 Economics Prize, recently praised <strong>India&#8217;s Aadhaar system<\/strong>, calling it one of the most significant technological innovations globally.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Aadhaar?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Aadhaar number is a <strong>12-digit<\/strong> random number issued by <strong>the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)<\/strong> to the residents of India after satisfying the verification process laid down by the Authority.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Person willing to enrol has to provide <strong>minimal demographic and biometric information<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Biometric information: <\/strong>Ten Fingerprints, Two Iris Scans, and Facial Photographs.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>India\u2019s Aadhaar Programme<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Aadhaar is a strategic policy tool for <strong>social and financial inclusion,<\/strong> public sector delivery reforms, managing fiscal budgets, increasing convenience and promoting hassle-free people-centric governance.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It is one of the key pillars of the <strong>\u2018Digital India\u2019, <\/strong>wherein every resident of the country is provided with a unique identity.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It has features of <strong>Uniqueness, Authentication, Financial Address and e-KYC<\/strong>, enabling the Government to directly reach residents\u00a0 in delivery of various subsidies<strong>.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Aadhaar-based payment system (ABPS)?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Under ABPS, workers\u2019 Aadhaar numbers are<strong> linked with their job cards <\/strong>as well as their bank accounts.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It uses the worker\u2019s Aadhaar number as their<strong> financial address.\u00a0<\/strong>\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>To become eligible for ABPS, workers have to get their A<strong>adhaar card linked to their job card<\/strong> and the name on the Aadhaar card must match the name on the job card.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>The ABPS became mandatory from January 1, 2024.<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Benefits of Payments through ABPS<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Easy and Secure Authentication:<\/strong> Aadhaar provides a unique identification method through biometric authentication, making transactions secure and reducing the risk of fraud.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Convenient:<\/strong> Aadhaar-based payment systems eliminate the need for physical cards or documents for financial transactions.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reduced Leakages in Subsidy Programs: <\/strong>Aadhaar is often linked to various government subsidy and welfare programs, ensuring that the benefits reach the intended beneficiaries directly.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Promotion of Digital Payments: <\/strong>Integration of Aadhaar into payment systems contributes to the government&#8217;s push for a less-cash economy by promoting digital transactions.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>This aligns with broader initiatives to enhance the digital infrastructure of the country.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Reducing Frauds:<\/strong> By linking Aadhaar to welfare programs and services through the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) and Direct Benefit Transfers (DBT), millions of underprivileged individuals now receive subsidies and benefits directly, eliminating middlemen and reducing fraud.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Concerns with ABPS Payments<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Over- Reliance:<\/strong> Over-reliance on technical tools has resulted in problematic implementation, with beneficiaries devoid of a proper recourse for corrections in the system.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Authentication Issues:<\/strong> There have been instances where individuals faced difficulties with biometric authentication due to factors such as poor connectivity, technical glitches, or errors in the Aadhaar database.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Errors in any step of the process result in payment failures.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>The bank account must be <strong>Aadhaar-seeded and mapped with the National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI)<\/strong>, conditions that are difficult to meet for workers in rural setup and poor infrastructural assistance for meeting the official requirements.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Conclusion<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Ministry of Rural Development has said that it may consider an exemption from ABPS on a case-to-case basis for gram panchayats if there are technical issues.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Aadhaar-enabled Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) has significantly transformed India&#8217;s welfare landscape by enhancing transparency and ensuring the efficient delivery of services.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/www.downtoearth.org.in\/governance\/mgnregs-millions-affected-as-aadhar-linking-woes-result-in-rural-workers-account-deletion-payment-delays\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>DTE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Nobel laureate Paul Romer, who won the 2018 Economics Prize, recently praised India&#8217;s Aadhaar system, calling it one of the most significant technological innovations globally.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31405","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31405","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31405"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31405\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31406,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31405\/revisions\/31406"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31405"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31405"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31405"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}