Organisation : Unique Identification Authority of Maharashtra
Type of Facility : How to get Aadhaar
Location : Maharashtra
How to get : https://aadhaar.maharashtra.gov.in/1059/How-to-get-Aadhaar
Website : aadhaar [dot] maharashtra [dot] gov [dot] in
How to get Aadhaar? :
** The process to get an Aadhaar will be circulated by the local media upon which residents need to go to the nearest Enrolment Camp to register for an Aadhaar.
** The resident primarily needs to carry certain documents which will be specified in the media advertisement.
** Upon registering for Aadhaar, residents will go through a biometric scanning of ten fingerprints and iris.
** They will then be photographed and given an enrolment number upon completion.
** Depending on the enrolment agency, residents will be issued an Aadhaar number within 60 to 90 days.
Who can get an Aadhaar? :
An individual who is a resident in India and satisfies the verification process laid down by the UIDAI can get an Aadhaar.
Why Aadhaar? :
** Aadhaar-based identification will have two unique features. Universality, which is ensured because Aadhaar will over time be recognised and accepted across the country and across all service providers.
** Every resident’s entitlement to the number.
** The number will consequently form the basic, universal identity infrastructure over which Registrars and Agencies across the country can build their identity-based applications.
** Unique Identification of India (UIDAI) will build partnerships with various Registrars across the country to enrol residents for the number.
** Such Registrars may include state governments, state Public Sector Units (PSUs), banks, telecom companies, etc. These Registrars may in turn partner with enrolling agencies to enrol residents into Aadhaar.
** Aadhaar will ensure increased trust between public and private agencies and residents.
** Once residents enroll for Aadhaar, service providers will no longer face the problem of performing repeated Know Your Customer (KYC) checks before providing services. They would no longer have to deny services to residents without identification documents.
** Residents would also be spared the trouble of repeatedly proving identity through documents each time they wish to access services such as obtaining a bank account, passport, or driving license etc.
** By providing a clear proof of identity, Aadhaar will empower poor and underprivileged residents in accessing services such as the formal banking system and give them the opportunity to easily avail various other services provided by the Government and the private sector.
** The centralised technology infrastructure of the UIDAI will enable ‘anytime, anywhere, anyhow’ authentication. Aadhaar will thus give migrants mobility of identity.
** Aadhaar authentication can be done both offline and online, online authentication through a cell phone or land line connection will allow residents to verify their identity remotely.
** Remotely, online Aadhaar-linked identity verification will give poor and rural residents the same flexibility that urban non-poor residents presently have in verifying their identity and accessing services such as banking and retail.
** Aadhaar will also demand proper verification prior to enrolment, while ensuring inclusion.
** Existing identity databases in India are fraught with problems of fraud and duplicate or ghost beneficiaries. To prevent these problems from seeping into the Aadhaar database, the UIDAI plans to enrol residents into its database with proper verification of their demographic and biometric information.
** This will ensure that the data collected is clean from the beginning of the program.
** However, much of the poor and under-privileged population lack identity documents and Aadhaar may be the first form of identification they will have access to.
** The UIDAI will ensure that its Know Your Resident (KYR) standards do not become a barrier for enrolling the poor and has accordingly developed an Introducer system for residents who lack documentation.
** Through this system, authorised individuals (‘Introducers’) who already have an Aadhaar, can introduce residents who don’t have any identification documents, enabling them to receive their Aadhaar.
What is Aadhaar? :
** Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique number which the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will issue for all residents.
** The number will be stored in a centralised database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information – photograph, ten fingerprints and iris – of each individual.
** The details of the data fields and verification procedures are available hereM
Aadhaar will be:
** Easily verifiable in an online, cost-effective way
** Unique and robust enough to eliminate the large number of duplicate and fake identities in government and private databases
** A random number generated, devoid of any classification based on caste, creed, religion and geography
Aadhaar Background and benefits :
** In the last twenty years, India has undergone a transformation of its economic and regulatory structures. Policy reforms in this period have led to the increasing maturity of our markets, as well as healthy regulation. The emphasis on de-licensing, entrepreneurship, the use of technology and decentralization of governance to the state and local level have in particular, shifted India from a restrictive, limited access society to a more empowered, open access economy, where people are able to access resources and services more easily and effectively. But despite these efforts, access to finance has remained scarce in rural India, and for the poorest residents in the country. Today, the proportion of rural residents who lack access to bank accounts remains at 40%, and this rises to over three-fifths of the population in the east and north-east parts of India.
** This exclusion is debilitating. Economic opportunity is after all, intertwined with financial access. Such financial access is especially valuable for the poor—it offers a cushion to a group whose incomes are often volatile and small. It gives them opportunities to build savings, insure themselves against income shocks and make investments. Such savings and insurance protect the poor against potentially ruinous events—illness, loss of employment, droughts, and crop failures. However due to the lack of access to financial services, many of the Indian poor face difficulties in accumulating savings.
** To mitigate the lack of financial access in India, the regulator has focused on improving the reach of financial services in new and innovative ways — through no-frills accounts, the liberalization of banking and ATM policies, and branchless banking with business correspondents (BC’s), which enables local intermediaries such as self-help groups and kirana stores to provide banking services. Related efforts have also included the promotion of core-banking solutions in Regional Rural Banks; and the incorporation of the National Payment Corporation of India (NPCI) to provide a national infrastructure for payments and settlements in the country.
** Advancements in technology such as core banking, ATMs, and mobile connectivity have also had enormous impact on banking. Mobile phones in particular present an enormous opportunity in spreading financial services across India. These technologies have reduced the need for banks to be physically close to their customers, and banks have been consequently able to experiment with providing services through internet as well as mobile banking. These options, in addition to ATMs, have made banking accessible and affordable for many urban non-poor residents across the country.
** Besides challenges of access and identity, a third limitation has been the cost of providing banking services to the poor who transact in smaller amounts, commonly referred to as micropayments. Banks consider such payments unattractive since transaction costs may be too high to bear.
** By providing a clear proof of identity, Aadhaar will empower poor and underprivileged residents in accessing services such as the formal banking system and give them the opportunity to easily avail various other services provided by the Government and the private sector.