Government has decided to update the National Population Register (NPR) and seed the Aadhaar number in the NPR database. The MoS for Home Haribhai Parathibhai Chaudhary told Rajya Sabha that the initiative would cost Rs 951.35 crore and the field work would be completed by March 2016. The National Population Register is a Register of usual residents of the country. The project is being implemented by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India.
Facts about UIDAI
- The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a central government agency of India. It is attached to the erstwhile Planning Commission of India, now NITI Aayog.
- The main objective is to collect the biometric and demographic data of residents, store them in a centralised database, and issue a 12-digit unique identify number called Aadhaar to each resident.
- It is considered the world’s largest national identification number project.
- On 23 June 2009, Nandan Nilekani, the co-founder of Infosys, was appointed by the United Progressive Alliance government to head the project.
- Vijay S Madan is the present Director General and Mission Director of the Unique Identification Authority of India.
- As on 8 July 2015, over 87.9 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued in the project.
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