India 2018

114 India 2018
enrollment for Aadhaar number, authentication to establishment of UIDAI
which has now become a statutory organization.
The Digital India programme initiatives and the programmes and schemes
of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology could be placed into
eight broad action areas. The first related to digital identity and Aadhaar enabled
services and payments, second to transforming the quality of governance though
e-governance and third to promotion of digital payments. Promoting electronics
manufacturing, promotion of IT services and creation of IT infrastructure
constitute the next set of programme initiatives. The forgoing programmes are
complemented by initiatives in R&D, human resource development including
digital inclusion and cyber security.
Digital Identity
Aadhaar provides 12 digit biometric and demographic based identity that is
unique, lifelong, online and authenticable. Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI
is responsible for Aadhaar enrolment and authentication, including operation
and management of all stages of Aadhaar life cycle, developing the policy,
procedure and system for issuing Aadhaar numbers to individuals and perform
authentication and also required to ensure the security of identity information
and authentication records of individuals. More than 116 crore Aadhaar have
been generated. Aadhaar has been instrumental in the provision of goods and
services and is also enhancing and enabling digital transaction and digital
payment. Some of major initiatives are:
Aadhaar Enabled Payments : (i) Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB): A payment can
be made to a person's bank account via his/her Aadhaar number, provided it is
linked to his/her Aadhaar number. Government of India transfers benefits and
subsidies directly to the beneficiaries' bank account through APB. By July 2017,
over 227.74 crore successful transactions has been done over APB to remit over
` 71,921 crore; (ii) Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS): AEPS is the
platform in which a person can do basic banking transactions including
withdrawal, deposit cash, fund transfer, etc. from his/her bank account at Micro-
ATMs using biometric authentication. Bank is chosen by resident as it is a
resident present transaction; (iii) Aadhaar Pay: It is merchant version of AEPS.
The Application works on a low cost android phone with single finger biometric
device. It enables merchant to take cashless payment from his customers.
It was launched in 2017; (iv) Pay to Aadhaar: It is a facility available on UPI
platform integrated in BHIM app. It enables Person-to-Person (P2P) remittance
using Aadhaar number of the recipient as financial address. The receiving
Aadhaar number should be linked with his/her Aadhaar number. This was
also launched in 2017.
Aadhaar Enabled Services: (i) targeted delivery of food grains under PDS: Over
18.05 crore ration card holders receive ration post Aadhaar authentication. They
are sure that nobody else can claim their rations, reducing pilferage and theft in