All the government (Central or State) sponsored training and upskilling schemes require AADHAR based verification. Enrolment in none of such skill development schemes would be possible without first obtaining AADHAR number. To be honest, this is the most reliable and safe mode of verifying about a person’s true existence. So, why not? Even many developed countries in the world want to emulate some such unique identity scheme. AADHAR is the world’s largest biometric identity programme. AADHAR is a 12 digit, unique identification number, generated randomly. This can be obtained by the Indian residents only. AADHAR is issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). UIDAI falls under the ministry of Electronics and Information Technology.

According to the census of 2011 (our census takes place every 10 years an in the first year of the decade. For example, 1951, 1961, 1971, 1981, 1991, 2001 and 2011. The next census will take place in 2021. So, as per the latest census, the census of 2011, the population of the country was 121 cr. As a hundred crore is also known as a billion (100cr=1b), in other words, the population of the country was 1.21 b.

The current users of AADHAR, at 121.75 cr, are now more than the population of the country as per the last census. There are only 35 lac adults in the country who have not enrolled for AADHAR. Majority of these people come from the North East, especially Assam and Meghalaya. UIDAI projects current population to be 133.50 cr. As almost all adults have been covered under the scheme, focus has shifted to minors’ enrolment and managing updates to ensure currency of the scheme.