UIDAI Chandigarh office Becomes First RO to Achieve 100 % Aadhaar Saturation

By Tricitynews Reporter

Chandigarh 19^th December:- Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Regional Office (RO) Chandigarh has become the first RO to achieve an overall 100 % Aadhaar Saturation (as per estimated population of year 2015) in each of the States & UT, where it is responsible for Aadhaar enrolment. Haryana achieved this on 26th Sept. 2016, Punjab on 17th Oct. 2016, UT Chandigarh on 29th Nov. 2016 and Himachal Pradesh on 7th Dec 2016.

Govt. of India has established eight ROs across the country to look after Aadhaar related activities. These are at Chandigarh, Lucknow, Ranchi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Mumbai & Guwahati. Delhi & Telengana are the two other States where 100% Aadhaar generation against estimated population of 2015 has been achieved.

In the State of Haryana, 20 districts out of total 21 districts except Gurugram have Aadhaar generation of more than 95%. In Punjab, out of 22 districts, except SAS Nagar Mohali, all other districts have Aadhaar generation of more than 95%. In Himachal Pradesh, out of 12 districts, 8 districts except Kinnaur, Lahaul & Spiti, Shimla and Solan have Aadhaar generation of more than 95%.

To achieve this level of saturation, a number of initiatives were undertaken in coordination with the States and UT. Some of these includes i.e. UIDAI RO Chandigarh appointed the main user departments i.e., IT, Food, Health, WCD & School Education in the States/UT as Registrar. Registrars were empowered to select Enrolment agencies & get the Aadhaar enrolment done on their behalf. Further in many cases the societies working with the concerned State Department or District Societies working under the Chairmanship of Deputy Commissioners were also appointed as Enrolment Agencies. The States/UT were encouraged to procure their own Aadhaar Enrolment kits (ECMP Kit) & Tablets which helped them to establish Permanent Enrolment Centres in the region. These States were pioneer and it was replicated later in other States. 475 Kits & 890 Tablets were procured by Haryana, 165 Kits, 50 biometric kits and 800 Tablets by Himachal Pradesh, 8 Kits and 33 Tablets by UT Chandigarh. These Aadhaar kits and Tablets have been deployed at various e-Disha Centres, CSCs, Sampark Centres, Lok Mitra Kendra and Suvidha Centres.  The States in this region are in the process of setting up Permanent Enrolment Centers in Govt. schools. Haryana has already identified 500 Govt. Schools which will act as cluster centres for covering all Govt. as well Private Schools in its jurisdiction. Procurement of 500 Kits is under process & 500 staff members from education department are being trained & certified for this purpose. These Kits will cater to all the 30262 schools in the State. Both new enrolment & Updation of biometric on attaining the age of 5 years and 15 years respectively will be done on these Kits. Similarly in UT Chandigarh 35 Govt. schools have been identified & staff has been trained. Special camps were organized in Universities, Government and private Schools/ Colleges, Technical Institutes and Engineering Colleges, Rosters were prepared and their implementation was monitored by the staff of UID. Movement of Kits for enrolment in Anganwadis and Schools was monitored on daily basis. A special enrolment drive was launched to enroll children on the days of Immunization. Aadhaar Linked Birth Registration (ALBR) has been launched in Haryana, Chandigarh and Himachal Pradesh. Under this scheme staff members of hospitals are trained and certified to work as Aadhaar operators. Tablets are deployed in Government as well as private hospitals to cover all new born babies. NGOs were associated to cover Senior citizens and widespread awareness program were launched through print advertisements, radio jingles, participation in fairs etc under the IEC.

Now the efforts are being made to achieve near universal enrolment for children in the age group 0 to 18 years through schools, anganwadis, crèches, kindergartens, hospitals etc. Focus will also be on leveraging Aadhaar for welfare schemes by States and UT to ensure targeted delivery to beneficiaries and maintaining transparency through Aadhaar identification.

Aadhaar has been linked with Central schemes like Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA), National Social Assistance Program (Old Age Pension, Widow Pension, Disabled Pension), Public Distribution System and Subsidized Kerosene Oil Scheme, Direct Benefit Transfer for LPG, Prime Minister's Jan Dhan Yojana (PMJDY) and Employees' Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO).

In UT Chandigarh, Aadhaar is linked with Slum Rehabilitation, Scholarships, Biometric Attendance System, Honorarium to Aanganwadi Workers etc.

In Punjab, Scholarship Schemes, Bhagat Puran Singh Sehat Bima Yojana, National Food Security Act, NREGA, Atta Dal Scheme are linked with Aadhaar.

In Haryana, Biometric Attendance, Honorarium to Aanganwadi Workers, Scholarship Schemes etc. are linked with Aadhaar. By linking Aadhaar with Kerosene oil beneficiaries and de-duplicating it with LPG beneficiaries, the State was able to achieve a saving of Rs. 131.95 Cr. Land Records are also proposed to be linked with Aadhaar

In Himachal Pradesh, e-Pramaan and e-Vidhan, Scholarship Schemes, KYC facility in Sugam Centres at DC Offices, Online Application Processing for HP Subordinate Services Selection Board, Migrant Labour Database & Issue of Identity Cards etc are linked with Aadhaar.