Bhubaneswar: Aadhaar has significantly simplified the lives of Indians in the last decade. Using the Aadhaar platform, the Government of Odisha has successfully implemented revolutionary schemes like Subhadra in a very short period. The widespread use of the Aadhaar ecosystem by various departments of the state government, through a coordinated effort, can transform all potential opportunities into reality and make the lives and livelihoods of people of Odisha smoother and more efficient, said Chief Secretary Manoj Ahuja.
A state-level workshop on “Deriving maximum impact out of Aadhaar” was organized in the Conference Hall of the Agriculture Department, in joint collaboration of UIDAI’s Regional Office in Hyderabad and the Department of Electronics & Information Technology, Government of Odisha.
Aadhaar is now the most widely used and trusted identity document in the country. Odisha is a leading state in Aadhaar linkage efforts, which has been made possible due to the consistent efforts of the Electronics & IT Department and OCAC. However, there is a need for more proactive efforts in linking Aadhaar for children under the age of five. The Women & Child Development Department and the Electronics & IT Department are actively working in this direction, said Principal Secretary of the Electronics & IT Department, Vishal Kumar Dev.
Contrary to the common belief that Aadhaar integrates many personal details, in reality, Aadhaar stores only seven essential pieces of information, yet manages to significantly simplify the lives of Indians. Presently, about 95% of the country’s population has Aadhaar cards. Nearly 9.38 crore authentications are carried out across the country every day using Aadhaar. The Aadhaar platform is also being used to deliver the benefits of more than 2,400 welfare schemes to the people of the country.
The government has directed around 550 institutions in sectors like banking, insurance, and telecom to use the Aadhaar ecosystem. States across India are adopting the Aadhaar platform to design new welfare schemes, which have brought remarkable improvements in people’s lives. Odisha has emerged as a leading state in both Aadhaar adoption and innovative scheme implementation, lauded UIDAI’s CEO, Bhuvnesh Kumar.
In Karnataka, Aadhaar-based Land Management System has achieved a great success. After the implementation of this system, several asymmetries were identified, allowing the government to take necessary corrective actions. Karnataka’s Revenue Department Commissioner, Sunil Kumar Pommala, explained how such systems could also bring significant improvements to the lives of farmers in Odisha.
During the workshop, senior UIDAI officials like Vivek Chandra Verma, P. Sangeeta, Col. Nikhil Sinha, and Sanjeev Yadav shared detailed information on the effectiveness and various applications of Aadhaar in modern times.
On this occasion, notable contributors to Aadhaar linkage in Odisha were felicitated, including OCAC CEO Dr. Pradeep Kumar Raut, Pradeep Bishoi and Sujit Kumar Raut.
The workshop began with a welcome address by UIDAI DDG P. Sangeeta. The event concluded with a vote of thanks by Debaraj Rath, Director of UIDAI’s State Office in Bhubaneswar. Senior officials from all departments of the state government and Aadhaar stakeholders participated in the workshop.
