What Is Aadhaar
Aadhaar is a 12 digit individual identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India on behalf of the Government of India.
This number will serve as a proof of
identity and address, anywhere in India. Any individual, irrespective of age and
gender, who is a resident in India and satisfies the verification process laid
down by the UIDAI can enrol for Aadhaar. Each individual needs to enroll only
once which is free of cost.
Each Aadhaar number will be unique to an individual and will remain valid for
life. Aadhaar number will help you provide access to services like banking,
mobile phone connections and other Govt and Non-Govt services in due course.
What is Aadhaar |
What Aadhaar Isn't |
| A Number (12 Digits) |
Another Card |
| For every individual, including infants |
One per family |
| Enables identification, and is for every resident |
Establishes citizenship and is only for Indians |
| Will collect demographic and biometric information to establish uniqueness of individual |
Will collect profilling information such as caste, religion, language |
| Voluntary |
Mandatory |
| For every resident, irrespective of existing documentation |
Only for individuals who possess identification documents |
| Each individual will be given a single unique ID number |
Individual can obtain multiple Aadhaars |
| UIDAI will enable a universal identity infrastructure that any ID based application like ration card, passport etc. can use |
Aadhaars will replace all other ID's |
| UIDAI will give a "Yes" or "No" response for any identification authentication queries |
UIDAI information will be accessible to public and private agencies |
Aadhaar will be:
Easily verifiable in an online, cost-effective way Unique and robust enough to eliminate the large number of duplicate and fake identities in government and private databases A random number generated, devoid of any classification based on caste, creed, religion and geography