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Find the contact and internal telephone directory of the Planning Commission. Users can also access the telephone numbers of the Chairman, Deputy Chairman, Secretaries, advisors and other key officials of the Commission. Access to detailed state development reports by Planning Commission is given.
The Unique Identification Authority of India has pushed a very recent yet strong authentication system to prevent the leakage of government-provided schemes that facilitate the underprivileged. To generate a uniform yet unique identification for the citizens. All the data is stored in the UIDAI's database, kept intact and secure by the most advanced technology. The data stored on the servers are sensitive, posing a threat to someone if exposed to any unwanted organisation.
What is the Mission and Vision of UIDAI?
The vision of establishing an authority such as UIDAI has now become a reality. What initially started as an initiative to safeguard the citizens against any malpractice has become the frontrunner for providing an identification method to the people of India. The Aadhaar is an identification document which is valid for photo identification in various governmental and non-governmental organisations. It is now mandated by the Tax Commission of India to link Aadhaar with Pan Card, and individuals will be ineligible for tax filing if they have not obliged to do the same. The primary mission of UIDAI online is to promote the digital footprints of Indian citizens.
Under the current Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG , introduced in 2013, customers had to buy at full price, and the subsidy would be then directly credited to their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts. This scheme, however, did not take off, and in September 2013 a Supreme Court order put a halt on it. Subsequently, the GOI constituted a committee to review the "Direct Benefits Transfer for LPG Scheme" to study the shortcomings in the scheme and recommend changes. The DBTL scheme was modified later as PAHAL by the new government in November 2014. Under PAHAL, subsidies could be credited to a purchaser's bank account even if he or she did not have an Aadhaar number. Official data show that cooking gas consumption during the January–June period grew at a slower 7.82%, which is nearly four percentage points less than the 11.4% growth in the same period last year.
Services Offered by UIDAI
The number is linked to the resident's basic demographic and biometric information such as a photograph, ten fingerprints and two iris scans, which are stored in a centralised database. The Unique Identification Authority of India officially launched their online portal on February 7th 2012. Individuals can verify their citizenship using a unique 12-digit identification number. Just after the launch of the online portal, UIDAI gained popularity and was recognized nationally. The reason behind the popularity was that the Prime Minister of India at that time, Dr Manmohan Singh, had called for a benefits scheme based on Aadhaar. During the initial period, the scheme was launched to trace the capital transaction and incorporate a safer and secure system with a direct money transfer to the recipient's bank account.
Aadhaar identity, instead, is instantly verifiable and hence more trusted. Also, as per the Aadhaar Act 2016, the Aadhaar card is required to be verified either by in physical or electronic formby way of authentication or offline verification, or in such other form as may be specified. Verification is done through fingerprint, iris scan, OTP authentication, and QR code etc. Hence, it is near impossible to impersonate you if you use Aadhaar to prove your identity.
Authentication Ecosystem
On 21 July 2015 the Court noted that some states were insisting on Aadhaar for benefits despite its order. In March 2015 the Aadhaar-linked DigiLocker service was launched, using which Aadhaar-holders can scan and save their documents on the cloud, and can share them with the government officials whenever required without any need to carry them. On 7 February 2012 the UIDAI launched an online verification system for Aadhaar numbers. Using the system, banks, telecom companies and government departments could enter an Aadhaar number and verify if the person was a resident of India.
However, the offline mode still requires some tweaking to maintain security and transparency. The UIDAI made the whole mechanism more flexible by introducing the online facility. Individuals can get PVC cards and verify their mobile number and email address from the comfort of their homes. Along with these factors, all the data collection is seamless and secure.
Downloadable Five Year Plans, guidelines, formats, approach paper, documents related to Five Year Plans, etc. are also available. In 2022, the Election Commission started a drive to link Aadhar card with voter ID card. The Union Government claimed that this linking will be voluntary, but the bill passed in the parliament contradicts the claim. The rules issued by the Union Government mention that the only "sufficient cause" for a person to not link their Aadhar Card with the Voter ID Card is if the person does not have one. The election officials cited 'orders from above' to pressure voters into linking these documents.
In February 2015 it was reported that people with an Aadhaar number would get their passports issued within 10 days, as it sped up the verification process by making it easier to check if an applicant had any criminal records in the National Crime Records Bureau database. In May 2015, it was announced that the Ministry of External Affairs was testing the linking of passports to the Aadhaar database. The Aadhaar project has been linked to some public subsidy and unemployment benefit schemes such as the domestic LPG scheme and MGNREGA.
Acknowledging this data breach, the Unique Identification Authority of India suspended 5000 officials from accessing the database after an investigation revealed misuse and unauthorised usage. In response to the incident, UIDAI denied the breach, and filed a criminal complaint against the newspaper and journalists who reported the security flaws. The Aadhaar database has experienced multiple data leaks and security breaches since its inception. These have ranged from the sale of unauthorised access by database administrators, the exposure of personal information on government websites, and unauthorised use and access of Aadhar data by private institutions.
This secure version is known as Masked Aadhaar and can be used for making financial transactions via the Aadhaar Enabled Payment system. The masked Aadhaar card protects Aadhaar cardholders from financial fraud. One of the major goals of the UIDAI is to enhance the policies and regulations for Aadhaar card enrolment and issuing process. The Aadhaar card contains the biometric and demographic details of the individual, which needs to be protected at any cost. Privacy is the concern of UIDAI, which is why the authority ensures online authentication strictly.
Non-resident Indians, overseas citizens of India, and other resident foreigners may also find it difficult to avail themselves of services they could previously freely obtain, such as local SIM cards, despite assurances to the contrary. In 2018, RS Sharma, former director general of the UIDAI shared his Aadhaar number on Twitter challenging people to show “one concrete example where you can do any harm to me! ” Within hours, Twitter users managed to dig out his personal details like his personal mobile number, Gmail and Yahoo addresses, physical address, date of birth, his frequent flyer number, and that he uses an iPhone. After this incident, UIDAI tweeted urging users not to share Aadhaar numbers publicly. In May 2013, deputy director general of the UIDAI, Ashok Dalwai, admitted that there had been some errors in the registration process.
The court asked the UIDAI to hand over all data of all persons in Goa to the CBI. A five-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court has heard various cases relating to the validity of Aadhaar on various grounds including privacy, surveillance, and exclusion from welfare benefits. As of 27 February 2018, senior counsels Shyam Divan, Kapil Sibal, and Gopal Subramanium, argued over a span of 13 days in this matter.
The project was to be introduced in 51 districts on 1 January 2013 and then slowly expanded to cover all of India. K. Advani, was formed to study the recommendations and examine possible implementation. The GoM submitted its report in May 2001 in which it accepted the recommendation for an ID card and stated that a "multi-purpose National Identity Card" project would be started soon, with the card to be issued first in border villages and then elsewhere. In late September 2001 the Ministry of External Affairs proposed that a mandatory national identity card be issued.
It aims to create an error-free voter identification system in India, especially by removing duplications. The employees use the last four digits of their Aadhaar number and their fingerprints, for authentication. The government's own data, however, suggest that the cost of implementing the DBT for LPG was over a million dollars, a figure quite at odds with the savings figures that the government cites. March 2016 the Aadhaar Bill, 2016, was introduced in the Parliament as a money bill by Jaitley. The decision to introduce it as a money bill was criticised by the opposition parties. Ghulam Nabi Azad, an INC leader, wrote in a letter to Jaitley that the ruling party, the BJP, was attempting to bypass the Rajya Sabha, as they did not have the majority in the upper house.
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