Manmohan Singh, Sonia Gandhi launch UID project in Maharashtra village

Nandurbar (Maharashtra), Sep 29 (ANI): The Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh, and Congress President Sonia Gandhi launched the ambitious Aadhaar/ Unique Identity (UID) project in Tembhli village in Maharashtra's Nandurbar District on Wednesday.

Both Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi distributed the first ten 'Aadhaar' cards of Unique Identification Authority of India to ten residents of the tribal village.

Speaking on the occasion, Dr Manmohan Singh said: "The poor did not have any identity proof. Due to this shortcoming, they could not open bank accounts or get ration cards. They could not avail the benefits of government welfare programmes because of this and many times, these benefits were pocketed by others."

"We will give every opportunity to live a dignified life to our poor, scheduled castes and scheduled tribes' people. We are moving fast in the field of technology. Nowhere in the world, has technology been used in such a big way. I hope every citizen will get this number very soon," he added.

Sonia Gandhi also echoed similar views saying the unique identification numbers will help plug the loopholes in the Public Distribution System (PDS).

"The problem of fake ration cards will be over now," she said.

Maharashtra Chief Minister Ashok Chavan, Maharashtra Governor K Shankaranarayanan, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Alhuwalia and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chief Nandan Nilekani were present on the occasion.

The Unique Identification Authority of India started working in August 2009. The Government had committed to issuing the first set of Unique ID numbers in 12 to 18 months.

In the ensuing period of last one year, the infrastructure for this complex project has been set up. With the launch date for the project scheduled for September 29, the Unique ID Mission has achieved its goal of on-time delivery.

The goal of the UID Mission is to deliver Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) to every resident in the country. In addition, it aims to establish a cost-effective, ubiquitous authentication infrastructure to easily verify these identities online and in real-time. (ANI)