The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which issues Aadhaar cards, has been shifted to the administrative control of the Ministry of Communication and Information Technology from Niti Aayog. The decision has been taken keeping in mind the government’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme as the Aadhaar numbers are being linked with several services. Aadhaar is a 12-digit individual identification number issued by UIDAI.
The issuance of Aadhaar cards, started by the then UPA government, has come under the scrutiny of the Supreme Court which recently held that the card would not be mandatory for availing benefits of government’s welfare schemes. Earlier, UIDAI was the part of Planning Commission.
NITI Aayog
- National Institution for Transforming India Aayog is a Government of India policy think-tank.
- The objective is to foster involvement and participation in the economic policy-making process by state governments of India.
- Niti Aayog is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairperson.
- Present Vice-Chairperson is Arvind Panagariya.
- Sindhushree Khullar was appointed as the Chief Executive Officer of NITI Aayog.
- The full time members of NITI Aayog are economist Bibek Debroy, former DRDO chief V.K. Saraswat and Agriculture Expert Professor Ramesh Chand.
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