'UIDAI has issued 400 mn Aadhaar numbers till date'

The government on Saturday said the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had issued 400 million Aadhaar numbers till date and the body would achieve the target 600 million enrollments by 2014.

According to the release, only in July, twenty million Aadhaar numbers had been generated.

The authority has also announced the setting up of permanent enrolment centres in various states to enroll residents who have been either left out in earlier enrolment drives or for those who wish to update their data.

"Nearly seven months after the launch of Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT), the government has allocated about Rs 250 crore on various welfare programmes and made around 32 lakh payments through Aadhaar Payment Bridge," the statement said.

Aadhaar Enabled Service Delivery is linked to various government schemes such as scholarship, pension scheme, dhanalaxmi, janani suraksha yojana, payment of social security benefits such as old-age payments, distribution of LPG subsidy etc.

The DBT is now being implemented in 28 schemes across 121 districts and soon a review meeting will be done to take stock of its progress and to expand it in other schemes and the remaining districts of the country, it added.