The UIDAI told the Supreme Court on Tuesday that Aadhaar has unleashed a whole new aspect of democracy in the country by bringing a major section of population face to face with the service providers besides checking on fake beneficiaries.
Appearing for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi told a five-judge bench hearing the validity of the Aadhaar Act that previous to the introduction of the unique identification number, landless labourers who tilled other’s fields rarely received benefits meant for them under the public distribution system or the rural employment guarantee scheme. By giving a thumb impression, there was no way to check the intended beneficiary. But now with Aadhaar, the fingerprints of all persons remain verifiable with their demographic details. This has brought a majority of population in our county face to face with the service providers, Dwivedi said.
Besides cracking on the corruption existing in the system, Aadhaar is revolutionary as people have now been brought face to face to services which were earlier denied them for some or the other reason. Dwivedi further answered queries from the bench on whether private individuals too can insist upon Aadhaar authentication. The UIDAI said only state and body corporate can seek authentication subject to there being any law or a prior contract with UIDAI.