UIDAI operationalizes 1st Aadhaar Seva Kendra in Delhi and Vijayawada

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has operationalized 1st ‘Aadhaar Seva Kendra’ (ASKs) in Delhi and Vijayawada. The new centres are functioning on a pilot basis and have set in motion UIDAI’s ambitious plan to set up 114 such centers by the end of 2019.

About Aadhaar Seva Kendra

ASKs being set up by UIDAI will be covering 53 cities across India at an estimated project cost of Rs 300-400 crore. These centers are similar to the concept of Passport Seva Kendras.

Objective: These new centres seek to provide more touch points to public for availing Aadhaar enrolment and updation services.

Function: These Aadhaar centers are meant to facilitate enrolment, updation and other activities.

ASKs are owned by UIDAI. They operate in addition to thousands of centers that are currently being run by post offices and banks and even in government premises (offering similar Aadhaar services).

Delhi Centre- It is located at Akshardham metro station premises and has a capacity to handle 1,000 enrolment/updation requests a day. It is equipped with 16 workstations and will be operational 6 days a week including weekends. It will be closed only on Tuesday and public holidays.

Vijayawada Centre- The capacity of this centre is half that of the Delhi centre.

Benefits: New ASK model entails an online appointment management system to allow people to book a slot as per their convenience. These ASK have more capacity, more requests for enrolment and updation thus can be processed on a daily basis compared to other centres.

About UIDAI

• It is a Government agency which was founded on 28 January 2009, as an attached office of then Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog). It is Headquartered in New Delhi.
• On 12 July 2016, it was established by Government of India, as a statutory authority under the provisions of Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (or Aadhaar Act 2016) under the aegis of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
• Function: It is mandated to issue Aadhaar to all Residents of India, which is an easily verifiable 12 digit random number as Unique Identity.

Month: Current Affairs - July, 2019