Unique Identification Authority of India

Subject – Governance

Context – Inaccessible UIDAI system leaves Aadhaar users in lurch.

Concept –

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, following the provisions of the Aadhaar Act 2016.
The UIDAI is mandated to assign a 12-digit unique identification (UID) number (Aadhaar) to all the residents of India.
The UIDAI was initially set up by the Government of India in January 2009, as an attached office under the aegis of the Planning Commission.
It is mandated to collect demographic and biometric information of the country’s residents, store the data in a central database, and issue to each resident of the country a 12-digit unique identity number called Aadhaar.
UIDAI is accountable for the authentication and enrolment of Aadhaar, and also to safeguard the data protection of identity information of individuals.