First lot of UIDs soon, says Nilekani

BANGALORE: Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Monday said the first lot of 16-digit UID or the Aadhaar numbers would be issued in the coming weeks.

“The first lot of the Aadhaar numbers will be issued in the coming weeks for a million people. In the next four years, over 600 million people will be enrolled,” he said at the inauguration of a lecture series.

Nilekani, however, did not disclose the date for the issuance of the first lot of numbers.

He promised that the database of the individuals, which will be collected u n d e r t h e UIDAI, would not be disclosed.

“The UIDAI database is a lot more private when compared to others.

Under the law, the database of UIDAI cannot be looked into by anyone apart from those in the national security agencies,” he said.

As ID proof to get SIM cards

He said that UIDAI was negotiating with the department of telecommunications so that the Aadhaar numbers can be used as identity proof for getting cellphone connections.

Micro ATMs

He also said that there was a proposal to distribute micro ATMs as part of UIDAI which will result in inclusion of the poor in the banking system. “Using micro ATMs, people in villages can draw and deposit money from government appointed business correspondents in villages,” he said.