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CyberMedia ICT Awards : Aadhaar' gets Pathbreaker of the Year

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DQI Bureau
New Update

Identity has been one the biggest challenges India has faced to bring every Indian into the social fold. Election Cards partially served the purpose. But there was a need for a unique identity number which was valid everywhere. But giving every Indian unique identity was a huge challenge that required adequate planning, ceaseless government support and, above all, sound leadership. In 2009, the Unique Identification Authority of India was, thus, constituted under the chairmanship of Nandan Nilekani who brought with him not only the experience of running India's biggest IT firm-Infosys, but also taking Indian IT to the global stage. The idea was to give 600 million Indians an unique identity by 2014.

India had never seen a project of this scale, touching so many lives, in so limited a time. By September 2010, the UIDAI has delivered the first Aadhaar numbers. Very soon many of us across the nation began to get their Aadhaar numbers. Technology was at the forefront of delivering this. Today, the Aadhaar project is at the core of bringing transparency in the delivery of subsidies. It is no exaggeration if the Aadhaar project is cited as the second biggest technology revolution in India, after the telecom revolution that touched every life in the country. The Dataquest jury has chosen 'the Aadhaar' project for the Pathbreaker of the Year 2013.

Ashok Pal Singh, Deputy Director General, UID Authority of India received the award.

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