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Context:
The CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Ajay Bhushan Pandey, responds to various criticisms of Aadhaar.
Criticisms of Aadhaar:
- The UIDAI has little more control on the uses of Aadhaar than the Ministry of Rural Development has on the use of nuclear weapons
- It is mainly the government, not the UIDAI, that uses Aadhaar.
- Dismisses the “collateral damage” done by Aadhaar in various contexts
- Talking of the public distribution system (PDS), for instance, there is clear evidence from both official statistics and independent surveys that in Jharkhand alone millions of people are currently unable to buy their food rations due to ABBA-related problems.
World Bank Digital Dividend Report 2016:
- The World Bank’s Digital Dividend Report 2016 which has estimated that Aadhaar could annually save the central government US$ 11 billion if used in all welfare programmes.
- The report, however, does not present any savings estimates.
