Aadhaar is a unique Identification
number issued by UIDAI to individuals for the purpose of establishing
unique identification of every single person. Aadhaar is actually a
12-digit number and not a card which is unique for every individual who
enroll or apply to get his/her Aadhaar number. The Unique Identification
Authority of India (UIDAI) is the regulatory body for this.
Aadhaar is meant for individuals of any
age (including children) for the purpose of establishing identities.
Since Aadhaar is for only individuals, it is different for all the
members of a family. For deciding uniqueness of every individual, the
demographic details (residence address information) of the person and
his/her biometric information (photograph, iris-scan, fingerprints) is
collected which is stored in a centralized database.
Aadhaar is not a compulsory approach
instead, it is voluntary based and any individual who is interested in
having Aadhaar number for himself/herself can enrol or apply to get Aadhaar Number.
An individual will be provided with only one unique Aadhaar number and
not multiple unique ID numbers. Aadhaar number will be valid for the
whole life of any individual and does not need to be changed or renewed
from time-to-time. A person can get his/her Aadhaar number for free of
cost.
The Aadhaar number can be used while
opening a bank account, applying for passport, booking e-tickets and
many other places where there is a need to give your identity. Aadhaar
number will be your identity which will provide you with the simplest
way of describing who you are?