Last month in August, the usage of Aadhaar by people to claim a number of benefits has risen, and this could be marked as a positive sign that the recovery of the economy and the country coming out of the grip of the second COVID-19 wave.
In August a total of 146 crore Aadhaar-based authentications were done and this is the highest number that has been recorded ever, as per News18 reports. As the population of India is only 130 crore this indicates that people who are holding an Aadhar could have used it more than once to claim multiple benefits from the government. At near about 100% saturation.
Authentications done using Aadhaar in August was 146 crore which marked nearly about 50 percent jump from the April and May months when the second wave of COVID-19 hit the country and during those two months only 96.6 crores of authentication were being done in the country.
This year in July a high of 137 crores Aadhaar based authentications has been marked, while in May 2020 the highest figure marked was 120 crore. A senior government official told News18, “This is one key matrix to show that the country is recovering from the Covid pandemic and the second wave and people are using Aadhaar in big numbers to claim government benefits.”
According to the data e-KYC based authentication done using Aadhar card also hit a record of 16.3 crores in August, up nearly three times from May where it was recorded 5.3 million only. The rising of Aadhar authentication could be also marked due to COVID-19 vaccination as it is also done using the Aadhar platform.
What does high Aadhar authentication mean?
All the welfare schemes of the Modi government have been linked by Aadhar over the years. Using the unique identification number to disburse the benefits to beneficiaries. The Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) platform using the Aadhaar marked nearly about 311 central welfare schemes of 54 Ministries.
On the Aadhar platform, nearly about 10 crore framers are being transferred Rs 2000 each year, after every four months under the PM-Kisan Nidhi scheme. PM Ujjwala Yojana and the PM Garib Kalyan Yojana are also done using Aadhaar in which free food gains are being distributed to the poor.
An Aadhaar authentication means the Aadhaar number being used in each instance to correctly identify a beneficiary of a scheme and electronically transfer the benefit into his or her bank account or in-kind as in the case of the Public Distribution Scheme or PM Garib Kalyan Yojana.
The Aadhaar-based DBT scheme has been termed by PM Narendra Modi on multiple occasions as a game-changer to cut out corruption and ensure people got benefits even in times of lockdown during COVID-19. Since 2014, Rs. 1,78,396 crore are claimed to be saved by the government through the DBT- Aadhaar platform.
