The Unique Identification Development Authority of India (UIDAI) will be sending Aadhaar unique identification numbers via SMS, in a bid to speed up the Aadhaar number dispatch process after several complaints over long delays, reports Hindustan Times. Quoting a senior UIDAI official, the report states that the service will allow citizens to avail government services without physically possessing the Aadhaar card. The organization has partnered with the Department of Information Technology (DIT) for this initiative, under which UIDAI will get a dedicated lease line for dispatching these Aadhaar numbers. However, these Aadhaar numbers will be delivered via SMS to only those citizens who had provided their mobile numbers during the enrollment process, which may turn into a roadblock, considering only 27 % of the applicants had reportedly provided their mobile numbers, as noted in the report. It also reveals that UIDAI has dispatched 9.5 crore cards out of 16 crore citizens who have enrolled to the program and the organization intends to send all Aadhaar letters by end of June 2012. In February 2012, UIDAI had rolled out a web interface for online authentication of Aadhaar numbers enabling banks, telecom companies and government departments to authenticate an Indian resident based on his Aadhaar number or UID, in accordance with KYC (Know Your Customer) norms and process his application accordingly. The service will be available free of charge till December 2013, following it will likely become a paid service and the agencies who wish to authenticate users through this process, would require a license key. Prior to…
