Aadhaar Used For First time in Northeast

Agartala, Sep 8 : Aadhaar was used for the first time in the northeastern region Friday with 194 elderly people in Tripura receiving pension on the basis of their new unique identification numbers, officials said.

The applications of Aadhaar has begun by providing old-age pension to 194 people in Mandai village, Manohar Biswas, the block development officer, said.

Tripura has also become the first state to enroll 90 percent of its 3.7-million population into Aadhaar, said an Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) official.

Aadhaar is the brand name of the 12-digit unique identification number.

Tripura Gramin Bank too has become the first rural regional bank in the country to provide services based on Aadhaar, the official said.

Through business correspondents, a new system of providing banking services, including pension, to people's doorsteps, has been started, the official said.

Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh, during a trip to Tripura in August, had said Aadhaar-enabled applications would soon be used to provide pension, wages and scholarships in 50 districts of the country.

Of the 50 districts, four are in Tripura and two in Sikkim.

Aadhaar was first introduced in Jharkhand last year, he said.

UIDAI has enrolled 20 crore people for Aadhaar and aims to register 40 crore more in 18 months.