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Follow UsNEW DELHI, INDIA: The unique identity project of the Government of India, that aims to give a 16-digit number to all citizens of the country, was today renamed as 'AADHAAR' and its new logo was also unveiled.
“UID itself is very confusing. Some people call it DUI, somebody calls it IUD and so forth. So it was getting a little difficult to explain all this various permutations, combinations of this acronym," UIDAI) chairman Nandan Nilekani said while making the announcement. "Therefore, we wanted a name that could effectively communicate its transformational potential and its promise to residents.”
A look at the major milestones of 'AADHAAR' (foundation), which would reach out to the common man and change his life for good.
# 1
August 21, 2003: A Parliamentary Committee under the Chairmanship of the then Deputy Prime Minister, LK Advani approves creation of a Multipurpose National Identity Card with a note that there should be compulsory registration of citizens and non-citizens living in India.
# 2
December 4, 2006: The Prime Minister appoints an empowered group of Ministers (EGoM) to collate two schemes: the National Population Register under the Citizenship Act, 1955 and the Unique Identification Number project of the Department of Information Technology.
# 3
December 11, 2007: At the Dataquest Annual Award Night, Nandan Nilekani, the then co-chairman of Infosys and the chairman of the Dataquest Jury, in his address passionately talks of an urgent need to create a national identity system in India. Most part of his speech was dedicated to this topic.
# 4
November 4, 2008: The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGOM) headed by the external affairs minister, Pranab Mukherji, with ministers of Home, IT & communications, Law and Panchayatiraj as members, approves the establishment of a Unique Identity Authority, under the Planning Commission.
# 5
January 28, 2009: Planning Commission constitutes and notifies formation of the Unique ID Authority of India.
# 6
February 16, 2009: Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee, in his interim budget 2009-10 speech, allocates Rs 100 crore to UID project.
# 7
March 14, 2009: The Bharatiya Janata Party releases its IT vision document, which talks of a Multipurpose National Identity Card (MNIC), with national security being the key driving factor behind it, to be rolled out in three years. It said it would amend the Citizenship Act, 1955, to combine the offices of the Registrar General of the Census of India and that of the UIAI to set up a Citizenship Regulatory Authority of India (CRAI).
# 8
June 25, 2009: Nandan Nilekani appointed Chairman of UIDAI, with the rank of a cabinet minister.
# 9
July 23, 2009: Nilekani formally takes over as the Chairman of UIDAI.
# 10
August 12, 2009: The first meeting of Prime Minister's Council of UID Authority that deliberated on the broad direction and powers of UIDAI.
# 11
January 6, 2010: In a meeting with Nilekeani, banks and telecom companies agree to jointly work on a revenue share model to roll out mobile banking.
# 12
April 26, 2010: Nilekani unveils the brand strategy for UID and launches new logo.