Aadhaar numbers assigned to adult residents in 13 of the country’s 36 states and Union territories have exceeded their respective population as per 2011 census figures.
Not only this, the overall Aadhaar coverage in Delhi and Telangana is already more than their population.
Unusual as it seems, experts claim this anomaly between the census figures and Aadhaar numbers assigned in the states is not abnormal. Apart from attributing it to the increase in population since 2011 and migration of residents in between states, they also allege that certain “gaps“ in census enumeration may have left scope for errors in the population data.
While Aadhaar coverage among the Delhi’s 18-plus age group is the highest at 127.6% of their 2011 headcount, other states reflecting this trend are undivided Andhra Pradesh (113.7%), Himachal Pradesh (112.5%), Sik kim (109.2%), Punjab (109.1%), Kerala (108.6%), Lakshadweep (108%), Jharkhand (107.1%), Chandigarh (106.9%), Goa (106.8%), Puducherry (106.8%) Tripura (103.8%) and Haryana (103.5%). Incidentally, in Delhi and Te langana, Aadhaar numbers allot ted so far stand at 105.9% and 102.9% of their 2011 census pop ulation. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) which administers the scheme has so far assigned 786 million numbers. While 642 million numbers were generated in 24 statesUTs assigned to UIDAI around 144 million Aadhaar numbers were assigned in the 12 states being handled by Regis trar General of India.