UIDAI CEO Dr. Saurabh Garg Talks About the Imperative Facets of ‘Aadhaar Hackathon 2021’

In the era where knowledge is power, innovation is the driver of growth, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) initiated ‘Aadhaar Hackathon-2021’ with an objective to find innovative solutions to enhance the experience of citizens, in the way they interface with Aadhaar Enrolment and Authentication Software platforms.

The hackathon, which commenced on 28th October and ended on 31st October, 2021, saw over 5000 innovators stretching their imaginations to solve some of the real-life challenges under consideration by the UIDAI. The event was attended by participants from all corners of the country – making it truly a pan India event. Aadhaar Address Update Online: How to Change Address in Aadhaar Card at uidai.gov.in.

Interacting with Prasar Bharati News Service (PBNS), Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of UIDAI, Dr. Saurabh Garg asserted that,” This is the first time we are having a hackathon in UIDAI, and the idea is to involve students who are studying engineering technology across the country. When young people are challenged with problems, which are being faced by them on a day to day basis, combined with what they can do to help resolve those problems, leads to building an ecosystem of young innovators in the country.”

Deciphering the crux of Aadhaar Hackathon

The hackathon consisted of multiple problem statements categorized under two broad themes i.e. the first theme is around “Enrolment and Update”, which essentially covers some of the real-life challenges being faced by the citizens while updating their address.

The second theme of the Hackathon is around the “Identity and Authentication” solution offered by UIDAI.

Under this theme, UIDAI is soliciting innovative solutions to prove Identity without sharing the Aadhaar number or any demographics information.

“The problems which we have picked are in accordance with people’s grievances. A lot of grievances, we were getting on the address update for e.g people shift to different places, students go to different cities to study, and we released that there are a lot of issues in the address update process. We have also resolved a number of issues but we thought let’s get some innovative solutions from the young innovators. That is why the hackathon is based on two broad themes,” said Dr Garg.

On being asked about the efforts made by the Government of India for creating an unprecedented ecosystem of Hackathons, Dr Garg said,” Hackathons as a concept have developed over the past few years, and one of the reasons is the extent of digital penetration happened in the country. Due to this, participation has been increased rapidly in Hackathons, as people can sit anywhere and try solve problems.”

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Nov 02, 2021 12:29 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).