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Who was the first Indian to get the Aadhaar Card? Who handed it over?

Who was the first Indian to get the Aadhaar Card? Who handed it over?

India.com20-07-2025
New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) issues Aadhaar cards to the residents of India as identity and address proof. So far, it has issued the Aadhaar card to more than 90 percent of the population of India. The Aadhaar card is an important document not only for adults but also for children as it plays a vital role from school admission to identity verification, accessing government services and subsidies, and financial transactions, online and offline authentication, and streamlining the process of proving one's identity for different needs.
But do you know who was the first Indian who was issued the Aadhaar Card? Who got the first Aadhaar card of the country?
India's first Aadhaar card was made on 29 September 2010. This card was given to Ranjana Sonawane of Nandurbar district of Maharashtra. Ranjana lived in Tambhali village at that time, which is about 470 kilometers away from Pune.
Ranjana Sonawane was given her Aadhaar card during the UPA government. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh handed over the card to her. From that day onwards, the work of making Aadhaar cards started in the whole country. When was UIDAI formed?
The Aadhaar card was started during the UPA government. In January 2009, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was formed for this. After this, Aadhaar cards started being made from September 2010. Today, Aadhaar card has become essential for many government schemes, banking, school admission and jobs etc. What are features of Aadhaar?
Aadhaar is the world's largest biometric ID system. As of May 2023, more than 99.9% of India's adult population had been issued Aadhaar IDs. It has been described as 'the most sophisticated ID programme in the world'. Considered a proof of residence and not a proof of citizenship, Aadhaar does not itself grant any rights to domicile in India. In June 2017, the Home Ministry clarified that Aadhaar is not a valid identification document for Indians travelling to Nepal, Bhutan or other foreign countries.
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