commerce which involves the use of alternatives to paper-based methods of communication and
      storage of information, to facilitate electronic filing of documents with the government agencies.
      It gives provisions for the use of electronic records and digital signature with the provision of
      authentication and security. It also directs the establishment of Cyber Appellate Tribunal. This
      Act was amended through the Information Technology (Amendment) Act, 2008 which
      substituted the word “digital signature” with “electronic signature” with major changes in
      various sections along with insertion of other sections.
           To ensure that various benefits and subsidies reach the targeted beneficiaries, the
      Government made all efforts to leverage the Aadhaar platform. The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery
      of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 provides for good
      governance, efficient, transparent and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the
      expenditure for this is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to individuals residing in
      India through assigning of a unique identity number to such individuals. It covers everything
      from the enrolment for Aadhaar number, authentication to establishment of UIDAI which has
      now become a statutory organization.
      Digital Identity
           Aadhaar provides 12 digit biometric and demographic based identity that is unique, lifelong,
      online and authenticable. Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI is responsible for Aadhaar
      enrolment and authentication, including operation and management of all stages of Aadhaar life
      cycle, developing the policy, procedure and system for issuing Aadhaar numbers to individuals
      and perform authentication and also required to ensure the security of identity information and
      authentication records of individuals. More than 116 crore Aadhaar numbers have been
      generated. Aadhaar has been instrumental in the provision of goods and services and is also
      enhancing and enabling digital transaction and digital payment. Some of major initiatives are:
           Aadhaar Enabled Payments: (i) Aadhaar Payment Bridge (APB): A payment can be made
      to a person’s bank account via his/her Aadhaar number, provided it is linked to his/her Aadhaar
      number. Government of India transfers benefits and subsidies directly to the beneficiaries’ bank
      account through APB. (ii) Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AEPS): AEPS is the platform in
      which a person can do basic banking transactions including withdrawal, deposit cash, fund
      transfer, etc., from his/her bank account at Micro-ATMs using biometric authentication. Bank is
      chosen by resident as it is a resident present transaction; (iii) Aadhaar Pay: It is merchant version
      of AEPS. The Application works on a low cost android phone with single finger bio-metric
      device. It enables merchant to take cashless payment from his customers. It was launched in
      2017; (iv) Pay to Aadhaar: It is a facility available on UPI platform integrated in BHIM app. It
      enables Person-to-Person (P2P) remittance using Aadhaar number of the recipient as financial
      address. The receiving Aadhaar number should be linked with his/her Aadhaar number. This was
      also launched in 2017.
           Aadhaar Enabled Services: (i) targeted delivery of food grains under PDS: Over 18.05 crore
      ration card holders receive ration post Aadhaar authentication. They are sure that nobody else
      can claim their rations, reducing pilferage and theft in the process. Aadhaar seeding for de-
      duplications and other DBT processes has removed over 2.33 crore fake ration cards saving over
      ₹ 14,000 crore upto March 2017; (ii) PAHAL and Ujjwala Scheme: Over 15.12 crore LPG
      beneficiaries received LPG subsidy in their bank accounts under the PAHAL scheme. Over 2.5
      crore connections were issued to BPL women under Ujjwala Scheme; (iii) ease of opening of