CURRENT AFFAIRS

Detailed explanation-1: -No foreign agency is involved in data collection, says IT Minister. Biometric data of about 99 crore Indians have been collected so far under the Aadhar scheme and the data is encrypted and its secrecy and security ensured, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

Detailed explanation-2: -What is Aadhaar? Aadhaar, which means ‘foundation’ in Hindi, centers around a 12-digit identity number, linked to fingerprints and iris scans. Each user receives a card with that number on it, which can be cross-referenced with the biometric data held in a database.

Detailed explanation-3: -Inside the biggest biometrics database on earth From outside, Aadhar’s technology center, which stores all residents’ data (now totalling 5 Petabytes in size) does not look like a government building at all-it could pass for as one of the buildings housing Intel or Cisco nearby.