UIDAI is the authority that issues Aadhaar numbers and manages its database. It was established in January 2009 by the Government of India, under the jurisdiction of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), following a cabinet resolution passed on 23 March 2008. The UIDAI’s mandate is to issue unique identity numbers to all residents Indian citizens, which will be stored in a centralized database called “Aadhaar” that can be accessed by authorized agencies when needed for verification purposes.