• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has onboarded Elon Musk-led Starlink for Aadhaar authentication for customer verification, which will make the entire process smooth, secure and very easy.

• It will ensure that customer onboarding is quick, paperless, and compliant with Know Your Customer (KYC) norms.

What is Starlink?

• Starlink delivers high-speed, low-latency internet to users all over the world. 

• As the world’s first and largest satellite constellation using a Low Earth Orbit, Starlink delivers broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls and more. 

• Starlink is engineered and operated by SpaceX.

• Most satellite internet services come from single geostationary satellites that orbit the planet at 35,786 km. As a result, the round trip data time between the user and satellite — also known as latency — is high, making it nearly impossible to support streaming, online gaming, video calls or other high data rate activities.

• Latency is one of the most important factors in perceived experience when using the internet – web pages load faster, audio and video calls feel closer to real-life, and online gaming feels responsive.

• Starlink is a constellation of thousands of satellites that orbit the planet much closer to Earth, at about 550 km, and cover the entire globe. Because Starlink satellites are in a low orbit, latency is significantly lower

• Starlink currently operates more than 6,750 satellites currently in orbit.

• Starlink has partnered with Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio to sell its services in the country.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (Aadhaar Act, 2016) on July 12, 2016 by the government of India, under the ministry of electronics and information technology (MeitY). 

• The Aadhaar Act, 2016 has been amended by the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019.

• Prior to its establishment as a statutory authority, UIDAI was functioning as an attached office of the then Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog). 

• On September 12, 2015, the government revised the Allocation of Business Rules to attach the UIDAI to the Department of Electronics & Information Technology (DeitY).

• UIDAI was created with the objective to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as Aadhaar, to all residents of India. 

• UIDAI has its headquarters in New Delhi and functions through its eight regional offices situated in Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Guwahati, Hyderabad, Lucknow, Mumbai, New Delhi and Ranchi.

• UIDAI has two data centres – one at Hebbal (Bengaluru) in Karnataka and the other at Manesar (Gurugram) in Haryana. 

• The first UID number was issued on September 29, 2010 to a resident of Nandurbar in Maharashtra.

What is Aadhaar?

• Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique ID issued to an individual. Aadhaar uses demographic information (name, date of birth, gender and address), photograph of the face, fingerprints and iris to identify a resident. These items of information are mandatory.

• The objective of Aadhaar is to empower residents of India with a unique identity and digital platform only for the purpose of identity proof.

• Aadhaar number is a proof of identity. It does not confer any right of citizenship or domicile in respect of an Aadhaar number holder. 

• 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 the security of identity information and authentication records of individuals.