New Delhi, Apr 6 (IT) : The Narendra Modi government is patting its back over ensuring Aadhaar cards for a whopping 100 crore (one billion) Indians, most of whom it claims were issued the unique identification in the last two years of the NDA government.

"More than 100 crore residents in India are now registered under Aadhaar identity. It is an instrument for good governance. Aadhaar is a mode to reach the poor and needy without the middlemen," Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said at a press meet earlier this week.

"Every day, more than 5-7 lakhs people get enrolled for Aadhaar. It is now the largest online digital identity platform in the world," said Prasad as he congratulated the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Stressing privacy has been given outmost importance while enrolling for Aadhaar, the senior BJP leader said: "Aadhaar data is very secured. Privacy is protected in a reasonable, fair and objective manner."

However, a tweet from Narendra Modi, when he was the Gujarat Chief Minister and the BJP's prime ministerial candidate for the 2014 Lok Sabha election, has been quoted by many as an example of the hypocrisy that marks India's politics.

"On Aadhaar, neither the Team that I met nor PM could answer my Qs on security threat it can pose. There is no vision, only political gimmick," Modi had tweeted on April 8, 2014, days before the country voted the BJP to power in its biggest victory ever.

That Modi had once called Aadhaar a "political gimmick" and raised concerns on "security threat" it poses is an allegation also made by many anti-Aadhaar activists, who have questioned the identity for its purported breach of privacy.

The first Aadhaar was issued in 2010 and now its coverage is now at 93 per cent among adults, 67 in children in the 5-18 age group and 20 percent of those aged zero to 5. In 13 states and union territories, Aadhaar saturation has crossed 90 percent, while in 13 others, it is between 75-90 percent.

So far, 25.48 crore bank accounts, over 71 per cent cooking gas connections and over 45 per cent ration cards are linked with the identification programme. The UIDAI authenticates over 40 lakh transactions per day.

The government said the total number of Aadhaar Enabled Payment System transactions has gone up to 10.76 crore as on March 31, 2016, as against 46 lakh logged on May 31, 2014.