One of the claims made by UIDAI and GoI is that Aadhar has empowered people who did not have an ID by providing them one. However, these claims are bogus since Aadhaar ID has been allocated based on existing IDs themselves. To get Aadhaar, one has to submit Proof of identity and Proof of address.

In fact, 99.97% of those who have Aadhaar, used existing identity cards and proof of address to get it. 

In response to a Right to Information application in 2015, UIDAI replied that only 0.03% of those who had got the Aadhaar number got it without showing proof of identity and address. The rest had showed two existing proofs of identity and address.