Mr. Manish Bhardwaj belongs to the 1997 batch of the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) of the Gujarat Cadre. He holds M. Tech in Optical Fiber Communication from IIT, Delhi and BE in Electronics & Communication from University of Roorkee (now IIT, Roorkee). Mr. Manish Bhardwaj has over 28 years of rich experience of public service in various positions in the State & Central Government with exposure to Urban Governance, Finance, Technical & Vocational Education, Revenue Administration, and Developmental Administration & Census. He has been instrumental in policy formulation and decision making at various levels during his tenure.
He is presently serving as Deputy Director General, UIDAI- Head Quarter, New Delhi, India from 25 September 2023.He has been pivotal in strengthening the Aadhaar Authentication Ecosystem, especially in shaping the ground breaking AI-ML innovation of Aadhaar Face Authentication, which has simplified the authentication process, especially for the disabled, elderly, and physically demanding professions. Under his directions, UIDAI’s Aadhaar Face Authentication has been recognized for its potential and has been awarded at several platforms, e.g. Service and Solutions category- International Innovation Awards (IIA) Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 2024 (International level)