Context: Recently, the government has amended Aadhaar regulations. The Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations have been updated to reflect the changes.
About Aadhar:
A 12-digit unique identity for every Indian individual, including children and infants
Enables identification for every resident Indian.
Establishes uniqueness of every individual on the basis of demographic and biometric information.
It is a voluntary service that every resident can avail irrespective of present documentation.
Each individual will be given a single unique Aadhaar ID number.
Aadhaar will provide a universal identity infrastructure which can be used by any identity-based application (like ration card, passport, etc.)
134 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued till date.
Around 1000 government schemes – 650 from state governments and 315 from central government use Aadhaar authentication services to avoid deduplication and removal of ghost beneficiaries.
Aadhaar enrolment of adult citizens is nearing 100 per cent.
About the new rules:
Updating the documents
As per the regulations earlier, residents who were older than 15 years at the time of enrolment were recommended to update their biometric data every 10 years.
The process of updating documents is not mandatory.
Ensuring accuracy
This process will help in ensuring the accuracy of information in the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).
Demographic information
The amendment of the Aadhaar regulation is limited to updating demographic information and does not involve biometric data such as fingerprints.
Issues with Aadhar:
Aadhaar act allows cancellation of Aadhaar number for any reason by the government and citizens have no recourse.
A Centralized database is a concern because once it is compromised everyone is at risk.
There is no ID or address verification and there is no means of identifying fakes.
There is no data protection law in place in India.
Enrolment software hacks allowed foreign nationals to create Aadhaar numbers thus creating a national security risk.
UIDAI does not have a monitoring mechanism but only an audit mechanism.
Data goes to third parties vulnerability increases due to that.
Usage of Aadhaar
For Governments, Service Agencies
UIDAI issues Aadhaar numbers to the residents only after de-duplicating their demographic and biometric attributes against its entire database.
Aadhaar seeding enables elimination of duplicates under various schemes which leads to substantial savings to the government exchequers.
It also provides the government with accurate data on the beneficiaries and enables implementation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) programmes. Aadhaar authentication enables the implementing agencies to verify the beneficiaries at the time of service/benefits delivery and also ensures the targeted delivery of benefits to them. All these activities will lead to:-
Curbing Leakages through Targeted Delivery: All social welfare programmes where beneficiaries are required to be confirmed before the service delivery, stand to benefit from UIDAI’s authentication services.
This will result in curbing leakages and ensuring that services are delivered to the intended beneficiaries only.
Examples include subsidized food and kerosene delivery to Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries, worksite attendance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries, etc.
Improving Efficiency and Efficacy: With the Aadhaar platform providing accurate and transparent information about the service delivery mechanism, government can improve disbursement systems and utilize its scarce development funds more effectively and efficiently.
For Residents
Aadhaar system provides single source offline/online identity verification across the country for the residents.
Once residents enroll, they can use their Aadhaar number to authenticate and establish their identity multiple times using electronic means or through offline verification, as the case may be.
It eliminates the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents each time a resident wishes to access services, benefits or subsidies.
Since Aadhaar is universal identity accepted across the whole country, the Aadhaar system enables mobility to millions of people who migrate from one part of the country to another by providing a portable proof of identity that can be verified through Aadhaar authentication on-line anytime, anywhere.
Additional Information:
About Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) & Aadhar
Aadhaar Act & Establishment of UIDAI:
The 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”) by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Need of UIDAI:
UIDAI was created to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as “Aadhaar”, to all residents of India. The UID had to be –
Robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and
Verifiable and authenticable in an easy, cost-effective way.
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.
Context: Recently, the government has amended Aadhaar regulations. The Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations have been updated to reflect the changes.
About Aadhar:
A 12-digit unique identity for every Indian individual, including children and infants
Enables identification for every resident Indian.
Establishes uniqueness of every individual on the basis of demographic and biometric information.
It is a voluntary service that every resident can avail irrespective of present documentation.
Each individual will be given a single unique Aadhaar ID number.
Aadhaar will provide a universal identity infrastructure which can be used by any identity-based application (like ration card, passport, etc.)
134 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued till date.
Around 1000 government schemes – 650 from state governments and 315 from central government use Aadhaar authentication services to avoid deduplication and removal of ghost beneficiaries.
Aadhaar enrolment of adult citizens is nearing 100 per cent.
About the new rules:
Updating the documents
As per the regulations earlier, residents who were older than 15 years at the time of enrolment were recommended to update their biometric data every 10 years.
The process of updating documents is not mandatory.
Ensuring accuracy
This process will help in ensuring the accuracy of information in the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR).
Demographic information
The amendment of the Aadhaar regulation is limited to updating demographic information and does not involve biometric data such as fingerprints.
Issues with Aadhar:
Aadhaar act allows cancellation of Aadhaar number for any reason by the government and citizens have no recourse.
A Centralized database is a concern because once it is compromised everyone is at risk.
There is no ID or address verification and there is no means of identifying fakes.
There is no data protection law in place in India.
Enrolment software hacks allowed foreign nationals to create Aadhaar numbers thus creating a national security risk.
UIDAI does not have a monitoring mechanism but only an audit mechanism.
Data goes to third parties vulnerability increases due to that.
Usage of Aadhaar
For Governments, Service Agencies
UIDAI issues Aadhaar numbers to the residents only after de-duplicating their demographic and biometric attributes against its entire database.
Aadhaar seeding enables elimination of duplicates under various schemes which leads to substantial savings to the government exchequers.
It also provides the government with accurate data on the beneficiaries and enables implementation of direct benefit transfer (DBT) programmes. Aadhaar authentication enables the implementing agencies to verify the beneficiaries at the time of service/benefits delivery and also ensures the targeted delivery of benefits to them. All these activities will lead to:-
Curbing Leakages through Targeted Delivery: All social welfare programmes where beneficiaries are required to be confirmed before the service delivery, stand to benefit from UIDAI’s authentication services.
This will result in curbing leakages and ensuring that services are delivered to the intended beneficiaries only.
Examples include subsidized food and kerosene delivery to Public Distribution System (PDS) beneficiaries, worksite attendance of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) beneficiaries, etc.
Improving Efficiency and Efficacy: With the Aadhaar platform providing accurate and transparent information about the service delivery mechanism, government can improve disbursement systems and utilize its scarce development funds more effectively and efficiently.
For Residents
Aadhaar system provides single source offline/online identity verification across the country for the residents.
Once residents enroll, they can use their Aadhaar number to authenticate and establish their identity multiple times using electronic means or through offline verification, as the case may be.
It eliminates the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents each time a resident wishes to access services, benefits or subsidies.
Since Aadhaar is universal identity accepted across the whole country, the Aadhaar system enables mobility to millions of people who migrate from one part of the country to another by providing a portable proof of identity that can be verified through Aadhaar authentication on-line anytime, anywhere.
Additional Information:
About Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) & Aadhar
Aadhaar Act & Establishment of UIDAI:
The 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”) by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).
Need of UIDAI:
UIDAI was created to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as “Aadhaar”, to all residents of India. The UID had to be –
Robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and
Verifiable and authenticable in an easy, cost-effective way.
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.
