An overview of recent news related to Aadhaar, which points towards the increase in government schemes being linked to the scheme, and issues faced by citizens:
Mobile numbers not linked to Aadhaar won’t be disconnected, says DoT
Aruna Sundararajan, secretary in the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has said that mobile numbers that aren’t connected to Aadhaar will not be disconnected till the Supreme Court has passed its final judgement in the Aadhaar cases pending before it, reports PTI. DoT will also wait for the SC judgement before deciding what action to take in regards to people who already have an Aadhaar but do not want to link it to their respective mobile numbers, according to Sundarajan.
DoT to make the process of Aadhaar-mobile number linking easier
The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has held discussions with telecom operators to identify methods of making the process of linking Aadhaar to mobile numbers easier. Some of the suggestions include setting up a designated number to which consumers can send their Aadhaar details and mobile number for verification. Telcos will validate the data with UIDAI and complete the verification. In case of senior citizens or those with disabilities, who can’t physically complete the verification process, telcos have suggested a fee of Rs 200 for home visits. Note that UIDAI has set up a one-time passcode (OTP) process for Aadhaar-mobile number linking which is expected to go live from December 1. More on the story here.
So far 13.28Cr PANs have been linked with Aadhaar
Over 13.28 crore or about 39.5% of Permanent Account Numbers (PANs) have been linked with Aadhaar, thus far. Overall, there are about 33 crore PANs have been issued, while over 115 crore people have enrolled for Aadhaar. The linking of Aadhaar with PAN became mandatory from July 1 this year. More on this here.
Pune citizens forced to re-enroll for Aadhaar because of faulty kits
A number of citizens in Pune were forced to re-enroll for Aadhaar because faulty kits failed to record the required biometric data during the first attempt, reports TOI. 60 Aadhaar kits were founded to faulty, which has slowed down the enrollment process in the city. The deadline for linking Aadhaar with bank accounts is nearing (December 31), though there is a chance that the Supreme Court might issue an interim stay on it when it hears the Aadhaar related cases later this month.
Fake Aadhaar racket head arrested in Uttar Pradesh
Uttar Pradesh Special Task Force (STF) has arrested the head of a fake Aadhaar card racket. The man, Durgesh Kumar Mishra, was a former assistant manager at an UIDAI-authorised private firm entrusted with Aadhaar enrollment. The gang used fingerprints and iris scan of its members and then created fake fingerprints to bypass the UIDAI system. More on the story here.
Aadhaar-verified customers can book up to 12 tickets on IRCTC
Indian Railways has increased the maximum limit of tickets that customers can book on the IRCTC portal, provided they’re Aadhaar-verified. The limit has been increased from 6 tickets a month to 12 tickets a month, for Aadhaar-verified customers. Those who haven’t linked their Aadhaar to their IRCTC accounts can continue booking up to 6 tickets in a month. Read more about this here.
One Aadhaar for 100 farmers
This came to the notice of the Maharashtra government while processing the farmer loan waiver scheme in the state, reports The Hindu. The government had been using Aadhaar to check fake beneficiaries, but in the process found that a single Aadhaar number had been issued to over 100 farmers, who had applied for the loan waiver.
