MUMBAI, August 20, 2013
STAFF REPORTER
While the Aadhaar card has not yet been made mandatory for citizens of India, government agencies in future can make it compulsory for availing benefits from their pro-people schemes.
“If a certain authority feels that the beneficiaries of a particular scheme need to possess Aadhar cards, they can make it mandatory for them for that particular scheme,” said Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India, on Monday here.
Mr. Nilekani said that the authority cannot make it mandatory for the citizens of India, but hinted that it is up to various agencies which implement the schemes or provide subsidies. According to him, the agencies could range from state governments to various central ministries.
Mr. Nilekani was speaking after conducting a day-long e-Know You Customer (e-KYC) workshop by UIDAI for on-boarding service providers here.
According to Mr. Nilekani, the decision will be solely taken by that particular department or state government. “In a scheme like subsidy on LPG connections, if the concerned ministry finds it necessary, it can take thedecision of making Aadhaara mandatory document,” he said. However, he made it clear that there is no such proposal in his knowledge at present. The UIDAI till now has issued Aadhaar cards to more than 40 crore residents of India.
Aadhaar has already been notified as an officially valid document. In addition, the UIDAI has designed the e-KYC service, whereby the same can be furnished electronically.
Through the process of Aadhaar authentication, the resident can authorise UIDAI to release their KYC data to a service provider, either in person or online. Only upon successful authentication of the resident, the UIDAI will provide the name of the resident, address, date of birth, gender and photograph to the service provider.