Aadhaar Verification To Go Digital, No Need Of Photocopies

After making FASTag digital-compliant, efforts are on to take the Aadhaar card verification too into a similar mode.

Also, to curb the use of paper-based Aadhaar verification that violates the existing Aadhaar Act, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) plans to introduce a new app to align the authentication with India’s data protection law.

The new rule would help hotels, event managers and others relying on Aadhaar identification from collecting and storing physical photocopies of Aadhaar cards. The new rule related to the shift in the Aadhaar verification would be notified soon. The change has been planned in the wake of the privacy risk posed by misuse of the physical photocopies.

UIDAI CEO Bhuvnesh Kumar told a news agency that the authority has approved a framework, wherein all the entities seeking offline Aadhaar verification will have to register formally and shift to QR code and app-based authentication.

Under the new rule, hotels, event organisers, airports, retail outlets selling age-restricted products and similar establishments must register with UIDAI to access a secure Application Programming Interface (API) that facilitates Aadhaar verification, without the need to collect the cards physically.

UIDAI is beta-testing a new app that allow app-to-app verification without a live connection to the central Aadhaar database for every transaction. The app will also allow users to update address proof and add family members not owning a mobile phone.

The app is being designed to align with Aadhaar authentication with the upcoming full implementation of the Digital Personal Data Protection Act, likely to be operation in next 18 months.