UIDAI To Launch 2 New Pilot Projects, Newborn To Get Temporary Aadhaar Number: Report

Infants and their families will receive benefits. Meanwhile, death registration will ensure that there is no duplication or fake numbers.

Two new pilot projects may provide benefits to infants.

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New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India, UIDAI, plans to launch two new pilot projects aimed at plugging misuse of Aadhaar and providing benefits to newborn babies. According to a report by The Economic Times, Aadhaar registration for infant babies may soon begin. Death registration is also expected to be linked with Aadhaar

Newborn babies will be provided with a temporary Aadhaar number which will help them and their families receive benefits after the child turns five. This will be renewed and biometric data will be added to it. 

“The allocation of a UIDAI number at birth will ensure that children and families benefit from government programmes and no one is left out of the social security net,” an official familiar with the matter told ET.

Generally, the biometrics for a child is taken at age five, the UIDAI will visit families after these infants turn five and provide them with a permanent Aadhaar number with biometric data. This biometric data will be taken again once the child turns 18 as “these parameters stabilise by then and remain the same for an individual’s remaining natural life.”

Meanwhile, death registrations ensure that there is no leak of direct benefit transfers. The UIDAI will approach public and private hospitals to ensure data on the deceased and that there is no duplication, officials told ET.

According to the report, since the Covid pandemic, there have been several Aadhaar numbers of deceased to which benefit transfers are still being sent. People who have passed away are receiving pensions directly to their accounts. 

To weed out duplicates from the Aadhaar ecosystem, UIDAI is also going to cross verify the Aadhaar number with other documents such as driver's licence, permanent account number and more.

“A pilot project on cross-verifying Aadhaar numbers with driving licence is already in progress. The overall idea is to allocate and contain the allocation of Aadhaar numbers to one per person and weed out all the inefficiencies from the system to prevent loss to the exchequer,” the official added.