In a fresh advisory, the Modi administration has requested Indian residents to refrain from distributing photocopies of their Aadhaar cards. ‘ Do not give a photocopy of your Aadhaar to any organization since it might be abused. Please use a disguised Aadhaar, which displays only the last four digits of your Aadhaar number, instead ‘, according to a government press release. To obtain this version, Indian people should go to the official website of the Unique Identification Authority of India and pick the ‘Do you want a disguised Aadhaar’ option (UIDAI).
According to a notification issued by the Union Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, unlicensed commercial businesses such as hotels and movie theatres are not permitted to acquire or maintain duplicates of Aadhaar cards. ‘ Only organizations that have secured a User License from the Unique Identification Authority of India can use Aadhaar to establish a person’s identification,’ the government noted. Before exchanging Aadhar cards with any organization, Indian individuals should check with UIDAI to see if the organization has a valid user license.
The caution advised users to avoid downloading their Aadhar cards from public computers, saying, ‘If you do so, please ensure that you remove all the downloaded copies of e-Aadhaar permanently from that computer’. To verify any Aadhar card number online, go to myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in/verifyAadhaar, and to check offline, use the QR code scanner in the mAadhaar mobile app to scan the QR code on e-Aadhaar, Aadhaar letter, or Aadhaar PVC card.
Aadhaar is a biometric identity card that is increasingly essential to the digitalization of India’s economy, with over 1.1 billion users and the world’s largest database. Indians have been requested to provide their Aadhaar numbers for a variety of tasks, including accessing bank accounts, paying taxes, obtaining subsidies, gaining a cellphone number, finalizing a property sale, and registering a marriage.
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