From Biometric Authentication to Virtual IDs: UIDAI's Continuous Efforts to Enhance Aadhaar Ecosystem

NEW DELHI- Aadhaar has become ubiquitous across India for its utility and growing adoption among residents, and an average 200 crore+ Aadhaar-based authentications are happening every month. One thousand six hundred seventy Central and State social welfare (DBT) and good governance schemes have been notified for use of Aadhaar.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is constantly adding credibility to the Aadhaar ecosystem through up-gradation of technology, adding new security features and by strengthening the Aadhaar ecosystem.

As part of Aadhaar 2.O, a roadmap has been drawn covering areas like continued focus on Resident centricity; enhancing the use of Aadhaar; further strengthening the people’s trust on Aadhaar; adoption of new technologies and up-gradation of existing technologies; and increasing the international outreach. A number of initiatives for strengthening the Aadhaar System have been taken in the recent past.

Biometrics based de-duplication:

a) Biometric Service Providers (BSPs) presently operational use Facial image as additional biometric attribute for de-duplication along with 10 finger prints and two IRIS.

b) The present BSPs have capabilities to detect mixed biometrics of different persons.

c) Identify use of unusual Biometrics from multiple individuals for a single enrolment.

d) Capability  to detect attempted enrolment by using wrong fingers, non human fingers, gummy fingers, inverted IRIS images, closing of eyes, etc.

e) A robust liveliness check of fingerprints in authentication transactions is in operation. The new two factor/layer authentication is adding add-on checks to validate the genuineness (liveness) of the fingerprint so as to eliminate chances of any spoofing attempts.

f) Similarly, face authentication, with liveliness check is being widely used, and it has also led to a higher authentication success rate.

Strengthening Aadhaar Enrolment/Update eco system:

a) To discourage mischievous operators from misusing the system, GPS fencing has been embedded in the Enrolment machines. An operator is required to verify the credentials of the Enrolment machine regularly with the UIDAI data centre and only  a limited number of enrolments are allowed per day per machine.

b) With Aadhaar saturation reaching near universal, Adult enrolments is now happening at restricted number of centers. Trusted and verified  operators of enrolment Agencies only are allowed  to carry out new enrolments.

c) The State governments have been roped in for quality check of all new adult enrolments.

d) An updated and user friendly list of supporting documents required for Aadhaar enrolment and update has been notified.

e) UIDAI regularly carries out inspection to find out deviant behavior among operators. UIDAI does benching and retraining of operators on a regular basis.

f) About 1.2 per cent of total operators have been suspended in last one year, due to attempted fraudulent activities. Necessary penal action is taken in such cases.

g) The terms of engagement with Registrars, have been revised to further delineate the roles and responsibilities of Registrars, Enrolment Agencies and Operators to ensure better compliance.

h) Hundred per cent quality check of documents, submitted for Aadhaar enrolment/update has been implemented, to further enhance the verification of the residents, before the Aadhaar number is issued.

UIDAI accords the highest priority to maintaining the integrity and security of its ecosystem and will like to caution residents not to get misled by any unverified information. They can reach out to UIDAI through its official channels such as its toll free number 1947, email: [email protected] or its social media handles.