‘Aadhaar system by and large foolproof’

The revelation that some Aadhaar cards were returned undelivered is an indication that people who are trying to get duplicate UIDs are failing in their effort, said Korath V Mathew, Akshaya director.


Akshaya is the implementing agency in Kerala for providing Aadhaar cards. He pointed out that the non-delivery of cards vindicates that Aadhaar has been able to plug impersonation.


Aadhaar ensures that one person shall not be able to impersonate and steal others benefit, thus preventing leakage in the system.  Secondly, it will ensure that every individual shall receive his or her benefit as no one can impersonate another person’s identity, thus ensuring the welfare of every genuine citizen.It may also be noted that biometric data collection and de-duplication have been a near perfect process.


However, the demographic data collected is dependent on the proof of identity and the proof of address which is given in a government document and approved by an authorised verifier.


Hence, if the demographic data is wrong then the govt documents in a person’s custody is probably benami.


The UIDAI should not be blamed for wrong demographic data as it has to rely on verifiers, govt identity proofs and enrolment agencies for doing the field job correctly, he said. According to Korath V Mathew, no serious damage is done even if a fake name is given. If somebody gives false demographic data, he or she will be caught at some point of time and will not benefit in any way, because at the time of online verification for obtaining the service, he or she will be rejected.


Therefore, UIDAI has not faulted in any way even if some fake names have been registered. Unlike fake passports, licence, ration card or birth certificates, fake Aadhaar cards will not be of any use to the citizen.


‘’We should credit UIDAI for creating a near foolproof system,’’ he said.