New Delhi: Activist Gopal Krishna received emails telling him that his electronic identification for Aadhar has been done, though he did ever apply for one. Authority of India (UIDAI) involves taking finger and iris prints and submitting several documents, for providing a 12 digit unique identification number for every single individual.
As per a report by Indian Express, Krishna is a signatory to a bunch of petitions challenging the government’s stand making the Aadhaar mandatory. The government has been pushing for the card to be linked to various government schemes and for income tax returns lately. Krishna pointed out the mistake to the UIDAI over Twitter after receiving the first authentication email addressed to one P, Krishna. Since then he has received two similar emails about his Aadhaar authentication.
“How can my Aadhaar authentication happen when I have not given my biometrics and iris, and indeed never even applied for one?” Krishna, a member of the Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties.
UIDAI officials ruled out any glitch in the system and said that there is a possibility of mixing up of emails in privately running parties.
“Authentication emails are sent to email ids given by applicants at the time of enrollment,” one official said on condition of anonymity because he is not authorised to speak to the media.
While a clerical mistake was a possibility, Krishna said it underlined weak backend support for managing the biometrics and details of a billion people.
In March, Mahendra Singh Dhoni’s personal details were leaked by a sanctioned Aadhaar enrolment agency, showing flaws in the storage system for the personal details. Experts say this violates privacy, and govt can spy on the citizens. The Supreme Court is hearing several petitions against making Aadhaar mandatory to avail public services.