Fresh advisory soon on Aadhaar as date of birth proof

To avoid inconvenience to the public and government schemes’ beneficiaries and quell a sense of anxiety about a recent directive to cease the usage of Aadhaar as a ‘date of birth’ proof, the Unique Identification Authority of India is likely to issue a clarification soon that those relying on the ID proof for age may do so after undertaking a ‘risk-based assessment’. High Court judgments The UIDAI, in a December 2023 missive, asked all agencies that use Aadhaar to authenticate identities to delete it from the list of acceptable documents for verifying a person’s date of birth. Somanathan said: “I am certain that Central ministries will work out an appropriate arrangement to see that the public and beneficiaries of various schemes are not adversely affected.” A senior Electronics and IT Ministry official indicated to The Hindu that the UIDAI would not withdraw the directive but would soon issue an advisory for agencies that rely on Aadhaar authentication for welfare benefits and KYC compliance purposes. Following the UIDAI communiqué, some entities like the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation have already scrapped Aadhaar’s use as birthdate proof, while other departments and user agencies are still evaluating the impact.