Don't have Aadhaar? You can still verify your mobile number. Here's how

500 mn mobile numbers registered in Aadhaar database, OTP can be used for verification in all these cases

 

 

economy news: The government will soon put in place a mechanism for authentication of cellphone subscribers who do not have Aadhaar numbers.

It may also explore another method for people unwilling to share their Aadhaar numbers with telecom companies. Such a method will conform with the Supreme Court’s mandate on re-verification of mobile subscribers.

People who did not have Aadhaar numbers might be provided the option of furnishing their passport, driving licence or ration card as proof of address and identity, sources said.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) has announced a series of measures for simplifying the re-verification process using Aadhaar numbers by offering the facility at the subscriber’s doorstep and using one-time passwords (OTPs).

Telecom companies have been directed to offer the doorstep facility for the convenience of the old or those with disability and illness. They have also been asked to initiate OTP-based verification using SMS or IVRS on mobile apps.

“It is the government’s endeavour to improve convenience and reduce time and energy spent by consumers in accessing government information,” Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said....READ MORE

Loan waiver: 100 farmers linked to single Aadhaar number in Maharashtra

Loan waiver confusion: 100 farmers linked to single Aadhaar number

The Maharashtra government's attempt of online registration for loan waiver implementation has sent the authorities into a tizzy as names of over 100 farmers have been found linked to a single Aadhaar number.

The state government had earlier stressed on online registration by farmers with their Aadhaar, which is a unique identification.

The government has said that the Aadhaar-based linking will avoid any duplication as well as fake accounts getting the benefit of the loan waiver.(economy news)

A senior official from the Maharashtra cooperation department showed a list of potential beneficiaries of farmers having a common Aadhaar number, which has become a cause of concern for the government.

"We always thought that the Aadhaar number will be our key to check fake beneficiaries. Now, we don't know how to address this challenge with so many farmers showing the same Aadhaar number. If we have to carry out a manual check, which will take weeks. The farming community is already agitated over the delay in implementation of the scheme," the official said....Read more

 

Link your Aadhaar with PAN through ID proof scan, one-time password

As per statistics with the tax department, only 6 crore people file income tax returns at present

 

Individuals struggling to link their permanent account number (PAN) with Aadhaar because of differently spelt names can now simply upload a scanned copy of PAN to get the work done.

Besides, the tax department is planning to introduce an option on the e-filing portal through which taxpayers can choose to link the Aadhaar without changing the name by opting for a one-time password (OTP), provided that the year of birth of the person matches in both the documents. With the linking of PAN with Aadhaar being made mandatory, people can log on to e-filing website of the income tax department or NSDL but the seeding cannot happen if the name is differently spelt in the two cards — like the use of the full name in PAN and initials in Aadhaar.

In such cases, the government has allowed a simple uploading of a scanned copy of PAN on the Aadhaar website. The tax department will start educating taxpayers from this week through media outreach on ways to link the PAN with Aadhaar, an official said.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley had through amendment to the tax proposals in the Finance Bill of the Budget for 2017-18, had made Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and provided for linking of PAN with Aadhaar to curb tax evasion through use of multiple PAN cards.

The e-filing portal has already activated a functionality of linking PAN with Aadhaar. Around 1.08 crore assessees have already Aadhaar-linked PAN but the number is abysmally low as there are over 25 crore PAN card holders in the country, while Aadhaar has been issued to 111 crore people.| (read more)

Aadhaar can be hacked, data leaked, Modi government finally admits

A letter written by the government confirms the data has been leaked online

 

How safe are your biometric data? With Aadhaar, you have given your fingerprints and iris scans to the government. This clearly gives an individual a 'unique' identity. But what if the details of your Aadhaar get leaked? In the recent past, there have been several cases of UID data being compromised with. While the government has constantly denied any possibility of a compromise, The New Indian Express published on Friday a report on how the NDA government has acknowledged that personal identity of individuals, including Aadhaar number and other sensitive information, has been leaked to the public domain.

A letter written by the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, which the Express claims to have accessed, confirms that data, which the government has been cautiously guarding, has been leaked online. “There have been instances wherein personal identity or information of residents, including Aadhaar number and demographic information and other sensitive personal data such as bank account details etc. collected by various Ministries/Departments... has been reportedly published online and is accessible through an easy online search,” Archana Dureja, a scientist in the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, wrote on March 25.

 Jaitley maintained that the only way to prevent hacking is to strengthen the firewalls. “Technology always is a learning experience,” he added.

 

On March 5 the Ministry of Electronics and IT issued a statement assuring that personal data of individuals held by UIDAI is fully safe and secure.

 

With over a billion Indians possessing an Aadhaar card in 2017, data theft issue can turn into a mammoth crisis for Modi government that has been aggressively pushing for its adoption across services and platforms and for the citizens who have linked their bank accounts and other sensitive information with it......(READ MORE)