Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which has been tasked to provide 'unique' ID numbers to citizens, has cancelled nearly six lakh Aadhaar for being duplicate as of 31 May 2022, the Lok Sabha was informed.
Responding to a question, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology (MeitY), says, "Aadhaar cancelled for being duplicate and for other reasons as of 31 May 2022 are 5,98,999. UIDAI has taken adequate steps to address duplicate or multiple Aadhaar generation issues, and regular efforts are made to upgrade systems and procedures. The demographic matching mechanism has been further strengthened, biometric matching of all new enrolments is ensured, and 'face' has been included as a new modality, in addition to fingerprint and iris, for de-duplication."
Jagdambika Pal, a member of Parliament (MP) asked a question about action taken on the recommendations of CAG's audit report No24 of 2021 - (Meity) on "performance audit on the functioning of UIDAI", expenditure incurred by the Authority and number of Aadhaar cancelled.
The minister informed the lower house that the recommendations of the CAG's audit report No24 of 2021 - (Meity) on "performance audit on the functioning of UIDAI" have been accepted for implementation. "Action taken report has been uploaded on audit para monitoring system (APMS) https://apms.nic.in/."
However, we could not locate any action taken report on the APMS portal. It may be accessible only for registered users of the portal and may not have been put in the public domain by the ministry.
Responding to another question, Mr Chandrasekhar told the Lok Sabha that, over the past three years, UIDAI incurred an expenditure of Rs981.69 crore for Aadhaar enrolments and updates.
Mr Pal, the MP, also asked whether UIDAI stands by the Supreme Court's 2018 judgement on Aadhaar and provides an unconditional exemption to children. In response, the minister stated, "UIDAI has abided with the directions of the Supreme Court in its judgment dated 26 September 2018, in the matter of justice KS Puttaswamy (retd). The necessary amendments have been made in the Aadhaar Act, 2016, by way of the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Act, 2019."
Sharing steps to provide adequate facilities for Aadhaar enrolment, updating and retrieval, Mr Chandrasekhar says, "UIDAI through its Registrars ensures provision for Aadhaar enrollment or update to residents. As on 30 June 2022, more than 57,000 Aadhaar centres are active across the country. In addition to the above, around 34,500 tablet or mobile-based machines are also functional in the field which is used for updating mobile number or email ID in Aadhaar and to provide facility for Aadhaar enrolment for children below five years."
"UIDAI also permits residents to update their demographic details such as name (minor change), date of birth, gender and address through the online myAadhaar portal. With regard to provisions available for retrieval of Aadhaar, residents can retrieve their lost EID or UID number by filling in the required details on UIDAI myAadhaar portal under the link:
https://myaadhaar.uidai.gov.in/retrieve-eid-uid. Residents can also retrieve their lost EID/UID by visiting the nearest Aadhaar enrolment centre or by calling UIDAI call centre 1947. For retrieving the EID or UID, residents are to provide their demographic details properly," the minister says.
So there is certainly a mix up of email id. My email id has got into the database against Ravi Kumar Ojha.
The first time I got the email alert, I used the option in the message to report it. But then I was told to provide my adhaar details, which I refused. I only gave my name as given in my adhaar.
Apparently nothing has been done to correct the error. Though to my mind it is not a difficult thing to do. So I continue to get email alerts for Ravi Kumar Ojha's adhaar based transactions. I do not not know if he is getting alerts through SMS.