Aadhaar Biometrics: not Reliable in India’s Climate?

1.      Aadhaar metadata cannot be stored for more than three months.

2.      State cannot enter into any contract with private corporations for sharing of Aadhaar data.

3.      Aadhaar is mandatory for obtaining insurance products.

4.      Aadhaar is mandatory for getting benefits funded out of the Consolidated Fund of India.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

a.       1 & 4 only

b.      2 & 4 Only

c.       3 only

d.      1,2& 3 Only

Ans – b

• The question is based on Supreme court judgement in the Puttaswamy vs. Union of India case 2018

Statement 1 is Wrong: 

• Because Aadhaar metadata cannot be stored for more than six months (not 3 months as given in the option)

Statement 2 is correct: 

• Private corporations verifying Aadhaar data is unconstitutional.

Statement 3 is Wrong:

• Making Aadhaar mandatory for other services apart from welfare schemes is unconstitutional.

Statement 4 is correct:

• The welfare schemes are funded from the consolidated fund of India. Therefore any schemes funded from the consolidated fund must be based on the aadhar linkage.

1.     Aadhar is implemented by UIdAI

2.     Aadhar is not illegal

3.     Aadhar uses demographic biometric data for authentication

4.     JAM trinity is a rationalisation of subsidy system

Options:

a.      1,2,3,4

b.     2,3,4

c.      1,3,4

d.     1,2,4

• Statement 1: Unique Identification Authority of India implements the Aadhar
• Statement 2: Aadhar is not illegal because it is enacted by Aadhar act 2016
• Statement 3: During enrolment for Aadhaar, demographic details of individuals along with their biometric fingerprints and iris scans are collected because they are unique identifiers of individuals.
• Statement 4: JAM trinity stands for – Jandhan Yojana Bank Account – Aadhar – Mobile. This connectivity helps to directly transfers the benefits to the customers to their bank account linked with mobile and aadhar. Thus it rationalise the subsidies.

(250 words)

Introduction:

Meaning of Aadhar

Main body:

1.Prove that Aadhar is not reliable as reported by the Moody’s.

2. Explain the government argument  – 3 or 4 points – in favour of aadhar

Conclusion:

Need for adopting decentralised identification (DiD)system by using block chain technology.

• Aadhaar is a unique identification number given to all Indian residents by the Unique Identification Authority of India

Main Body:

• According to Moody’s report Decentralised Finance and Digital Assets’ Aadhar is not suitable for Indian climatic conditions because of the following factors –

1.     Failure to get OTPs authentication in time.

2.     It fails in the rural areas where there is no internet connectivity.

3.     If the technology is not reliable, people cannot receiving subsidies from the government.

4.     There are quantitative frauds in distributing the public distribution system.

5.     Finger prints of the manual labour are erased in Indian climatic conditions. Hence they cannot receive the bio metric authentication to receive their salaries of MGNREGP.

6.     Many rural and uneducated people don’t even know with which bank their bank account their Aadhar is linked to.

7.     Banking correspondents using the Aadhar Enabled Payment System (AEPS)operate without any accountability framework.

• However government is not agreeing with these claims. Government says –

1.     Aadhar rationalises the Subsidy system

2.     It eliminates fake and ghost beneficiaries of the government schemes

3.     Aadhaar is the most trusted digital ID in the world

4.     Payment to workers under the scheme is made by directly crediting money in their account and does not require the worker to authenticate using their biometrics

Conclusion:

• Instead of centralised data management, there is a need for adopting decentralised ID (DID) systems such as digital wallets, based on blockchain capabilities that give users more control of their private data and can reduce online fraud. It helps to reduced the security concerns.

• Aadhaar is a unique identification number given to all Indian residents by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIdAI).
• It is India’s 12-digit universal identity card.

• It is the world’s largest digital ID program, enables access to public and private services, with verification via fingerprint or iris scans, and alternatives like One-Time Passcodes, with an aim to integrate marginalised groups and expand welfare benefits access.

• Unique Identification Authority of India

• The government favours Aadhaar for several government-to-citizen (G2C) cash transfer programmes.

• 130 Crore Indians.

• As of July 31, 2023, 765.30 million Indians had linked Aadhaar with ration card to avail ration through Public Distribution System.

• Over 280 million residents linked Aadhaar with cooking gas connection for LPG subsidy through PAHAL.

• Over 788 Million Aadhaar have been uniquely linked with the Bank Accounts on NPCI Mapper.

• Almost 100 per cent of farmer-beneficiaries under PM Kisan Yojana are connected via Aadhaar.

• During enrolment for Aadhaar, demographic details of individuals along with their biometric fingerprints and iris scans are collected as they are considered to be unique identifiers of individuals. These details are stored in the Aadhaar database.

1. Ensure that all residents have a unique ID
2. Curbing corruption in accessing welfare programmes by eliminating “ghost” and “fake” individuals.

• An individual is called a ‘ghost’ if they access rations in the name of a dead person
• A person is ‘fake’ if they access rations even though they are not officially entitled to it.

• To ensure that an individual accessing rations is not a ghost or a fake, the government linked the database of ration card holders with the Aadhaar database.
• When an individual tries to access rations at a ration shop, they have to do so using their biometrics or iris scans with the ration dealer.
• These are then sent through the internet to the Aadhaar database for authentication.

• To direct a payment using Aadhaar for MGNREGA, there are at least three steps.

1.     A worker’s Aadhaar number must be linked to her job card.

2.     Her Aadhaar must be linked to her bank account.

3.     The Aadhaar number must be linked correctly through her bank branch with a mapper of the National Payments Corporation of India, which acts as a clearing house of Aadhaar-based payments.

Aadhaar as the financial address of the individual

• Cash transferred by the government gets deposited to the last Aadhaar-linked bank account.
• Individuals can withdraw money from their Aadhaar-linked bank account from private banking kiosks or through private banking correspondents who use their point of sale (PoS) machines to authenticate individuals using their biometrics.

• Quantity is the main type of corruption in ration.
• Ex: If the entitlement for a ration card holder is 35 kg of rice but the dealer only gives 30 kg.
• Aadhaar has no role in either detecting or preventing this fraud.
• In many rural areas, people have to make multiple trips to ration shops, to authenticate with no guarantee that the authentication will work.
• Lack of reliable internet, fading fingerprints among daily wage workers, lack of phone connectivity to get an OTP etc. lead to denials.

• Older women
• People with disabilities
• People living in remote areas

1. Different spellings in the job card and in the Aadhaar database
2. Most workers are unaware which account their Aadhaar was last linked to as financial institutions in rural areas tend to coerce workers to link their Aadhaar with bank accounts without consent. This leads to wages getting diverted to some account without the worker’s knowledge.

For example, Aadhaar payments of people got redirected to Airtel wallets causing much havoc.

• Misdirected payments through Aadhaar are difficult to detect and are nearly impossible to resolve.
• These happen when one person’s Aadhaar number gets linked to somebody else’s bank account.
• The savings claims of the governments are misleading.
• Using Aadhaar in MGNREGA has reduced delays in wage payments.

1. Banking correspondents using the Aadhar Enabled Payment System (AEPS)operate without any accountability framework.
2. Some of them ask individuals to biometrically authenticate multiple times.
3. Each authentication gives access to the banking correspondents to operate the individual’s bank account.
4. Using AePS, money from workers’ accounts have been withdrawn or that they have been signed up for government insurance programmes without their knowledge.

Example: The ₹10 crore scholarship scam in Jharkhand from 2020.

• The system faces hurdles, including the burden of establishing authorisation and concerns about biometric reliability.
• The system often results in service denials, and the reliability of biometric technologies, especially for manual labourers in hot, humid climates, is questionable

1. It is the primary identity document that is linked to a number of the government’s welfare schemes.
2. So, if the technology is not reliable, it might result in people not receiving various subsidies from the government that they are entitled to.
3. A number of the people who depend on government subsidies are also those who need it the most.
4. There are documented cases in Jharkhand of starvation deaths linked to Aadhar biometrics failing and people consequently not being able to receive rations from the PDS

1. The system often results in service denials, and the reliability of biometric technologies, especially for manual laborers in hot, humid climates, is questionable.
2. This is a big issue for the manual labour working under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guaranty Program. They are paid wages through Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT)
3. DBT links the Bank Account with Mobile Phone and Aadhar
4. There are concerns about the privacy and security
5. Aadhaar lead to the concentration of sensitive information with specific entities and increase the risks of data breaches

• The government has strongly refuted these claims.
• It said, Aadhaar is the most trusted digital ID in the world
• The report is unaware that the seeding of Aadhaar in the MGNREGS database has been done without requiring the worker to authenticate using their biometrics, and that even payment to workers under the scheme is made by directly crediting money in their account and does not require the worker to authenticate using their biometrics.

• In a centralized system, a single entity such as a bank, social media platform or government electoral roll controls and manages a user’s identifying credentials and their access to online resources. That entity can dispose of the user’s identity data – name, address and Social Security number, for example – for internal or third-party profiling purposes,” the report averred, stating that such systems offer the least personal data control to users

1. Data-matching errors
2. Errors in authentication
3. Shortfall in archiving in Aadhaar.
4. The data of Aadhaar card holders have not been matched with their Aadhaar number even after 10 years in some cases.
5. There is an absence of a system to analyse the factors leading to authentication errors
6. Even though UIDAI was maintaining one of the largest biometric databases in the world, it did not have a data archiving policy
7. UIDAI provided Authentication services to banks, mobile operators and other agencies free of charge till March 2019, contrary to the provisions of their own Regulations, depriving revenue to the Government.

• Moody’s made a pitch for decentralised ID (DID) systems such as digital wallets, based on blockchain capabilities that give users more control of their private data and can reduce online fraud.
• Catalonia, Azerbaijan and Estonia have used blockchain-based systems to issue digital identities.
• Estonia, known for its fully digitalized public services, has embraced SSI [Self-Sovereign Identity] to grant citizens complete control over their digital identities.

• In the DiD the personal data is saved in a user’s digital wallet and identity verification takes place not via a single, centralised institution but on a decentralised digital ledger such as a blockchain — increases privacy and reduces the amount of personal information held by intermediaries, Moody’s noted.
• The DID, can be stored and managed in a user’s portable and reusable digital wallet, rather than by a government, business, employer, or other entity.

• At a broader level digital IDs can have negative social repercussions, since they may strengthen group identities and political divides, particularly if offered by technology and social media companies with significant monopolistic influence.
• Consolidation of control within these entities could lead to a concentration of power over individual identities, shaping perceptions and interactions in the digital realm. Further polarization of group identities and political affiliations would undermine the goal of a united and diverse digital space.