Now, e-aadhaar on a par with printed letters

UIDAI validates digital counterpart to tackle problem of letters lost in transit.

To overcome the unending complaints of Aadhaar letters being lost in transit by India Post, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has decided to validate "e-aadhaar" as a secured electronic document "to be treated on a par with the printed Aadhaar letter".

In an office memorandum issued on March 28 by UIDAI's Assistant Director General A Kharkwal, it has been noted that the "Information Technology Act, 2000 provides for legal recognition of electronic records with digital signatures".

"The issue has been considered and it has been decided that e-aadhaar is to be treated as a valid document in view of the fact that it has been digitally certified... The e-aadhaar document is digitally signed using certificate issued by NIC, as per the IT Act, 2000," the memorandum read.

"Further, all the data printed in e-aadhaar letter is the same as that printed in Aadhaar letter. In view of the above, e-aadhaar is a valid and secured electronic document which should be treated on a par with printed Aadhaar letter," the memorandum stated.

The Delhi government, as well as other state governments, had voiced concerns over loss of Aadhaar letters during transit — Newsline had reported that many were being dumped in bulk at certain places. India Post had also acknowledged that it struggled to deal with bulk orders during Phase I of the project, owing to shortage of manpower and equipment.

The UIDAI notification stated that a "resident portal" has been launched to enable the residents to download their "e-aadhaar", an electronically generated letter, from the UIDAI's website.

"In addition, Common Service Centers (CSC) that have been set up in States are also catering to the needs of the residents in providing e-aadhaar. This requirement has been established for facilitating process of communication of Aadhaar numbers, especially when in a number of cases Aadhaar letters could not reach the residents due to one reason or the other," the UIDAI notification said.

Till date, 31,06,02,719 residents have already been issued their Aadhaar numbers after the target to enrol 40 crore residents in 18 states and Union Territories began in April 2012.

Source : The Indian Express, 5 April, 2013