Hyderabad: Aadhaar used to unite missing kids, says Ajay Bushan Pandey

Hyderabad: “Aadhaar is our identity; like the soul, it is permanent and cannot be destroyed,” said Dr Ajay Bushan Pandey, the CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), during his keynote address at the 21st National Conference on e-governance held at the Hyderabad International Convention Centre on Monday.

“No other contemporary identification scheme has ever been implemented at this scale anywhere in the world. We often hear of identity theft and data theft from credit cards and debit cards. Aadhaar’s multi-modal authentication feature has become a powerful force against identity theft. It is much more difficult to steal all 10 fingerprints of a person. And a biometric-based digital identity it cannot be stolen, lost, tampered with or destroyed,” he said.

Mr Pandey said that 57 crore Aadhaar numbers had been linked to bank accounts and the Aadhaar system had established itself as a godsend for crisis management. Rules under the Prevention of Money Laundering Act have been amended to make it mandatory for bank accounts to be Aadhaar-linked. Income tax rules have been amended to make it mandatory for PAN cards and IT returns to be Aadhaar-linked. He said that these steps would go a long way in curbing the circulation of black money, money laundering, and tax evasion.

“Aadhaar is being used to trace and unite missing children with their loved ones. Bollywood’s favourite script of two long-lost brothers reuniting after 20 years will no longer be relevant. Bollywood directors will have to look for other ideas henceforth,” he said. During a discussion on India Stack – Aadhaar, UPI, BHIM, Digital Lockers, e-Signatures, and e-Pramaan, Mr Pandey said that Aadhaar was a platform, of which the ID was just one part. “ID-generation is a one-time job, but identification is a continuous requirement. Four crore authentications happen every day in the country through the use of Aadhaar,” he said.

Speaking about the Unified Payments Interface (UPI), he said, “UPI is the internet of payments. It is unique to India, like Aadhaar. It is a person’s financial IP.” He said that the UPI, BHIM and other systems had been built like Lego blocks — one on top of the other.

Addressing issues regarding privacy and data protection, Mr Pandey said, “Aadhaar has survived because data protection and privacy were taken into consideration even in the absence of a privacy law.” He said that the system had been designed.