Over 2.5 crore Aadhaar numbers of deceased people deactivated: Govt

As part of a nationwide clean-up effort to maintain the continued accuracy and integrity of the Aadhaar database, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has deactivated more than 2.5 crore Aadhaar numbers of deceased persons till date.

This information was given by Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada in the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

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In case of the death of a person, it is essential that his/her Aadhaar number is deactivated to prevent potential identity fraud or unauthorised usage of such Aadhaar number for availing welfare benefits.

Aadhaar is the world’s largest biometric identity system with about 134 crore live Aadhaar holders.

The minister said several measures have been taken to reduce the risk of identity fraud and ensure leak-proof delivery of benefits in the country. The measures include:

Biometric Lock/Unlock feature enables an Aadhaar number holder to “Lock” his biometrics, preventing any unauthorized authentication attempts.

Aadhaar Lock/Unlock feature for an Aadhaar number holder.

Deployment of Face Authentication having a ‘Liveness Detection feature’ to prevent spoofing and ensure the physical presence of the beneficiary during transactions.

Offline Verification: Promotion of Aadhaar Secure QR Code, Aadhaar paperless offline e-KYC, e-Aadhaar and Aadhaar verifiable credentials for offline identity verification.

No sharing of Core Biometric information of Aadhaar number holders in any manner by UIDAI.

Secure Data Storage: Mandatory use of Aadhaar Data Vaults by all requesting entities to store Aadhaar numbers in an encrypted format.

Database Sanitization: Regular de-duplication and deactivation of Aadhaar numbers belonging to deceased persons.

Updation of demographic details of an Aadhaar number holder is allowed only as per documents listed by UIDAI. and

UIDAI has launched a new Aadhaar app, which facilitatesthe sharing of verified credentials by Aadhaar number holders with the Offline Verification Seeking Entities (OVSE) in a secure and seamless manner.