A woman in her early 50s had been struggling to get widow’s pension for some time. The reason: she was unable to provide her Aadhaar number after it was made mandatory for claiming the pension. She had enrolled for Aadhaar in 2012 but could not remember the number. Nor could she enrol again.
Finally, a few weeks ago, after the State government launched Aadhaar Adalats across the State, she was able to retrieve her the number with the help of counsellors.
Thousands of such cases have come before the Aadhaar Adalats which are being held simultaneously in two districts — north Karnataka and south — each week. The adalats are set to be completed by the first week of February. “It has helped thousands of people in rural areas, especially far-flung districts,” said H.L. Prabhakar, project director, Centre for e-Governance.
As Aadhaar is now required for a number of benefits, many people are thronging these forums to resolve their problems. Before these adalats began, corrections were possible only if the individual travelled to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) office in Bengaluru.
According to government sources, several lakhs of Aadhaar number-holders had not furnished their mobile numbers when enrolments commenced in late 2010. “While some did not want to share their numbers, many had since changed them and not updated it with UIDAI. With one-time passwords being sent to the linked mobile phone, updating the number is imperative to get services or register Aadhaar number with banks, Income Tax Department and other places where Aadhaar is mandatory,” an official said.
Another official said many had enrolled for Aadhaar but did not remember the number or receive an acknowledgement. “In such cases, the PIN code of the area where they enrolled the first time also comes in handy in the search.”
Tricky spelling
Among other major issues that the adalats are trying to address is the correction of names — an issue linked to knowledge of the English language. . An official said many people not well-versed in English, especially in the rural areas, are dependent on computer operators to spell their names. The operator may not spell them correctly, and the citizen has to remember the spelling given by the operator. “The spelling becomes important when Aadhaar is being validated for a service. There have been issues of names mismatch in social pensions, scholarships, provident fund, and income tax. A huge number coming to the adalats are those who wish to rectify spelling mistakes,” the official said.
Biometric updation
There have been several cases of Aadhaar numbers, which require biometric updation, being suspended. A majority of the cases that have come to the notice of the authorities are from the construction sector, those whose work involves hard labour using hands or even handling chemicals. In most cases, the biometric needs updation. Aadhaar number is also suspended if an individual does not update his fingerprints once in five years.
