The UAE-based Pravasi Bandhu Trust has urged the Centre to make Aadhaar available for all citizens, including Non-Resident Indians (NRIs).
Though only resident Indians were eligible for Aadhaar, many NRIs were applying for it because of its requirement for many services in India, Trust chairman K.V. Shamsudheen said in a statement here on Tuesday.
In a memorandum to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj and Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey, he said NRIs who had taken Aadhaar were a worried lot because they had filed false affidavits that they were resident Indians. The Aadhaar-issuing authority had not refused applications from NRIs, but several processing centres had rejected application forms where the applicants declared that they were NRIs.
Mr. Shamsudheen said NRIs were forced to violate the existing law as they had to obtain an Aadhaar card for LPG connection. Likewise, NRIs who wished to acquire driving licence in India or renew their existing Indian driving licence require Aadhaar card.
NRI students have to produce Aadhaar cards to appear for entrance examinations every year. Many NRIs doing business in India may have to link Aadhaar with PAN card while they file Income Tax return. The Centre also plans to link Aadhaar for all public examinations and make educational certificates in demat form to prevent forgery.
Mr. Shamsudheen said nationalised banks also insisted on producing Aadhaar card as document required for KYC updating.
“Now, the State government is also insisting that Aadhaar is mandatory for digitising property registration,” he added.
