To speed up the process of linking bank accounts with Aadhaar by December 31, the government is pushing banks to demographically authenticate the already-linked accounts. Read more about it here.
Under its Digital India initiative, the government has introduced a slew of reforms that have mandated the use of Aadhaar from e-verification and claiming subsidies to filing Income Tax returns by linking it with PAN.
In a recent post, we told you how the government has made the linking of bank account with Aadhaar by December 31 mandatory and how the failure to do so will render your account inoperable. There’s still hope for those who might fail to comply with this directive though – they can reactivate their account by submitting their PAN and Aadhaar as well as other relevant documents stipulated by their bank.
While there have been several petitions before the Supreme Court challenging the validity of Aadhaar, the government has been relentless in its efforts to reach the target of 1 billion Aadhaar-linked accounts by December 31.
What happens after Aadhaar-account seeding?
As per government sources, 750 million accounts have been linked to Aadhaar. The next phase involves getting these accounts demographically authenticated. Banks have been able to successfully demographically authenticate 480 million accounts till date. In case you’re wondering what demographic authentication means, it involves matching the account holder’s personal information – name, date of birth, gender and address, etc with Aadhaar number and associated biometric data. We’ll tell you more about demographic authentication later in this post.
Additional reading: How To Link Aadhaar To Your Bank Account
Why the need for demographic authentication?
Demographic authentication of bank accounts will throw up clear and accurate data on those who are lying outside the financial system. This data will form the basis for the rollout of social sector schemes that are aimed at delivering benefits to the poorest fifth of the country. For some time, the government has been working on a programme that will offer comprehensive social security to this segment, and Aadhaar-linked accounts will help the government identify the beneficiaries of this programme.
In fact, in 2014, the government under the “Jandhan to Jansuraksha” initiative, introduced three social security programmes-the Pradhan Mantri Suraksha Bima Yojana (PMSBY), the Pradhan Mantri Jeevan Jyoti Bima Yojana (PMJJBY), and the Atal Pension Yojana (APY) to bring the excluded into the fold of formal financial services. Since the start of the year, the government has made Aadhaar mandatory for at least 108 schemes and services. Of these, barring 21, the rest are all welfare schemes.
Parallely, a campaign has been launched to identify unique accounts, i.e. those that are not part of multiple accounts held by the same person. Until now, 450 such accounts have been identified.
Additional reading: Linking Aadhaar To Driving License And Vehicle Registration
What is demographic authentication?
Earlier in this post, we told you that demographic authentication entails matching an account holder’s personal information with his Aadhaar number and associated biometric data. This data is then submitted to the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) for its verification. The repository then verifies the accuracy, or the lack thereof, on the basis of the information available with it.
Additional reading: How To Keep Your Aadhaar Data Secured?
Govt. makes Aadhaar linking to mobile number mandatory
The all-encompassing importance of Aadhaar can be inferred from the government’s latest move in making mobile-number linking with Aadhaar mandatory. Earlier in March 2017, the government asked all telecom companies to start re-verifying their customers’ details. By asking its customers to link their mobile number with their Aadhaar, the telecom companies will be able to identify fake subscribers and initiate a new round of Aadhaar-based KYC.
The government has set 6 February, 2018 as the deadline for this exercise. In order to link your Aadhaar with your mobile number, you need to furnish your Aadhaar number to your telecom service provider and do the biometric verification. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how you can link your mobile number with Aadhaar.
The 12-digit biometric number is coming to assume an ever-growing significance in our daily life. The government hopes to transition to a digital economy that does away with bureaucratic red tape and confusing paperwork through these measures. At BankBazaar, we too share the paperless vision, and thus take painstaking efforts to simplify the world of financial services for you. We offer you Credit Cards and Personal Loans that have a paperless application process. Why don’t you give it a try?