Indian Partners Brief Afghanistan Officials on Aadhaar ID Program

“Aadhaar is the world’s most ambitious civil biometric identity program. Indian citizens are assigned an Aadhaar number connected to biometric registration including fingerprint, iris, and face biometrics…”

Government officials from Afghanistan are exploring the development of a national ID program similar to India’s biometric Aadhaar system, suggest recent collaborative efforts conducted between the two countries.

Officials with the Afghanistan Central Civil Registration Authority, or ACCRA, visited the office of the Unique Identification Authority of India (or UIDAI), which administers Aadhaar, in the final week of 2019; they also participated in an in-the-field tour in Chandigarh, reports the Express News Service. The visits offered ACCRA officials the opportunity to get hands-on demonstrations of how Indian citizens are registered in the Aadhaar program.

Aadhaar is the world’s most ambitious civil biometric identity program. Indian citizens are assigned an Aadhaar number connected to biometric registration including fingerprint, iris, and face biometrics, and can use their Aadhaar ID to access a growing number of services in both the government and private sectors.

The program has continued to expand despite controversies over privacy and civil rights issues, security concerns, and systemic discrimination, with many organizations enthusiastic about using Aadhaar for the convenient identification of their patrons and customers.

Afghanistan, meanwhile, has shown a growing interest in citizen biometrics, but has encountered some stumbling blocks, including both technical and social issues hindering the use of biometric identification in the country’s recent presidential election.

India is reportedly one of Afghanistan’s most important development partners, making the lending of its expertise from Aadhaar a logical step forward in the latter’s biometric efforts.

Sources: The New Indian Express, Outlook

–

January 3, 2019 – by Alex Perala