UIDAI Lets Citizens Check Aadhaar Update History

Indian citizens can now check their Aadhaar update history online, thanks to a new service from the Unique Identification Authority of India, or UIDAI.

Aadhaar is, of course, India’s wide-ranging biometric national ID program, used for all kinds of scenarios, from receiving government subsidies to tracking Amazon deliveries. It’s aimed at offering a reliable and fast means of authentication, and at improving citizen access to government services, including the ability to change information such as mobile number or residential address. Now, thanks to the new update history feature, citizens can go online and look up changes to that kind of information at any time, with a one-time password being used for authentication.

In a statement announcing the new service, UIDAI head Ajay Bhushan Pandey said it “will bring in more trust and further empower people because they can now use their update history to the authorities while applying for jobs, school admissions, various services or benefits, etc., because in most such cases they are usually asked to provide their address for the last two or three years.”

The service may also offer a bit of additional security to the Aadhaar program, which has faced serious questions concerning its handling of user data. With citizens now able to check up on changes to their information at any time, they may be able to detect potential fraudulent activity being performed in their name. It’s a small measure, but with Aadhaar being such an ambitious program, and one that faces such a wide range of security issues, every little bit helps.

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June 8, 2018 – by Alex Perala