Aadhaar: Twists and turns in the biometric tale

Aadhaar, India's extraordinary attempt to give every citizen a biometric identity, is set for a massive revamp with new offline verification tools and non-intrusive ways for people seeking to voluntarily use the 12-digit unique number for new bank accounts and mobile connections.

After twists and turns in 2018, led by the landmark Supreme Court ruling on the constitutional validity of Aadhaar, the UIDAI's efforts around offline modes like eAadhaar and QR code that can leverage the unique ID without any access to biometrics or even revealing the 12-digit number would gather pace in 2019.

From school admissions to getting marriage certificates to paying taxes to taking new mobile connections, Aadhaar touched multiple facets of people's lives as it became the default identifier. This was true for around 1.22 billion Aadhaar holders till doubts emerged that collection of biometric details, even for general service, could infringe on a citizen's privacy rights.

Then, the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of the world's largest biometric identification database but spelt out its new limitations.

After last year's assertion that Indians have a right to privacy, the apex court in September 2018 redefined the boundaries of the biometric authentication -- Aadhaar can be used for payment of government benefits and taxation records but private companies were barred from accessing it.

In a 4-1 judgement delivered by the Constitution Bench, the Supreme Court held that Aadhaar would remain compulsory for the filing of Income Tax (IT) returns and allotment of Permanent Account Number (PAN)
Earlier this year, former UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey, recalling his early years as a small-town boy who didn't hold a photo identity for a long time, had reportedly said that Aadhaar offered an answer to an ancient question that was asked by sages -- who am I?