As Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Friday inaugurated the first of it’s kind Aadhaar Seva Kendra in Srinagar. The officials said the centre is aimed to provide convenience to the residents to enroll and update the Aadhar Card information.

Rising Kashmir’s Special Correspondent Jahangir Sofi in a brief interview with Deputy Director General (DDG), UIDAI, and Regional Office Chandigarh Ms. Bhawna Gargspeaks on various issues including the data security issues of Aadhar and it’senrolment.

Excerpts

 Can you please tell us about this Aadhar card centre and how is it going to help people?

Getting an Aadhar card is a right for everyone, and this centre is aimed to help the people to avail the one for which people can either come directly or book their time slot online on UIDAI’s website. Help Desks are in place in this centre where people can seek information related to Aadhar which includes the change of address or mobile number and the services can be availed 7 days a week.

People in general have been apprehensive about the misuse of Aadhar data and has added to public anxiety and confusion, what is Govt’s position on it?

A clarification in that regard has already been issued, however I want to tell people that Aadhar is fully secured as it has a very strong safety network as Aadhar is not generated on manual system and has set of SoPs to go through and every document enclosed is scrutinized first.

With the opening of this centre, will it pave the way for closure of private and other third-party vendors for Aadhar updates?

As of now we have decided that all the Aadhar operations will happen only at government premises, however at the initial stage when it was needed to reach the maximum population that time private parties were involved. However, since 31 Dec 2018 the work of the private parties in J&K has already stopped. So, any Aadhar related service is only available in government owned premises be it education department, women and child welfare department.

What is the percentage of population covered for enrollment of Aadhar in J&K?

Among the adults we have 100 percent coverage for Aadhar enrollment, however in the age group of 0-5 years we have coverage of around 30 percent and was majorly impacted due to the recent covid-19 situation. Our women and child welfare development department’s associated Anganwadi workers play a key role in Aadhar enrollment.    

What is the next step as far as services related to Aadhar are concerned?

It is a country wide initiative, we have already opened one centre in Jammu last year and today it is in Kashmir now, now we are aiming to move towards the district level in the valley to come up with a model centre where people can seek the Aadhar related services.