Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Union Minister of State for Skill Development & Entrepreneurship, Electronics & IT and Jal Shakti, said on Saturday that standard advisory has been sent to all Aadhaar Service Kendras giving instructions to provide Aadhaar card to eligible people with disabilities by taking alternate biometrics. Such disabilities include missing fingers, biometrics of fingers cannot be captured due to any reason (such as a cut, bruise, bandage, worn-out or bent fingers due to old age or leprosy), or the biometrics of irises or both fingers and irises cannot be captured due to any reason.
The Ministry of Electronics & IT informed that on 9th December 2023, under the direction of the Union Minister, a team from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) visited a woman in Kottayam District in Kerala and genereated her Aadhaar number. The woman was unable to enroll for Aadhaar for the reason that she did not have fingers.
The mother of the woman thanked the authorities for their support and assistance, and said that with the help of Aadhaar, her daughter will now be able to easily avail of various benefits and services, including Social Security Pension and Kaivalya, a rehabilitation scheme for divyangjan, MEITy stated.
A person who is eligible for Aadhaar but unable to provide fingerprints may enroll using only iris scan. Similarly, an eligible person whose irises cannot be captured due to any reason may enroll using only her/his fingerprint. Further, an eligible person who is unable to provide both finger and iris biometrics may enroll without submitting any of the two.
For such persons, under the Biometric Exception Enrolment Guidelines, the name, gender, address and date/year of birth are to be captured along with the available biometrics while highlighting the missing ones in the enrolment software, a photograph is to be taken in the manner specified in the Guidelines to highlight the unavailability of finger(s) or iris(es) or both and the Supervisor of the Aadhaar enrolment center is to validate such enrolment as an exceptional enrolment.
Thus, every eligible person who undergoes the enrolment process by submitting the required information may be issued an Aadhaar number, irrespective of any inability to provide biometrics.
UIDAI has also issued an advisory to enrolment Registrars and agencies to take all necessary steps, including dissemination of knowledge and awareness and sensitisation through training, to ensure that all Aadhaar enrolment operators are made aware of the exceptional enrolment procedure, follow the same, and render the persons undergoing such enrolment necessary assistance. Further, an informative poster in this regard has been prepared to display Aadhaar enrolment centers, MEITy said.
