The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has deactivated more than 2.5 crore Aadhaar numbers belonging to deceased individuals as part of a nationwide database clean-up exercise aimed at preventing identity misuse and fraud, the government informed Parliament.The move is part of efforts to maintain the accuracy and integrity of the Aadhaar ecosystem, which remains the world’s largest biometric identity system with about 134 crore live Aadhaar holders.Minister of State for Electronics and IT Jitin Prasada said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha that the exercise is aimed at strengthening safeguards around identity-linked welfare delivery, according to PTI.“As part of a nationwide clean-up effort to maintain the continued accuracy and integrity of the Aadhaar database, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has deactivated more than 2.5 crore Aadhaar numbers of deceased persons till date.“In case of the death of a person, it is essential that his or her Aadhaar number is deactivated to prevent potential identity fraud, or unauthorised usage of such Aadhaar number for availing welfare benefit,” Prasada said.The minister said several technology-driven measures have been implemented to strengthen identity verification and ensure leak-proof benefit delivery.These include the biometric lock and unlock facility, which allows Aadhaar holders to secure their biometric information and prevent unauthorised authentication attempts.Prasada said that “Face Authentication” has also been deployed with a ‘Liveness Detection feature’ to prevent spoofing and ensure the physical presence of beneficiaries during authentication-based transactions.The government is also promoting the use of Aadhaar Secure QR Code, Aadhaar paperless offline e-KYC, e-Aadhaar and Aadhaar verifiable credentials to enable secure offline identity verification.These measures are part of broader efforts to strengthen trust in digital identity, prevent misuse, and ensure targeted delivery of welfare schemes across the country, the minister added.
