BENGALURU: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) recently commenced a system where the birth certificate of a newborn is directly accessed from a state government portal to issue Aadhaar cards to those below five years old. With this, Karnataka becomes only the second state after Haryana to kickstart the Aadhaar Linked Birth Registration (ALBR) process.
UIDAI Deputy Director Ashok Lenin said this does away with the system of parents submitting physical certificates from hospitals when applying for an Aadhaar card for a newborn. “We have integrated our system with the e-JanMa portal run by the state government which makes it possible. When the portal is accessed, it auto-populates the required data,” he explained.
E-JanMa is run by the Karnataka government’s Chief Registrar of Births and Deaths office. “With biometrics not possible with infants, the birth registration number is used and other details are taken from the Aadhaar card of one of the parents. The child can add the biometrics (fingerprints and iris) when he or she turns five, and for another update of biometrics after turning 15. Both services are free,” he said.
The new system will help parents as many are keen to get Aadhaar cards for their children as soon as they are born to ensure they benefit from various government schemes, particularly Bhagyalakshmi -- which extends financial aid to girl children.
UIDAI data reveals that Karnataka has only 35.5 per cent of children in the 0-5 age group who have been given Aadhaar cards. While 100 per cent of those in the 18-plus age group have Aadhaar cards, 99.4 per cent in the 5-18 years category have them. In all, 6,56,64,615 people have been issued Aadhaar cards in the State (stats up to November 30, 2021).Lenin said that for disabled citizens and those not able to make it to Aadhaar centres, services are made available at their doorsteps.