The government has said that till now it has closed more than 2.5 crore Aadhaar cards which belonged to people who have died. Since the life limit of people is fixed, the government does the work of deactivating such documents after their death. The government keeps track of all the documents that are necessary for identification. This process is accomplished through updation. The government receives information about a person’s death mainly through the death registration system (civil registration system). When a person dies and the family makes a death certificate, that data is recorded in the government database.
Identity cards can be deactivated in these ways
Aadhar card: UIDAI has launched a facility named ‘Report Death of a Family Member’ on the ‘MyAadhaar’ portal. Family members can deactivate it by providing death certificate and Aadhaar number. Till now the government has deactivated the Aadhaar of about 2.5 crore dead persons.
Voter ID: The Election Commission is now using death registration data directly. Apart from this, family members can get the name removed by filling Form No. 7 at the electoral office and submitting the death certificate.
PAN card: The family members have to surrender it manually to the Income Tax Department, especially when the tax related work of the deceased is completed.
Passport: The passport is considered invalid until its validity expires, but an application for surrendering it can be made to the nearest passport office along with the death certificate.
Why was this done?
Its direct objective is that no other person can misuse the name or Aadhaar of a deceased person and fraud can be prevented. The government wants that the Aadhaar data remains absolutely correct and secure.
More than 2.5 crore Aadhaar switched off till now
IT Minister Jitin Prasad said that about 134 crore people in India have Aadhaar card. He said that the government is running a cleanliness drive across the country to keep Aadhaar records accurate. Under this, till now the Aadhaar numbers of more than 2.5 crore people who have died have been switched off.
Steps taken to stop abuse
The Minister made it clear that it is mandatory to close the Aadhaar card of a person after his death so that crimes like identity theft can be prevented and no person can misuse the Aadhaar of the deceased person to avail undue benefits of the government schemes.
Modern technology for security
The government has started many new facilities to prevent fraud and ensure that the benefits of government schemes reach the right person. Now Aadhaar card holders can ‘lock’ their fingerprint and iris (biometrics), so that no one will be able to use their Aadhaar without their consent. Also, now face authentication technology has been added, which ensures that the person is present at the time of the transaction. Apart from this, easy methods like secure QR code and e-Aadhaar are being promoted to verify identity even without internet.
