Nearly 6 Crore Dead People Still Have Aadhaar Numbers: Govt

Moneylife Digital Team 05 April 2023

Nearly 6%, or more than 60mn (million) dead people, still hold their Aadhaar numbers since there is no provision to delete or deactivate these numbers, the Union government told the Lok Sabha. However, these numbers are just estimates since no mechanism is available with the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to identify whether the Aadhaar number-holder is alive or dead.

In a written reply, Rajeev Chandrasekhar, minister of state for electronics and information technology, says, "UIDAI informed that, as on 28 February 2023, more than 136 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued by it and that, after adjusting for the estimated number of deaths, the estimated number of living Aadhaar number holders is 130.2 crore, which is over 94% of the total projected population for 2022."

As per the reply, all states and Union Territories (UTs) were projected to have a population of 1.373bn (billion). However, only 94.83% or 1.302bn Aadhaar numbers assigned are live.

"At present, there is no mechanism to receive the Aadhaar number of deceased persons from the registrars appointed by state governments under the provisions of the registration of births and deaths act for the registration of births and deaths, to deactivate Aadhaar," Mr Chandrasekhar says.

Adoor Prakash, a member of Parliament (MP), has asked whether there is any provision to deactivate the Aadhaar of a deceased person and whether UIDAI has considered deactivation of the Aadhaar of the dead while issuing the death certificate.

Registrars appointed by state governments under the Act register births and deaths in their respective local areas, the minister says, adding, "UIDAI has apprised that the registrar general of India had sought the Authority's suggestions on draft amendments to the Act regarding capturing of the Aadhaar number of a deceased person while issuing the death certificate, for subsequent sharing of the Aadhaar number by the registrar with the Authority for deactivation of Aadhaar."

Replying to another question, Mr Chandrsekhar says the office of the registrar general and census commissioner of India has informed that there is no plan to use Aadhaar data for the census.

According to the data shared by the government, nine states and UTs have assigned more Aadhaar numbers than their projected population till 2022. These states with saturation percentage of more than 100% include Delhi (108.66%), Goa (103.79%), Haryana (101.22%), Himachal Pradesh (104.61%), Kerala (105.06%), Lakshadweep (108.84%), Punjab (102.56%), Telangana (101.78%) and Uttarakhand at 100.85%.

Comments

User

parimalshah1

2 months ago

If government knows that the person is dead, why is it not cancelling that Aadhaar card and the number?

milindnadkarni

1 year ago

It is compulsory to submit Aadhaar card no (with photocopy of card) at the cemetery, the same is entered in the register kept at the cemetery and gets printed on the death certificate.
If the "Aadhaar infrastructure" does not have facility to deactivate a number, that speaks poorly of design of the system. As such a feature will be required not only in case of death but even when a person immigrates / surrenders Indian citizenship.