Do You Expect Prime Minister Narendra Modi Resolve the Address Proof Crisis of Indian Citizens?

Have you ever experienced the address proof crisis of modern India? If you have not understood what I meant, either you are the real permanent resident of India or you are one of the invisible kinds for whom such proofs do not have any relevance!

Let me make things clear, if you have not understood what I meant. This blog is of some importance in your life if you have to shift your residences in India on a few occasions on account of any one of the following reasons:

1. You have to change your residence because your employer keep transferring you from place to place and you do not belong to the special privileged category of the ruling class of India such as the Ministers, MP, MLA, Judge, IAS, IPS, IRS, IFS, Political Leader, Prominent Media Personality, Celebrity of India or any one enjoying the government security cover and the like.

2. You are a businessman who needs to change your place of residence for various reasons but neither one holding much influence on the ruling class nor having your own agents to resolve petty headaches that require interactions with any one of the ruling classes.

3. You are a self employed person who needs to change residence occasionally.

4. You are a student staying in hostels and keep changing your residence in connection with your studies

5. You are an young professional who keep changing your job seeking better options.

6. You  have been a non-resident Indian but have come back to India to live here.

7. You do not have your own home and live with some well wisher for some time 

8. You have to live in rented home or room and have to keep shifting for various reasons.

9. You are a Public Sector company executive who needs to change the place of residence for various reasons.

10. You are unemployed and is in the look out for a job and keep changing your place of residence in your job hunting pursuit.

11. You live in the rural area in a temporary hut or in an urban slum.

12. You are land less and homeless.

13. You had a job, but now jobless and no need to stay in the place where you lived in connection with your job.

14. You have retired from active service and now wants to settle down in a new place in a new residence, either rented or purchased or leased or to share the accommodation with some one related to you.

Now for availing the basic minimum services in this country, you need an address proof. But from where you get the address proof? Who is the authority who attests your place of residence? The stupid government authorities who keep drafting the rules and procedures do not foresee this.

The government of India do not have a law which stipulates the procedure to make an address proof by a citizen. Only recently they have come up with the idea of making an identity proof based on bio-metrics called the Aadhaar. But this in itself has no statutory relevance. Our law makers do not see any benefit for them to spent time to draft and pass such laws. Instead, they leave it to the officers to make rules and procedures the way they understand the things only to be challenged by the courts of law.

Now how to get the damn address proof in India? (Click this link to read the anguish expressed by an Indian citizen and the responses in the social media)

The manner in which the stupid Indian civil servants have worked out the rules clearly shows the lack of intelligence in the Indian bureaucracy. The so called Indian civil servants who join the service by passing the most difficult selection tests for the Indian Administrative Service (IAS) cadre seem not so intelligent as we the common folks used to think. Otherwise how could these stupid rules in India? Else, these IAS bosses never bother to read the rules that keep getting issued in India that determine the day to day Indian governance system. Perhaps, these are the brain work of lesser order officers of the government and there is no one who bothers about the bad impact these have on the overall well being of the country as a whole!

When the new Prime Minister of India, Shri Narendra Modi ji, keeps talking about good governance, we wonder why such small things are ignored. It is the prime duty of the government to make rules that are practical and workable. It is the right of the citizens to get an address proof document without any hassles. If the government cannot think of a good system, they should simply get rid of the rules that insist such documents for availing simple services such as making a bank account, purchasing a vehicle, getting a mobile or telephone connection, getting a gas connection, etc.

The government should review whether its rules in this context reflect governmental stupidity or not. Why do the government needs to have these so called bureaucrats when they fail to evolve proper rules that helps to achieve good governance?

When privatization is an acceptable principle of the government, why do the governmental systems still try to cling to the pre-independence bureaucratic practices even today? For example, why don't the governmental rule makers do not allow a recent private bank statement from even the most reputed banks such as the ICICI, IDBI, Axis etc as a valid document for address proof? Mere stupidity or irresponsibility? Remember, they had been clinging to the age old practice of attestation of documents by gazetted officers so long. Only very recently, the Modi government could issue a circular that allows the citizens to self attest their own documents!

If good governance to really happen in this country with deep rooted systemic rot, the top boss needs to be an assertive task master. Not only he does that, he should have some real systems to know the real pulse of the people. Often, people fail to respond with their real problems when responses from them are solicited in a formal manner!

Coming to the address crisis of India: Whom do the governmental bureaucrats think as the best person to certify where he or she lives? Is it the person concerned or some babu sitting somewhere? For that matter, how many babus personally know the people other than their households and their offices? 

Some years before, the best address proof document accepted everywhere as the most fundamental has been a self addressed post card posted and delivered by the most people friendly national level government office- the Post Office. Why is it not so now? Why do some of the babus try to belittle one of their own departments? The government which cares for good governance should feel ashamed of this! What is the harm in accepting such a post card as the primary address proof for opening a bank account? When banks can handle and recognize a person for the most important function involving money transactions, why banks should not be entrusted with the task of certifying a person with regard to his or her identity and address?

The first and foremost requirement for good governance is the coordination and inter departmental trust the various governmental functionaries have to develop. If they function with malice towards each other, no one can ensure good governance. Government officers and staff can and will perform well towards good governance when they honestly feel that their political bosses are reasonably good people who could be trusted! But when this trust is broken, they could also work in such a way that peoples' anger is directed towards the political bosses!

When the government employees work in that fashion without any logic or justification, it would be better to remove such a person from government service. He or she is just not fit for the good of the nation! In the long run, it is not the politicians that ultimately brings good governance! It is the millions strong government staff that is government for the people. If the peoples' representatives cannot make the government machinery to work for the people, no good governance can come in to effect!

So, what is your opinion? Will our PM succeed in achieving good governance? 

Rules and Regulations: It Could Trap Even those who Made it (thoughtlessly)!

Yesterday, I got a message on my mobile phone which was sent from an automatic short message service (SMS) facility of my bank. It reads as follows:

"Dear customer, RBI's KYC norms require Banks to update customer data periodically. To update records we request you to visit your nearest ICICI bank branch with latest photograph, original and self attested copies of identity and address proof" 

When I got it, the immediate  response which came into my mind was some thing that is unprintable. I cursed the government, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), my bank and all those fellows who think that they are above the people who could keep on troubling the people every now and then for all kinds of things that they think as right.

But today I felt a bit relieved after reading a news item which appeared in the Economic Times. Given below is the clipping:

The news gives the story of the ex-Reserve Bank of India governor, Mr.D Subharao facing problems in opening a bank account in his home town-Hyderabad- after he moved to that place after his retirement. Mr Subharao faced problems in producing a suitable address proof of his current residence to the bank which is mandatory as per the KYC rules of the RBI. 

The news further adds that it was Mr Subharao who was instrumental in making this mandatory rule for the banks to follow when he was the RBI governor. 

Perhaps he never imagined that such rules could make irritations for him when he is no more in power! 

Perhaps he never imagined the difficulties the common people of India would face with such rules which are made with no future thoughts! 

Any way the present RBI governor, Mr.Raghuram Rajan has opined that it is a shame that many in India are failing to get bank accounts due to the bureaucratic bottlenecks! I am not sure how is he going to make the same constricted bottlenecks expanded! 

Why do we need banks? Why do we need an RBI which keep making such idiotic rules every now and then does like this? 

Why do we need a government and the people's representatives who are so insensible to the problems of the people and do not have the sensitivity and the powers to intervene when some of the incompetent government employees make rules and regulations without any forethought? 

These are the common feelings of the people of India when they face such things. Indian authorities keep making such rules and regulations in the pretext of administrative controls without making any efforts to study the consequences and without making any infrastructural facilities for effective implementation of their rules!

It would not have caused much irritation to me had our banks operated the way they used in the past. In the past, I used to bank with a bank branch and the officers and the staff used to know me as a customer by face as I used to be a visitor to the bank for all my banking needs. I got my bank account because some other valued customer who knew me introduced me to the bank and the bank (means the officers of the bank) later got accustomed to me and my financial and other status on account of my dealings with the bank as a customer. They knew how to value a valued customer!

With the advent of computers and computerized banking services, knowing the customer by face became a non essential thing for the bankers. Passwords and alpha numeric identity (ID) words became the keys for banking transactions. Ordinary individual customers became relieved to a great extent as it was not required to go to the bank for most of the transactions. It was indeed a good progress that the banking sector was making so far.

Then came the era of the idiotic ideas in the banking sector! Some were good and essential while many were foolish and uncalled for!

One of those foolish ideas was this KYC! Now the banks were required to go back to the old system in a round about manner by introducing what is known as 'Know-Your-Customer' (KYC) system. 

What a ridiculous thing? The fundamental of banking service is that they admit a customer to transact with them only when they know the customer. How is it that the banks do not know their customers? In reality, in earlier days, the banks , the post offices and the educational institutions were the original authorities who knew a person rightly and who could vouch for sure about a person's good credentials. These very same institutions could certify the identity and address of any citizen! And that was very logical and reasonable!

Obviously, the rules and regulations for KYC were introduced by some one who did not know much about retail banking. 

It is now understood that it was introduced by an ex- RBI governor. It is common knowledge that RBI governors are political appointees and they need not have any previous experiences in banking! So, it is quite likely that such persons with their immense powers could force any idea on the system even if knowledgeable people advice them otherwise. They could proceed to implement rules and regulations the way they think as right!

Now what are the requirements of this new KYC norms that the banks have to ensure? The bank officers and staff have to get another form filled in and signed by the customers and get some documentary evidences as proofs of their identity and address.

People who fail to give this would not be allowed as customers of the bank even when they have been a valuable customer for the bank for years!

Ridiculous ? Isn't it? 

Only foolish people could make such rules and regulations! 

Now what are these proofs that they need? For identity proof they have given a long list and for address proof they have another long list of documents which are accepted. Nothing other than these schedules are accepted! 

Now all these documents need again the Identity proof and the address proof for getting it made from their respective authorities of the government. This implies that in this great country it would not be possible for any one who does not have any of this document initially to have those made if they want to proceed as a law abiding citizen following all the rules. 

So which one is the original document? The rule making babus (administrative officers and including their supporting staff) of India and their supervising political bosses are least bothered! These are silly issues for the people. There are ways and people would know how to do it. If any one is not knowing that is their problem! The authorities of India seemed to think like this. People also began to feel that the authorities made all these rules and regulations for perpetuating corruption and collecting unaccounted corruption moneys! 

Because it is not at all difficult for any one to get any of these documents if they are willing to shell out some money to the agents. 

There are ways and means. 

And for that matter one can make any number of official identities and address proofs! 

If a person wants he can exist in India with many officially certified identities! 

There are no rules and regulations in India on the manner or standard in which an identity document is prepared. That gives enough flexibility for the concerned authorities and their lower level staff to generate documents with irrevocable errors knowingly or unknowingly! 

There exist no inter departmental data exchange in the various governmental departments and organizations and every one goes ahead according to their own ways! No political party who came into power in India so far has felt it necessary to resolve this unique identity crisis of India about which I had written in a few blog articles earlier too. They all proceeded their own way to make things complicated at every instant instead of making things simpler! The Election Commission of India has been doing it for many years now by making the so-called voter i-cards with innumerable errors that any one can possibly imagine! Again, such erroneous voter i-cards are acceptable documents for Id and address proofs for any banks as the KYC document! 

Later yet another authority was created in an arbitrary manner called the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) which began to make id-cards for Indian residents. However, this authority was not so clear about the purpose of creating these id-cards!

Spending nearly 18000 crores of rupees for the so-called unique bio-metric linked identity card called Aadhar and finally making it an unfinished and failed exercise by UIDAI is the latest governmental actions done without any fore-thoughts in India, in this context. 

Identity card making has become an industry in India. In that process Indians have got the unique opportunity to exist under different identities if they so desire. Of course, no genuine citizen would make advantage of this loop hole. But that would not be the case with all those non genuine people. 

That means, the very objective of KYC is failed!

So what are the solutions? 

In my opinion, solutions are not difficult. It is easy and simple if the government is pro-people and sympathetic to the problems of the people. 

If the government allows its bureaucracy to work the way they like without any accountability to the people's legitimate questions and probes then things would happen this way only. 

When some governmental programs fail, the concerned people connected with the program should be held responsible and the parliament or the state assemblies should have the power to call them to get explanations. 

In India, unfortunately there is no such accountability at present. It is a free ride for all. Only authorities and no responsibilities! 

Will the future people's representatives ever consider this as some thing important to be debated and resolved?

Only time would tell.

Till that time me and you would remain fuming over all those idiotic rules and regulations forced upon us by the so called authorities of the country even when we live in what is supposedly a democracy!

I heard the potential future PM of India-Mr Narendra Modi-speaking out his vision about governance of India. 

"Less governance for better government" he was heard as telling.

Yes I agree with him fully. If he meant less and less rules and regulations by the term 'less governance' , it is indeed the right approach for a better government.

Because the more rules and regulations made by imperfect individuals would indeed make things complicated for any government to function effectively. The more you try to untie the knots, the more entangled you become! 

Applying and Getting the Indian Voter ID Card Online: The Latest ECI Initiative !

Unlike the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the Election Commission of India is a statutory constitutional authority. The UIDAI though functioning only with some disputed executive authority has anyway moved ahead with the preparation of issuing biometric identity cards to all citizens of India and the Indian public seems to be obsessed with the idea of getting this ID called Aadhaar. [The large number of visits to my blog titled " Finally Aadhaar ID is Downloadable-Here is How You Get It !" is just an indication of this] Perhaps citizens of India have a feeling that Aadhaar would become the foundation of their existence in India as a citizen in the future !

As of now, all governmental authorities in India are working independently compelling one to feel the existence of innumerable governments and authorities determining their fate, rather than just one authority, who is in control. Then they cannot complain, because it is all due to their own reluctance in exercising their responsibility of choosing their governmental authorities, wisely.

Perhaps, the only way they can do it is by participating in the process of electing their representatives to the legislative bodies, the central parliament and the state legislatures.

When it comes to the conduct of elections in India, the authority that determines the process is the Election Commission of India (ECI) which is constitutionally an independent authority outside the supervisory control of the executive authorities. However, the ECI has not much independent machinery and infrastructure to do this of their own. It has to take the help of the existing governmental systems and infrastructure. Even the financial allocations for its functioning have to be from the executive branch of the government.

A good majority of people in the country are constantly on the move on account of their vocations. Besides thousands become eligible for voting every year when they attain the prescribed age for casting their votes and almost an equivalent number cease to be voters on account of death and other such incidences. In such a scenario, it is a Herculean task to maintain a fair and dependable voters' list, the most essential thing to conduct a fair election.

Considering the fact the the ECI has no permanent infrastructure of their own makes the preparation and updating of the voter's quite frequently a task prone to unprecedented errors. In reality, a good majority of people in India are not represented in the voters' list. There are ample chances that the same person may be included many times. There are also enough chances that a person whose name is included in a list may not be aware of the same. 

The work of the ECI in preparation and updating of the electoral rolls for a constituency depends much on the effectiveness and dedication of the enumerators and the staff drawn temporarily for the purpose from other governmental departments. As these staff do not have any permanent office for this purpose of which the common people are aware of, there is enough scope for the voters' list getting prepared in a manner which is totally unprofessional. 

For example, consider this. Some years ago, the ECI determined that a photo Identity card issued by them would be mandatory for any one to vote. Millions of rupees got wasted in making erroneous cards because there was no clear instructions on how the data should be collected. The names of the voters were noted down in vernacular languages and then transliterated in English alphabet making the person with a name that he or his family would have ever imagined. Such goof ups forced the ECI to back track from their mandatory orders making the voters Id a thing of ridicule.

But this also helped many in other ways. The prevailing election processes over a few years in the recent times eliminated almost all educated citizens from the voters' list of India making most middle class and higher class citizens getting separated from the election processes completely. For quite some time the voting percentages in India have been abysmally low hovering around 40-60 percent in most cases. In other words, the elected representatives no more represented the true majority ! The literate class has become a frustrated lot in India having no say in determining their political functionaries. This eventuality slowly happened without many of them even realizing the same. 

The literate middle class has become more and more reluctant in exercising their franchises. Either their names did not appear in the voters' lists or they did not bother to get it included or they simply did not know how to get it done. In earlier days, it was the work of the political parties and their agents to do all the needful to give all the relevant information to the voters so that the latter find no difficulty in locating their names in the voters' lists and knowing the polling booths where they could cast their votes.

But of late, the political parties and their agents have started showing a determined laxity in this. Knowingly or unknowingly they preferred avoiding certain sections of the populace from knowing their details so that they could exercise their franchises smoothly. On the other hand, their existed no facility wherein a voter can find out his name and his polling station by his own efforts. It is not surprising then that the voting percentages dropped down drastically !

When this is the situation for the literate and affluent classes, it is every body's guess about the reality that existed in the rural areas.

With this kind of a scenario that has been existing, it is a welcome move that the ECI has now begun in starting an online facility for the people to apply for inclusion in the voters' list in their respective constituencies in India.

I am not sure how effective it is in its outcome. However, one can now make an effort by visiting the  citizens' service website of the Election Commission of India.

The first thing one has to do is to register in the site by clicking the New User Registration link of this page. For registration one needs his or her mobile number and a valid e-mail id.

One you give this, a one time pass word is send to your mobile for confirmation which is then used to proceed to the next page for entering your primary information and your own passwords.

Once this much is done and submitted, a page will open giving all your profile information for final confirmation. You need to take a note of this information for all your future reference.

Your future id for this site would be your mobile number and your pass word would be the one you have entered while registering for the first time.

Later use this information to enter the site as a registered user.

Then you can make online applications for inclusion in the voters' list. You can also upload your digital photograph from your computer.

Once the online application is completed and uploaded, some officer of the ECI would visit you for verification and issue of the voter id card later.

I have not tried this to this end to verify its workability.

You may try yourself. If it works, it is indeed a praiseworthy effort of the ECI.

Unfortunately, it is not the way I thought it should be.

The ECI site indeed provides for the citizens to upload all necessary information about him including the required document scans, photo scans, etc to prove his idenity, address, etc. Besides, e-mail and mobile phone informations for contacts are also taken.

However, the next part of the process is a thing they could have made citizen friendly. After taking all the information, what the ECI proposes to do is to intimate a date of appearance in person with some of their low key officer sitting in some remote area of the region. Of course they provide the mobile number and the address of this officer and the date of appearance, just as the court or the police call you for an appearance !

They had done that with me too. Unfortunately I do not have the time to find out the the place where this person sits and go in search of that person to present me before him or her for the voter's id card!

Remember, it was the enumerator's job to come to my residence and find me there to make sure that I am indeed a person living there at that residence. How can they do it if I was to go his or her place of temporary existence ?

So for the time being, this exercise of the ECI appears to be another futile thing.

We may have to wait a bit more till the ECI people realize their flaws and rectify the same !

Note Added on 2nd Dec 2013

You should also consider reading the following blogs in this context:

The Unique Identity Crisis of India !

Unique Identity to All: the Simple Thing to Do

A Postal Vote for Aadhar - a blog by Prof A.Kuruvila

ELECTORAL REFORMS FOR INDIA- SOME WISHFUL THOUGHTS!

In any case, let me admit this. I have many id cards. Yet I have miserably failed to know whether I could vote in this country. I had been voting before these complicated address proof formalities and the photo id voters' lists got introduced. Me and my family have been photographed many times. We had filled the forms many times.

It is also possible that our photos might be appearing in a few voters' lists! The election enumerators are simply ill equipped and incompetent in many parts of this country. You cannot expect them doing a fine job! On the contrary, those very people who work for the ECI on temporary basis out of fear and compulsion could make the whole system fail by making deliberate wrong entries and errors.

There is no way to know how many of our people are really able to exercise their voter's rights. While there are millions in the voters' lists with apparently incomplete names and addresses, there are also millions of educated people with some standing in the society whose names do not appear in the same voters' lists.

These confusions apparently appear as deliberate. There is a general fear in the political parties who had been in power for some time to have only the pliable public as the voters. They seem not comfortable to make a system wherein all citizens are in a position to vote as guaranteed by the constitution.

The ECI is an independent constitutional authority. But the question is : Is it really independent? It is not. The ECI is fully dependent on the government, both at the center and the states for infrastructure and facilities. It can force and coerce government servants to do the duties of election. But it cannot motivate those people to do a perfect job. And that is a big handicap!

It is time that every one in this country give a serious thought of all these, to keep this great democracy to go forward without failing!

Added on 26th April 2014

Even with my best efforts and even after living in a permanent and well known address for the past three years in Ranchi-the state capital city of Jharkhand- I could not find a place in the electoral rolls and I could not exercise my franchise in the May 2014 general elections. This was the case with a number of my colleagues. Though similar conditions have been known in many other places, it is now that a national news paper has made a report about it. The Election Commission of India has admitted the mistakes especially with regard to Mumbai where some 200,000 voters have been reportedly omitted out. See the news scan below:

The Economic Times in its editorial today has highlighted it and opined that we should not discredit the Election Commission for such mistakes. See the scan of the editorial below:

Perhaps they said it rightly. Considering the fact that the EC depends mainly on staff and officers on temporary deputation for all kinds of election work, it may not be possible to do a better work as the control and supervision of the field staff would not be effective at all.

But it is any way a serious issue. Something seriously has to be done to improve the system devoid of such serious mistakes. If citizens are prevented from voting either selectively or erroneously it is a serious matter. It raises doubts on the democratic processes in India!

Finally Aadhaar ID is Downloadable-Here is How You Get It !

Today morning the inside page of my English Newspaper carried a halfpage advertizement from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

It had a bold title which said : Your AADHAAR now on your fingertips !  Buy the Latest Redmi 1S Mobile From FlipCart!

The ad gave the brief to the public how to get this now famous Aadhaar number using your mobile or through the internet.

It is imperative that you should have undergone the process of photographing and scanning your bio data some time previously and had obtained the Acknowledgement / Resident Copy from the enrolment agency man who took your photograph and scanned your eyes and fingers.

Now if you had kept that piece of paper properly there is hope that you can now get your aadhaar number or the electronic digital document giving your aadhaar details.

We should not laugh at the incapability of the government of India to deliver a very important document such as this for which they had spent crores of rupees securely to the person whose unique identity and address they have meticulously recorded using its own postal department !

Me and my wife had scanned ourselves an year ago and were waiting for the document to reach us by mail. But we did not get it though many who scanned themselves together with us in the same scanning booth claimed as getting those documents. Eventhough we live in a prominent address, we some how stood untraceable for the postal service. At least that was my thought so far.

Now since the UIDAI finally succeeded in making this advertizement, two things got clear to me. First, the UIDAI is part of the Planning Commission of India. And second, they had not completed preparation of the Aadhaar even for those who got scanned.

So taking cue from the advertizement I decided to use the internet route to get my Aadhaar.

I was successful and I got it. But to tell you the truth, I am a bit coversant with the computer transactions and that helped me a lot. The procedure, though apparently simple, could go wrong if you are not careful.

So for the benefit of those who would like to get their Aadhaar through internet, I would like to give some tips.

Here is how you do it.

First keep your Aadhaar Acknowledgement - Resident Copy ready with you.

Five things from this slip are important for you to get your Aadhaar.

1. The enrolment number / नामांकन संख्या . This is on the top left side of your slip below the Ashoka emblem of the governement of India. It looks something like this : 1053/61244/05470 . Note this number. Note that this number is in three parts, each separated by a slash (/) This slash is not to be typed when you enter this number online at the UADAI website.

2. The Date / तिथि -  This is given at the top right side below th Aadhaar emblem. Note that it is a date followed by the time in HH:MM:SS (Hour:Minute:Second) . All these six sets of digits in this are needed to be entered. Remember not to type the slash (/) or the colon (:)

3. Your Name - The name in English as given in your acknowledgement. You need to type it online in the website.

4. The PIN Code - The pincode as per your address in the acknowledgement slip. This also need to be entered online in the website.

5. Your mobile number - Your mobile number as given at the time of your enrolment is shown in your acknowledgement slip. This mobile number should be active and it should be with you for you to get the Aadhaar. An SMS is going to be sent to you to this mobile giving a temp password number which you need to enter for confirmation for you to get the link for downloading your aadhaar.

If all the above are duly noted and ready, you can now try to get your Aadhaar e-document.

Ensure that  the Adobe pdf reader installed and working in your PC / Laptop.

Since you are reading this blog online you are internet ready.

Now click this link [ Get Your e-Aadhaar Here ! ] to go to the website of UIDAI to fill up your details to download  the e-Aadhaar document in pdf format.

While you submit the details, a web page will open up asking confirmation of your mobile number with the last four digits displayed. Confirm it by clicking the button for it. If it is not your number reject or cancel the process. In such a case you perhaps cannot proceed further in this manner.

When the mobile number confirmation is done, an SMS will be received in your mobile from Aadhaar site. This SMS will give you this One Time Password (OTP) which you have to enter in the box provided for that in the webpage. The OTP contains digits and capital alphabets. Be careful in entering the same correctly.

Once the OTP is correctly entered, the e-aadhaar download link will appear. Click it and save your e-aadhaar in your computer.

One more thing to note. The pdf e-aaddhar file you downloaded is password protected. While you click it to open it will ask for a password. The password is your Pin Code of your address as per your enrolment slip.

You find your Aadhaar Number as a 12 digit number ( three groups of 4 digits each )

So that's it. You got your e-aadhaar and be happy ! A himalayan task accomplished by your government with years of intelligent work ! You should feel proud !

But then don't ask me how you change your address in the e-aadhaar, if you had shifted your residence in between. Perhaps that is not known even to the UIDAI too for the time being. They might think of it later after all the people get their aadhaar fixed up.

Also don't ask me how to make some corrections in the data (such as the mobile number ) if it got changed or recorded wrongfully. I have no idea. Perhaps not even the UIDAI too has not thought of it right now.

Then the big question, what if you do not have a mobile or internet ? That too when the e-aadhaar is essentially meant for helping people of that sort. I do not have any answer to that too !

I had earlier written some blogs that laymen like me can have in things like this.

If interested have a look at those by clicking these links:

Unique Identity to All: the Simple Thing to Do

The Unique Identity Crisis of India !

It is possible that you may have various kinds of complaint with regard to e-aadhaar. The UIDAI has a site which can be used to file your complaints. There are many other important things you can do and know here with regard to your Aadhaar.

To visit this site click this : e-Aadhaar Complaint Filing Online !

Here there is an important link which could be very useful for some. The UIDAI has thoughtfully included a system where we can do some corrections with regard to our data that is already recorded by UIDAI.

The corrections that are possible are Name, Address, Gender, Date of Birth and Mobile Number. But this correction can be done online only if you had a previously registered mobile number while you enrolled for aadhaar for the first time. Other wise you have to do this by contracting specified offices by post.

What all you have to do can be read by clicking this link: e-aadhaar self service update guidance

So aadhaar is slowly getting improved and is made the basis for many things by the government.

Already the authorities have mandated that in future all domestic LPG gas cylinder subsidies would only be refunded to the customers after they purchase the cylinders giving the un-subsidized price initially. To do this your aadhaar number has to be linked with your gas connection number.

For example Indane domestic gas consumers can do this in many ways. Visit the Indane site for doing this. 

Further your bank account also needs to be linked to your aadhaar number. Your bank will provide the form for doing this.

The methodology is slowly evolving. The forms and formats are getting popularized. Those who know about it more may share that information and their experiences using the comments facility below.

Latest On Aadhaar
2nd DECEMBER 2014


Though it was the former UPA government which took the initiative on Aadhaar, there were much internal conflicts within the UPA government ministries and as a result, the scheme was almost allowed to vanish after spending thousands of crores of public money.

Thanks to the vision and determination of the present Modi Sarkar, Aadhaar biometric based national identity initiative is getting more and more acceptance now.  It would perhaps get the statutory finishing touches and utility in the coming days. We could expect the government to take steps to overcome the problems people face and come out with a system which is amenable to error corrections in a much simpler way without causing trouble to the citizens.

Recently, the government took a decision to allow government pensioners including the ex-servicemen with Aadhaar to get their yearly ritual of 'life certification' for availing pension, much easier. They need not go to the banks or to any gazetted officer for getting the life certificate any more. They can also enroll for getting the Aadhaar in the nearest enrollment center.

More details of this can be obtained by visiting this new government website: Jeevan Pramaan.