New Delhi: In a major relief, the government has simplified the process of Aadhaar linking with mobile numbers as the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has allowed the use of online OTP (one-time password) for mobile numbers registered with the Unique Identification Authority of India to link mobile numbers with Aadhaar.
The government has introduced three new methods - through one-time password (OTP), App based and the IVRS facility, to link the Aadhaar with the mobile number. With this, the subscribers can now link their registered mobile numbers to Aadhaar without visiting the telecom service providers' stores.
"For the ease of senior citizens and the people with disability and chronic illness, DoT has also recommended for the re-verification at subscribers' doorstep," Communications Minister Manoj Sinha said.
According to the new guidelines, the telecom operators should provide an online mechanism for people to request such service and based on availability schedule the visit and complete the process.
"The Aadhaar number system was designed to allow all residents of the country access to critical government services and important information that they may need from time to time," the Minister said.
"Mobile penetration is increasing rapidly in the country and the subscribers need to be provided with the ease of linking of the Aadhaar number with the mobile number," the minister said, adding, "It is the government's endeavour to improve convenience and reduce time and energy spent by consumers to accessing government information and services that is their right to access."
DoT also specified the information telecom service providers can access in light of the increased focus on privacy. The DoT has mandated that telecom service providers' agent should not have access to the subscribers' e-KYC data and only the name and address of the subscribers should be visible. Subscribers can verify or re-verify their mobile numbers from anywhere in the country irrespective of which service area their mobile connection belongs.
In a circular in August, the DoT had given instructions to the telecom service providers to provide iris or fingerprint-based authentication of Aadhaar. The new regulations have specified that the telecom service providers must deploy iris readers for this purpose within a reasonable geographical area.
Welcoming the new guidelines, a Cellular Operators Association of India representative said, "While it will take a little time to implement the directions, we are working closely with the government to improve and enhance the convenience of our consumers for undertaking Aadhaar based e-KYC linking of their mobile number."
"We are implementing all the necessary processes so as to be able to use the additional methods prescribed including OTP, App based and the IVRS facility. We expect it to get much faster and easier for individual mobile subscribers to comply with the e-KYC norms using their Aadhaar Registered Mobile Number," the representative said.