India’s UIDAI has crossed a major hurdle in its nationwide push for Aadhaar biometric authentication. Over 10 million schoolchildren from 83,000 institutions now have their mandatory biometric updates (MBU) completed, thanks to a dedicated campaign kicked off last September.
The secret behind this success? Seamless tech integration with the UDISE+ app, which provided schools with instant visibility into update statuses. Lagging cases were flagged immediately, leading to targeted camps where biometrics were captured en masse.
Understanding the process: Infants under 5 get Aadhaar with just demographic data—no fingerprints or iris due to physiological immaturity. But at 5 and 15 years, these scans are essential for robust verification.
Why does it matter? Outdated biometrics could block access to welfare benefits or exam registrations for NEET, JEE, CUET. UIDAI sweetened the deal by offering fee waivers: full exemption for 7-15-year-olds starting October 2024 for a year, and gratis for younger and older brackets.
Supplementary efforts at enrollment centers tallied 1.3 crore updates. CEO Bhuwnesh Kumar rallied state chief secretaries for support, while regional offices collaborated with local education bodies and administrators.
Five months of relentless coordination have yielded results, but the drive presses on. UIDAI aims for total school saturation, fortifying the foundation of India’s digital identity framework for future generations.