Aadhaar Card Big Update! Government Changes Few Rules; Details Inside

Aadhaar card latest update: The Government on Thursday (10 Nov) changed Aadhaar regulations, advising cardholders to update the documents supporting their details at least once every ten years from the date of enrolment. This is important to ensure the accuracy of the data, it said.

Why it is important to update Aadhaar card?

According to a gazette notification published by the Ministry of Electronics and IT, "Aadhaar number holders may, on completion of every 10 years from the date of enrolment for Aadhaar, update their supporting documents in Aadhaar, at least once, by submitting Proof of Identity (POI) and Proof of Address (POA) documents...so as to ensure the continued accuracy of their information in the CIDR, in such a manner as may be specified by the Authority from time.”

The Aadhaar (Enrolment and Update) Regulations have been amended to reflect the changes.

If you received your Aadhaar number more than ten years ago but haven't updated your information since then, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the government organization that issues Aadhaar numbers, urged people last month to do so.

UIDAI adds new feature for Aadhaar update

Accordingly, UIDAI has created a new feature called "update document" to give Aadhaar holders convenience in this regard. Residents can visit any Aadhaar enrolment center or utilize this service online through the myAadhaar portal, myAadhaar app, or both.

The updated POI (containing name and photo) and POA (containing name and address) documents allow Aadhaar number holders to revalidate information.

Although 134 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued to date, it is currently unknown how many Aadhaar holders will need to update their information as a result of UIDAI's most recent action.

About 16 crore updates of various kinds were made in the previous year.

Last month, UIDAI released a statement in which it stated that "Anyone whose Aadhaar was made 10 years ago, if has not updated the information in any of the subsequent years are requested to conduct document updation."

More than 1,000 State and Central government schemes use Aadhaar for beneficiary identification and verification, benefits transfer, and assuring de-duplication, hence UIDAI had urged people to come out and update their documents.

All of these use the Aadhaar ecosystem and its biometric authentication, with 315 of these initiatives coming from the Central government and approximately 650 from State governments.

The current update effort for Aadhaar, which was released ten years ago, focuses on updating demographic data rather than biometric data. A government source had earlier stated that a decision about the biometric upgrade will be taken into account if and when the need arises.