Monday, October 16, 2017

Aadhar verification failing while linking mobile phones

One of the major claims of achievements of both governments (NaMo and Manmohan ) is the successful implementation of Aadhar card with its unique biometric tracking.

This is considered fool-proof  unlike Election ID cards where manipulation was rampant.

Anything has to stand the test of time before big claims are made. In case of Aadhar card it seems to be premature.

I can share my experience (five case studies) with regard to biometric verification. 

Case 1.  Self - BSNL -Bangalore - After the failure to get verification from any of the right hand fingers, the left thumb matched. My Aadhar got linked with my mobile -success

Case 2. A friend  65 years old. Same BSNL  office- None of the fingers in both hands could tally with Aadhar data base

Case 3.  His wife  58 years - Same as her husband , none of the finger prints could be tallied. 

They were sent back with an advice to visit Aadhar Kendra to update their biometric profile and they have time till end of December 2017

Case 4. Airtel , Bangalore.  My father, age 85.  Struggled for fifteen minutes. The  staff taking pity at the super senior citizen did not give their trials by repeatedly requesting him to place his finger in different orientations and finally managed to get one finger authenticated. Success due to the patience of the staff.

Case 5. Vodafone , Mysore, wife's mother age 80.  Spent nearly half an hour each at two different centres but could not get verified. She too was advised to visit Mysore-One Service Centre of Govt of Karnataka and update  the biometric profile. Subsequently  when visited the Mysore-One Kendra they informed that it is of no use and refused to carry out the update.

They advised that retina (or iris) verification is dependable as the finger prints are bound to differ due to skin wear and tear over a period of time.  The question is who is to tell the government. Meanwhile SMS keeps pouring in for linking the cell phone with Aadhar otherwise face disconnection.

It is only the tip of iceberg.  Imagine the  wastage of man hours involved in various mobile centres and millions struggling to get their mobiles linked to Aadhar.

The service person at Vodafone  said there is time till February. Good, the deadline  has been moved from Decemeber to February 2018. 

I understand that they are making  Aadhar Card  mandatory for school children also.  If adults themselves find it difficult how do one expect growing children to have matching biometrics  in the years to come?

Where is it going wrong? Is it in the sensitivity of sensors used or the training of staff  and how quickly it can be resolved ? 

If efficient governance is desired these are the questions to be urgently addressed. Otherwise Aadhar cards also will face natural death like Election ID cards.

1 comments:

Sripada said...

The authorities can use QR code verification which is issued with the aadhar card to verify the uniqueness of the person. Already they are using the OTP as the physical verification of the respective mobile number.