It is said to be the world's largest national identification number project, involving India's sharpest minds. But a private agency has allegedly accessed the Aadhaar database without authority , and is distributing fake smartcards, preliminary investigation by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has revealed.
TOI reported on August 31, 2015, that Karvy Data Management Services, an authorized Aadhaar enrolment agency in Benglauru, had been issuing smartcards without authority for those already allotted their identity numbers. The Karvy agency issued the smartcard at the mere mention of the Aadhaar num , ber and had not sought any other details, including biod metric authentication. The board outside the agency g mentioned that smartcards would be issued if the number d or biometric details were pro vided, for a charge of Rs 25. After obtaining one such smartcard from a Karvy enrolment centre in Malleswaram, West Bengaluru, this reporter approached the UIDAI regional office in the city, where a senior official admitted that the Aadhaar smartcard issued by Karvy was fake. A shok Lenin, deputy director, UIDAI, told TOI, "Karvy is not authorized to print Aadhaar smartcards. The card Karvy has issued is not as per prescribed UIDAI standards. We've asked for a detailed written statement from them, but have not received any response so far."
Another senior UIDAI official admitted, on condition of anonymity , that the Aadhaar smartcard issued by Karvy was fake and did not match the UIDAI's standard smartcard. "It doesn't have the essential biometric authentication and the photo printing is of inferior quality . The reverse of the standard Aadhaar card has a barcode, which is missing in the card issued by Karvy ," the official explained.
Lenin said, "I would not call this data hacking. Karvy told us they accessed the data through the enrolment client used to update Aadhaar details. We are yet to figure out how they took out data of people without biometric authentication.They were certainly not authorized to print Aadhaar details on plastic cards. An official inquiry into the matter is under way . We've asked for a detailed written statement from them but have not received any response so far."
THE ACTUAL PROCESS
At Danish Solutions' facility in the UIDAI regional office, one can obtain the Aadhaar smartcard by giving biometric details like fingerprints or the OTP (One Time Password) sent to the mobile number mentioned by the individual during enrolment. The agency charges Rs 30 for a smartcard.
Immediately after authenticating the Aadhaar number through biometrics or OTP, this reporter received an email at the registered email ID from UIDAI, saying authentication was successful, besides details of the device deployed by `CSC e-governance India'. The mail also carried a warning: "If you haven't carried out this authentication, please call us at 1947 or forward this mail to ."
Though no official action has yet been initiated against Karvy in the wake of the TOI story in August, the Malleswaram centre immediately stopped the service and removed the board announcing it.
NO DEVIATION, CLAIMS KARVY
In an email interaction with TOI, Karvy Data Management Services (KDMS) said it is an empanelled Aadhaar enrolment agency and provides the facility to print e-Aadhaar as per provisions of UIDAI."Our processing staff have been trained to print e-Aadhaar based on an EID slip Aadhaar letter after due verification, and there is no deviation as mentioned by you. KDMS is one of the largest providers of e-governance services to various government quasi-government authorities and PSUs in India. We have a robust internal system, strong IT backbone and qualified human resources, which enables us to provide error-free services across the country," the official statement said.
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Autor(en)/Author(s): Sunitha Rao R
Quelle/Source: The Times of India, 15.09.2015
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