After Information and Technology (IT) Ministry, the Union Home Ministry has also woken up to the challenge of avoiding leakage of Aadhaar details, realising it too had recorded the Aadhaar numbers of people during National Population Register (NPR) exercise.
Registrar General of India (RGI) has recently written to all states that the Aadhaar details collected during the NPR exercise also need to be safeguarded – which may well be a logistical nightmare given such details exist in form of paper documents at the level of not just state departments but also district and even sub-district levels.
All this data was to be used for issuing Resident Identity Cards to all above 18 years – a project to which Cabinet is still to give its approval.
Leakage of Aadhaar details of people and the unique numbers being made public on websites by some departments over recent months have raised privacy concerns.
RGI had conducted a parallel exercise along with UIDAI across the country to collect and record demographic information, including Aadhaar numbers wherever available, from people in order to build the NPR.
“It is pertinent to mention that the data collected during survey of NPR and its updation, contains vital information of Aadhaar and demographic information which is available on paper with the state departments, district and sub-district levels of the state governments. The digitisation of the updated data is in progress. I would like you to issue necessary direction to all the authorities concerned and functionaries of the state at every level for securing and safeguarding the data available in print or in form of soft copies. No data should be shared in any form directly or indirectly with any individual or agency without express permission of the office of RGI or UIDAI,” the Additional Registrar General of India C K Khaitan has said in a recent letter to the chief secretaries of all states.
The IT Ministry has recently spelt out Do’s and Don’ts regarding safety of Aadhaar to all states too. All ministries were asked to encrypt all Aadhaar data and personal financial details. Also, officials are being “sensitised” about legal consequences of data breach.
And every government department is to now have one official responsible for Aadhaar data protection. The IT Ministry has also spelt out legal consequences of such data breach and warned government departments to check future leaks.
