Biometric failure is not related to age, says UIDAI

Biometric failure is not related to age, says UIDAI

Context

UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey repliesto a Supreme Court questionnaire from the petitioners challenging the Aadhaar scheme

Petitioners’ argument

The petitioners have argued that Aadhaar is prone to biometric authentication failure and results in financial exclusion of senior citizens and those employed in manual labour

UIDAI’s stand

• Authentication failures do not mean exclusion or denial of subsidies, benefits or services since the requesting entities are obliged under the law to provide for exception-handling mechanisms
• Several alternatives to biometric authentication are available. Besides, an Aadhaar holder could always update his biometrics