The new feature, the digitally-signed QR code, will contain photo of the Aadhaar holder in addition to existing facility of demographic details, in turn allowing various user agencies like banks to verify authenticity of Aadhaar card offline.
"There is no truth in this story as there has been absolutely no breach of UIDAI’s Aadhaar database. Aadhaar remains safe and secure," the statement added.
The Constitution bench is hearing a number of pleas challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar and its enabling Act.
Playing down reports of Aadhaar being allegedly available through Google search query of Mera Aadhaar, Meri Pehchan, UIDAI claimed that the issue had "nothing to do with the security of Aadhaar and its database".
In a statement the Aadhaar implementing agency said that "genuine beneficiary" should not be denied essential services like "medical help, hospitalisation, school admission or ration through PDS" for the want of the unique identity number.
The government body clarified that preference to more attractive plastic or PVC smart cards can make people fall to ploys of unscrupulous elements.
The UIDAI on Sunday sought to allay fears over data protection and privacy issues around the 12 digit biometric identifier, asserting that Aadhaar is an identification not a profiling tool.
The argument was made during the hearing on the Aadhaar issue by senior advocate Shyam Divan before a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
The Supreme Court’s five-judge Constitution bench will continue hearing pleas filed with regards to the Aadhaar case today.
The Aadhaar myth buster series is aimed at quelling fears that the ID or its number can be used to track private activities of its owners or to persecute them on the basis of the information.
The UIDAI today allowed face recognition as additional means of Aadhaar authentication to be used in combination with existing ways such as fingerprint or iris scan.
Using the newly launched feature, cardholders will be able to generate their 'Virtual ID' for various purposes including SIM verification.
Delhi Police had on Monday registered the FIR on a complaint by an UIDAI official following the newspaper report on data breach of more than 1 billion Aadhaar cards, naming the journalist behind the story.
UIDAI will provide various options to Aadhaar number holders to generate their VID, retrieve their VID in case they forget, and replace their VID with a new number.
The survey to find people's take on the cyber security mechanism to protect their data said that 20 per cent were "somewhat confident" while 23 per cent were "quite confident" about UIDAI being able to protect their Aadhaar details
Criticising Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Twitter, Snowden said instead of an investigation, the journalist needed to be rewarded for exposing that the Aadhaar data was not fullproof and could be obtained at a cost of only Rs 50
“Government is fully committed to freedom of Press as well as to maintaining security and sanctity of Aadhaar for India’s development. FIR is against unknown,” Union law minister said.
Instead of penalising the reporter, UIDAI should have ordered a thorough internal investigation into the alleged breach and made its findings public, the Editor's Guild said.
The FIR mentions the names of the journalist and the people the reporter reached out to purchase the Aadhaar data, but they have not been shown as accused, the police said.
"The government does not shy away from filing FIR against innocents, while those who spew communal propaganda are honoured with high posts," alleged party spokesperson Shobha Oza.
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