The Public Accounts Committee (PAC) of Parliament has asked for a detailed review of how Aadhaar is working, especially raising concerns about the high number of failures in biometric verification. These failures are causing many people to be left out of important government welfare schemes.
At a meeting held on Thursday, July 17, 2025, the committee, led by Congress leader K.C. Venugopal, was briefed by the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) team, who had earlier prepared a report in 2021 on Aadhaar’s functioning. Officials from the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) also gave their inputs during the meeting.
Biometric Failures Affect the Poor
Committee members from different political parties expressed concern that people are being denied basic services like food and work because their fingerprints or eye scans don’t match the Aadhaar database. This is especially affecting people who do hard physical work, as their fingerprints often get worn out. Elderly people are also facing problems because of changes in their iris patterns over time.
UIDAI officials explained that they are working on updating the system to reduce these issues.
Worries About Data Leaks and Duplicate Aadhaar Cards
MPs also raised the issue of data leaks and privacy concerns. UIDAI said their main database is secure and claimed that the leaks happened mostly at local enrolment centres. They assured that better monitoring has now been put in place to stop such problems.
There were also concerns that there are more Aadhaar cards than the actual population of India. This could mean there are duplicate cards or delays in removing the cards of people who have died. UIDAI said that deactivation of Aadhaar cards after someone’s death is currently voluntary, but the PAC has asked UIDAI to take more active steps to clean up its database.
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In Summary
- The PAC wants a full review of Aadhaar’s performance.
- Biometric mismatches are causing poor people to lose access to welfare schemes.
- UIDAI is upgrading its systems but issues remain.
- MPs are also worried about data safety and fake or duplicate Aadhaar cards.
- The UIDAI has been told to take stronger action to fix these problems.
This issue matters because Aadhaar is linked to many essential services for millions of Indians.
