Freebies prompt many to update Aadhaar

Crowd increases from 150 to 700 daily at both Aadhaar Seva Kendras after free schemes were launched

Mysore/Mysuru: The Karnataka Government’s new free schemes such as ‘Shakti,’ ‘Gruha Lakshmi,’ ‘Gruha Jyothi,’ and ‘Yuva Nidhi,’ have forced hundreds of men and women to rush to Aadhaar Seva Kendras or common service centres to update their Aadhaar cards.

Many cards have corrections, such as a change in surname due to marriage, change in address and most of the Aadhaar cards have not been linked to their mobile numbers or they have changed their mobile numbers in the due course. As a result, there is a huge rush to update the Aadhaar card, which is a key document to avail the schemes.

Also, there is a need to update the Aadhaar cards every 10 years and in November last year, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had said that Aadhaar holders who received the unique ID more than ten years ago have to update their information.

All those who have kept their Aadhaar update pending till now are rushing to the Aadhaar Seva Kendras, KarnatakaOne and MysoreOne Centres and some are also lining up in front of private Aadhaar updation agencies.

In Mysuru, there are two Aadhaar Seva Kendras (ASKs) one at Vijayanagar First Stage and the other at Saraswathipuram where one can update the Aadhaar in a hassle-free way. Both the centres are well-equipped and each Kendra can easily handle over 1,000 updates per day.  

Before the guarantee schemes were launched, both the Seva Kendras used to get a crowd of over 100 to 150 people per day but now, each Aadhaar Seva Kendra is getting 600 to 700 persons per day. Seven counters each have been set up at both the Aadhaar Seva Kendras and the existing staff are managing the crowd.

Vishalakshi, a college student from Saraswathipuram, was at the Aadhaar update centre near her house this morning. She said she had received her Aadhaar card in 2012. “My face has changed a lot in the 11 years and some bus conductors are suspicious of my identity. Therefore, I am updating it with my current photo to avail the freebies,” she said.

Also, this is the beginning of the academic year and the Education Department has made the production of Aadhaar cards of both the parents compulsory to admit a child to school unless there is an unavoidable circumstance like death. This also has made the parents rush to the Aadhaar Seva Kendra to update their data and link their mobile numbers.

For an update in biometrics, each person is charged Rs. 100 and Rs. 50 for all other updates. While the Seva Kendra at Saraswathipuram is open both for online (advance slot booking) and offline facility where there are separate queues, the Vijayanagar centre has only offline facility.

While people who are updating data at the Aadhaar Seva Kendras will get new cards within a week or so, those updating at KarnatakaOne, MysoreOne Centres and private Aadhaar updation agencies will get their updated cards in a fortnight or so as the data comes to the main Aadhaar Seva Kendra for verification and clearance.