'Most trusted digital ID': Centre's rebuttal to Moody's Aadhaar review
In light of a report released by Moody's Investors Service that questioned the security and privacy aspects of India's Aadhaar system, the central government has issued a strong rebuttal. The Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology asserted that Aadhaar is considered the "most trusted digital ID in the world" and criticized the report for lacking proper citations of "either primary or secondary data or research."
UIDAI rebuts Moody's assertions
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) countered Moody's Investors Service by saying, "A certain investor service has, without citing any evidence or basis, made sweeping assertions against Aadhaar, the most trusted digital ID in the world." "Over the last decade, over a billion Indians have expressed their trust in Aadhaar by using it to authenticate themselves over 100 billion times." The UIDAI-issued Aadhaar cards feature a unique number linked to an individual's fingerprints, facial features, and eye scan.
Service denials and trustworthiness of biometrics
Moody's report pointed out that the Aadhaar system frequently leads to service denials and raised doubts about the trustworthiness of biometric technology, particularly for manual laborers. In response, the ministry explained that payments to workers in programs like India's Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) are simply credited to their accounts without the need for biometric authentication.
Security and privacy in Aadhaar
The Centre noted that Moody's also overlooked contactless biometric submission methods like facial and iris authentication. The government's statement highlighted the availability of mobile OTP in various scenarios. "The report also avers that there are security and privacy vulnerabilities in a centralized Aadhaar system. The factual position in this regard has been repeatedly disclosed in response to Parliament questions, where Parliament has been categorically informed that till date no breach has been reported from the Aadhaar database," the statement said.
Backing from worldwide bodies
In a recent report by the World Bank, the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) highlighted that the use of Digital Public Infrastructures (DPIs) like Aadhaar, along with Jan Dhan bank accounts and mobile phones, has greatly increased the number of people with transaction accounts. Ownership has risen from about one-fourth of adults in 2008 to over 80% today. The report suggests that without DPIs, achieving this level of financial inclusion could have taken up to 47 years.
