Aadhar card is mandatory for availing many services and benefits from government. Many people have to run from post to pillar to get their Aadhar cards. But getting an Aadhar card is actually very easy and one can get an Aadhar card for as less as Rs 100. Read on to know how!

Bengaluru police was on a hunt to nab a gang of vehicle thieves. In their pursuit they haply crossed path with three people who were eventually identified as Pakistani citizens living illegally  in India. Further investigation revealed more shocking information.

The caught Pakistani citizens managed to enroll themselves with UIDAI and got Aadhar cards.

As per police, “They had been staying illegally in the country for the past nine months and had even got themselves Aadhaar Cards and other documents through false records,”

Police commissioner Praveen Sood said the three of them could avail all benefits of being Indian citizens, as they had all the relevant documents.

Probing further, police found that these illegal immigrants got their Aadhar cards for a mere Rs 100 each.

Police team has done a commendable job of intensive investigation and not letting any loose ends untied. Police team deserves a big round of applause for their hard work. It is a relief that these illegal Pakistani immigrants are caught before they could have done any more wrongful activity.

In this case the culprits were caught otherwise they have had successfully cheated government authorities by using their Aadhar cards and other documents obtained with the help of Aadhar card. But there may be many more such people who might have fraudulently obtained Aadhar card for themselves and we don’t know about them.

This investigation has proved that the Aadhar card enrollment procedure is full of loopholes and is wide open to abuse as people can fraudulently obtain.

“Muhammad Shihab said they approached a middleman to get an Aadhaar card, so that getting other cards like voter ID card and ration card would be easier,” they said. Source:Times Of India

The officer with UIDAI claims this incident to be an isolated one. But there no reason to agree with his claim because the investigations has proved that there are middlemen operating who can arrange Aadhar cards for someone in return of money.

It is indispensable to understand that these middlemen are neither highly educated nor they are experts in computer hacking or legal matters. Yet they know the loopholes extremely well and conversant with the ways to exploit them. I will be left flabbergasted if the policymakers tell that they are ignorant of the ways to exploiting Aadhar card enrollment procedures.

Every policy and every process has some limitations. Policymakers should be the first set of people who must be knowing the inherent limitations of the policy they drafting. Especially when a policy or process of national interest is being drafted, policymakers should place enough checks and bounds to prevent exploitation of the loopholes. At least there should be mechanisms to catch the culprits at early stages before they can sneak into the system. Understanding the loopholes of a policy or process and plugging the loopholes require additional time and efforts.

But when there is a hurry to enforce a policy or a process, efforts for plugging the loopholes are eschewed. At times policymakers may even repudiate the existence of loopholes in the zeal of enforcement of the drafted policy.

Government is also enforcing Aadhar card on Indian citizens since day one. Aadhar card is the flagship project of the Congress led UPA government since 2009. UPA government got first Aadhar card issued in September 2010 even without any legislative backing.

It is noteworthy that before 2014 general elections BJP was a staunch opposer of Aadhar card. BJP went  ahead to an extent of labeling Aadhar card as a fraud. Definitely BJP had done lot of study on Aadhar card before strongly opposing it.

Aadhaar a ‘fraud’, will review it if voted to power: BJP

Later BJP won 2014 general elections with huge majority. BJP disbanded the Cabinet Committee on Aadhar in June 2014. On 1st July 2014 Mr. Nandan Nilekani met prime minister Mr. Narendra Modi over Aadhar card project. BJP government convinced on continuing Aadhar card project after the meeting. Perhaps people may never know what exchanges “intellectual or otherwise” happened in the meeting that within few days BJP allowed to continue a project that they vigorously opposed for around four years with all the research data on potential flaws Aadhar card has.

Nilekani succeeds in persuading Narendra Modi to continue with Aadhar project

BJP government at the center not only continued the Aadhar card project but also allotted more funds to it. Clearly BJP government inherited the haste of widening the Aadhar enrollment base from it’s predecessor UPA government.

Since then BJP government has been aggressively pushing to make Aadhar card mandatory for every other service like filing IT returns, getting mobile connection or even for creating a profile with a matrimonial site! The government has gone so insistent that it is even disregarding the various orders passed by Supreme Court of India that restrict government from making Aadhar card mandatory for any service.

BJP’s was correct in claiming that Aadhar card is a fraud are correct but it is very unfortunate that even BJP government under Mr. Narendra Modi’s leadership has  not done anything to plug the loopholes in the laws and processes related to Aadhar card.

Even as of 2017 Aadhar card is severely marred with various flaws and security concerns. Absence of definitive rules on Aadhar card led to widespread confusions and blatant abuse. Many fake Aadhar cards were also issued due to inefficient policymaking on Aadhar card.

UIDAI canceled 3.8 lakh fake Aadhaar Cards.

Below are some of the grave security flaws with Aadhar card. Source: wikipedia.org

The Aadhaar card itself is not a secure document (being printed on paper) and according to the agency should not be treated as an Identity card

However is often treated as such, however with currently no practical way to validate the card (e.g. by Police at airport entry locations) it is of questionable utility as an Identity card.

There are five main components in an Aadhaar app transaction – the customer, the vendor, the app, the back-end validation software, and the Aadhaar system itself. There are also two main external concerns – the security of the data at rest on the phone and the security of the data in transit.

At all seven points, the customer’s data is vulnerable to attack … The app and validation software are insecure, the Aadhaar system itself is insecure, the network infrastructure is insecure, and the laws are inadequate.” claims Bhairav Acharya, Program Fellow, New America.

Click here to read detailed article on inherent flaws in Aadhar card

Today Aadhar card has become a bigger threat to national security because of government’s aggressive promotion of Aadhar card. Illegal Pakistani immigrants getting Aadhar cards so easily for mere Rs 100 is one of the reasons that Aadhar card has become a national security. If they can get the Aadhar card, even terrorist can get it and execute their massive terror plans without getting caught.

Creating awareness in the public is the only hope to make Aadhar card safe for national security. It is important for citizens to understand that the technology behind Aadhar card is exposed to various threats and attacks. The misuse of the data stored in the UIDAI databases can manifest in huge security crises unimaginable. The sooner we act upon it, the safer we make India.

Anyways, one merely need to get hold of a right middleman who can get an Aadhar card issued in exchange of money. Strangely finding such middlemen is not a difficult task.