Aadhaar-based facial recognition technology used to verify over 1 lakh retirees



According to the National Informatics Centre (NIC), an Aadhaar-based facial recognition system has created more than 100,000 digital life certificates (DLCs). The document is necessary for retirees to draw pensions.

According to the NIC’s reply to a Right to Information (RTI) application, 102,576 DLCs have been generated using the system.

Although the government claims that using facial recognition for pension disbursement is beneficial to seniors, the fact remains that there is no legislation supporting facial recognition. Furthermore, there is no data protection law that can protect against the potential misuse or breach of such data.

“DLC is generated only after successful face authentication by UIDAI,” NIC said in the RTI. UIDAI is short for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the statutory body responsible for handling all Aadhaar-related services.

Facial recognition aspect introduced in 2021

It was in 2018, that the Centre introduced Jeevan Pramaan, the program under which Aadhaar-based DLCs are generated. In 2021 December, the Centre introduced the facial recognition aspect into Jeevan Pramaan as an additional way of generating DLCs.

Touch the lives of many govt. pensioners

While introducing it, the government had claimed that “it will touch the lives of not only 68 lakh Central government pensioners but also crores of pensioners such as EPFO, State government pensioners”.

DLC is generated after successful face authentication by UIDAI

“DLC is only generated after successful face authentication by UIDAI and after that the DLC is shared with the PDA for verification of PPO (pension payment order) particulars. PDA either accepts or rejects the 
DLC after verification,” said the RTI reply. As of now, 52, 987 DLCs have been accepted and 18,603 rejected by PDAs.

Data storage
In another separate RTI application, the UIDAI said the Aadhaar-based facial recognition authentication data is stored for six months.

“Further as per regulation 18 (of the Aadhaar Regulation, 2021), the logs of authentication transactions shall be maintained by the requesting entity for a period of 2 years,” UIDAI said in its RTI reply.

Data is not stored at the Jeevan Pramaan portal, NIC added.

How it works

This process involves two applications. First, one has to download a Jeevan Pramaan Face App, available on the Jeevan Pramaan website, and second, an app called AadhaarFaceRD (Early Access) by the UIDAI, available on Google the Play Store.

On the Jeevan Pramaan Face App, the user has to undergo a facial recognition process for registering himself/herself as an operator of the app. This, Jeevan Pramaan is a one-time process.

Post, that the app restarts, and then the pensioner authentication process begins. A pensioner has to enter their Aadhaar number, mobile number and email address and PPO details. After that, the facial recognition window opens.

The app then restarts, and the authentication process for pensioners begin. A pensioner must enter his or her Aadhaar number, mobile number, email address, and PPO information. The facial recognition window then appears.

Using a front or rear camera, one can initiate the process of facial recognition.

“It will show ‘hold still and blink your eyes when the lighting is right and the camera is stable’. Follow the instructions shown on the screen to successfully complete the face authentication process,” a Jeevan Pramaan document said.

Other uses

This is not the first time that facial recognition has been used to disburse pensions. According to a New Indian Express report, the Telangana government developed a facial recognition-based process for pension disbursement in 2019. This isn’t the first time Aadhaar-based facial recognition has been used in government processes involving citizens.

According to a report, the National Health Authority had undertaken 266,943 Aadhaar-based facial recognitions as part of a touch-less Covid-19 vaccination pilot that was taken up in Jharkhand last year.

Recently, it was also proposed for air travel. As part of the DigiYatra scheme, the Ministry of Civil Aviation plans to use facial recognition for boarding purposes.

The scheme will also be integrated with Aadhaar, driving licence, PAN, passport and CoWin data, an RTI filed by Internet Freedom Foundation (IFF) had said.

In 2021, Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Rajeev Chandrasekhar had said facial recognition technology (FRT) will not be integrated with Aadhaar, but will be used as one of the authentication procedures with ‘informed consent of the individual’.

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Dr. Kirti Sisodhia

Content Writer

CATEGORIES Business Agriculture Technology Environment Health Education

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