Moody's Takes on Aadhaar Card's Biometric Technology: Not Reliable in Indian Conditions
Global rating major Moody”s Investors Service has flagged concerns over the reliability of Aadhaar card, India”s centralized digital identification program, pointing out the service denials caused by its biometric technology failures. Given the hot and humid climates in India, the biometric technology of Aadhaar has been prone to failures, Moody”s said. Earlier, the Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) of India had accused the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for Aadhaar”s “deficient data management.”
Aadhaar is currently the world”s largest digital ID program. According to Moody”s, the system faces hurdles, including the burden of establishing authorization and concerns about biometric reliability. “The system often results in service denials, and the reliability of biometric technologies, especially for manual laborers in hot, humid climates, is questionable,” Moody”s said.
According to experts, the concerns over Aadhaar”s reliability are serious, considering that it serves as the primary identity document linked to several of the government”s welfare schemes. If the technology is not reliable, it may result in individuals not receiving various subsidies from the government to which they are entitled. It is important to note that many individuals who rely on government subsidies are those who need them the most.
As of July 31, 2023, approximately 765.30 million Indians had linked their Aadhaar with their ration card to avail ration through the Public Distribution System. Additionally, over 280 million residents had linked their Aadhaar with their cooking gas connection for LPG subsidy through PAHAL.
Last year, in a report, the CAG had raised concerns regarding data-matching, errors in authentication, and shortfall in archiving in Aadhaar. It noted that the data of Aadhaar card holders have not been matched with their Aadhaar number even after 10 years in some cases.
The UIDAI has been criticized for the lack of a system to scrutinize the causes of authentication errors. Despite maintaining one of the world”s largest biometric databases, the UIDAI does not have a data archiving policy, which is considered “a crucial storage management best practice
