OdishaLIVE Bureau
Mobile phone users can now link their Aadhaar card number to their mobile number by sitting at home. The deadline for this is February 6, 2018. Cellular operators like Airtel, Vodadone, Reliance Jio and Idea Cellular will be rolling out Aadhaar verification via OTP or one time password from December 1, 2017 and you can link your Aadhhar to mobile number with a onetime password (OTP).
The Unique Identification Authority of India or UIDAI which is in charge of Aadhaar data has given green signal to plans of telecom operators to utilise new modes like OTP for Aadhaar-based SIM re-verification of existing subscribers. This new facility will be available from December 1.
“Their (telecom operators’) plans have been approved and we have told them they will implement (the process) from December 1,” UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey told. He added, “Mobile companies have assured the UIDAI that they will implement OTP-based verification of mobile numbers by month- end and this will enable people to get the verification done without actually visiting the store or retail agent.”
Currently users have to go to the store and do the eKYC with their fingerprints. Now users will not have to go a telecom retail store in order to get the re-verification done for Aadhaar linking with their mobile numbers. A user will get the OTP sent to their mobile number from UIDAI and this will allow for the re-verification.
The only issue is that the OTP will only be sent to the mobile number that was registered with Aadhaar. So if you have a new mobile number, which is not linked to your Aadhaar card, you might not be able to use the OTP method. Unless you still have access to the old SIM, you will not be able to access the OTP.
For now, linking the Aadhaar number and mobile number is mandatory. The last date for this is February 6, 2018. Earlier this month, it was reported the Supreme Court refused to accept a new plea challenging the linking of mobile numbers with Aadhaar card numbers. The Court is currently listening to several such petitions, which is why it did not accept a new one.
In March, the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) passed an order for linking of mobile numbers with Aadhaar card data. The latest petition wanted this order to be declared “unconstitutional” and “null and void.”
If by chance your mobile has not been linked to Aadhaar, you can still get the re-verification done for your new mobile number but the OTP method won’t work here. The customer will have to go to the telecom operator and get the verification done for a new mobile number. The Aadhaar card will have to be carried for this and the mobile number re-verification will be done via a fingerprint scan.
In case of the disabled, chronically ill and senior citizens, the government has ordered the companies to carry out the exercise at their homes.
