Govt states Aadhaar eligible people without fingerprint can enrol using iris scan

New Delhi: In the event that fingerprints are not available, the government announced on Saturday that an eligible individual can enrol using an iris scan. The comment was made in response to intervention by Rajeev Chandrasekhar, the Minister of State for Electronics and IT, to facilitate the enrolling of Josymol P. Jose, a Kerala woman who was unable to do so because she did not have fingers.

A team from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) visited Jose at her home in Kumarakam, Kottayam district, in Kerala, the same day and got her Aadhaar number generated, the statement said. Chandrasekhar said an advisory has been sent to all Aadhaar Service Kendras giving instructions that Aadhaar should be issued to people like Jose or others having blurred fingerprints or similar disability, by taking alternate biometrics.

"A person who is eligible for Aadhaar but unable to provide fingerprints may enrol using only iris scan. Similarly, an eligible person whose irises cannot be captured due to any reason may enrol using only her or his fingerprint," the statement said. An eligible person who is unable to provide both finger and iris biometrics may enrol without submitting any of the two, as per the statement, PTI reported.

The name, gender, address and date and year of birth of the person who is unable to provide both finger and iris biometrics are captured, along with the available biometrics while highlighting the missing ones in the enrolment software, it said. Further, a photograph is taken in the manner specified in the guidelines to highlight the unavailability of fingers or iris or both and the Supervisor of the Aadhaar enrolment centre is to validate such enrolment as an exceptional one, it said.

"Every eligible person who undergoes the enrolment process by submitting the required information may be issued an Aadhaar number, irrespective of any inability to provide biometrics," the statement said. UIDAI also inquired into the reasons why the Aadhaar number did not get issued to Jose when she enrolled earlier and learnt that this was because the Aadhaar enrolment operator did not follow the exceptional enrolment procedure.

According to the statement, UIDAI enrols about 1,000 people every day under exceptional enrolment as above. "Till date, UIDAI has issued Aadhaar numbers to nearly 29 lakh persons who had missing fingers or were otherwise unable to provide finger or iris or both biometrics," the statement added.