The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Why in News?

• UIDAI enables ‘Head of Family’ based online address update in Aadhaar.
• The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has put in place a resident friendly facility to help people update their address online in Aadhaar with the consent of the Head of Family (HoF).
• This HoF based online address update in Aadhaar will be of great help to the relatives of a resident who don’t have supporting documents in their own name to update address in their Aadhaar.

How it can be done?

• It can be done by submitting Proof of Relationship document like Ration Card, Marksheet, Marriage Certificate, Passport mentioning the names and relationship of both the applicant and HOF.
• In case even Proof of Relationship document is not available, UIDAI provides the resident to submit a self-declaration by the HOF in the UIDAI prescribed format.

Who will be Beneficiaries?

• With people moving cities and towns due to various reasons within the country, such a facility will be beneficial for millions of people.
• This choice would be in addition to the existing address update facility using any valid Proof of Address document prescribed by UIDAI.
• Any resident above the age of 18 can be an HOF for this purpose and can share his or her address with his or her relatives through this process.

About UIDAI

• UIDAI was created with the objective to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as “Aadhaar”, to all residents of India that is (a) robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and (b) can be verified and authenticated in an easy, cost-effective way.
• UIDAI is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016.
• Prior to its establishment as a statutory authority, UIDAI was functioning as an attached office of the then Planning Commission (now NITI Aayog).
• Under the Aadhaar Act 2016, UIDAI is responsible for
  • Aadhaar enrolment and authentication, including operation and management of all stages of Aadhaar life cycle,
  • Developing the policy, procedure and system for issuing Aadhaar numbers to individuals and
  • Perform authentication and
  • To ensure the security of identity information and authentication records of individuals.
• It comes under the Electronics & IT ministry.