Govt rejects claims of Aadhaar design change, calls viral posts misleading

New Delhi: The government on Sunday dismissed reports claiming that Aadhaar cards will soon be reduced to a simple format with just a photograph and QR code, stating that there is no such proposal under consideration and terming the claims misleading.

In an official statement, the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology said that news reports and social media posts suggesting a change in Aadhaar’s format are incorrect and are creating unnecessary confusion among the public.

“There are intermittent news reports and social media posts explaining how Aadhaar’s look may change by the end of this year to just a photo and a QR code, alone. This is not correct. There is no plan for any such changes,” the ministry said.

“Such news reports and social media posts are creating unwanted confusion in the minds of the people,” it added.

It advised people to rely only on official communication from the Unique Identification Authority of India through its verified channels and press releases issued via PIB, and urged media outlets not to amplify unverified information.

“People in general are advised to ignore such reports and social media posts and refer to official communication from UIDAI through its official social media handles and press releases issued through PIB. Media is also advised not to encourage such information,” the ministry stated.

The clarification comes amid growing circulation of claims online that Aadhaar could soon undergo a major redesign.

The government reiterated that no such decision has been taken and asked citizens to ignore misleading posts.

The statement gains significance given the scale and importance of Aadhaar, which has evolved into the world’s largest biometric identification system.

According to the government, Aadhaar currently has around 134 crore users and has facilitated over 17,000 crore authentication transactions so far.

Maintained by the Unique Identification Authority of India, the Aadhaar ecosystem plays a crucial role in enabling identity verification for a wide range of services.

IANS