Verify your drivers and domestic helps using Aadhar Cards before hiring

Thanks to the Indian government's new move, Indian citizens might soon be able to validate the credentials of drivers and domestic helps using their Aadhaar card numbers, before they hire them. The government is planning to widen the scope of the Aadhaar authentication system. As of now, it has been restricted to banks and a few government departments, but soon, it would be open to individuals and private companies. In doing so, all privacy concerns would be addressed by using a more secure method. In exchange of a small fee, anyone would be able to use the unique identity number and verify the details of others. This would be allowed to done online in real time, unlike many other identity documents such as voter, ration and PAN cards. This would also allow companies to authenticate the records of their consumers and staff. Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is looking forward to appointing third-party agencies to carry out the authentication on behalf of individuals and companies. "Various use-cases can be built using the Aadhaar authentication service, especially by startups who have been requesting for access," an official told ET on the condition of anonymity. The move has come after Prime Minister Narendra Modi recently commanding to expand the use of Aadhaar. As far as privacy is concerned , the new authentication system will function differently from eKYC norms, the current norms used by government departments and banks. This allows user agencies to enter the Aadhaar number and biometrics of a person after which the UIDAI server provides the name, address and other details, to be stored by the agencies. When the service will be extended to private companies and citizens, only the bar code on the Aadhaar letter will have to be scanned and the data it contains will be sent to the Aadhaar database for verification, to return either with a 'yes' or a 'no'. "This will be most secure way of authentication since there will be no transfer of any citizen data through the UID database," the official said. As per UIDAI data, there are about 330 authentication user agencies and over 111 crore transactions have been handled since the service started. About 20 companies have so far signed up for the Aadhaar authentication service, which include telecom service providers like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and state-owned BSNL, as well as financial services firms such as MasterCard and Visa.