Aadhaar gets easier: Free biometric updates for children rolled out nationwide

UIDAI has waived charges for Mandatory Biometric Updates (MBU-1) for children aged 5–17, effective from October 1 for one year. This move benefits around six crore children and enhances access to services like school admissions and scholarships.

New Delhi: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has waived off all charges for Mandatory Biometric Update (MBU-1), a move that is expected to benefit around six crore children, an official said on Saturday.

The waiver of MBU charges for the said age group has already kicked in from October 1 and will be in force for a period of one year.

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A child under the age of five enrols for Aadhaar by providing the photograph, name, date of birth, gender, address and birth certificate. The fingerprints and iris biometrics of a child are not captured for Aadhaar enrolment below the age of five because these are not mature at that age.

As per existing rules, therefore, fingerprints, iris and photo are mandatorily required to be updated in his/her Aadhaar when the child reaches the age of five years. This is called first Mandatory Biometric Update (MBU).

Similarly, a child is required to update biometrics once again upon reaching the age of 15 years, which is referred to as the second MBU.

The first and second MBUs, if performed between 5-7 and 15-17 years of age respectively, are thus free of cost. Thereafter, a prescribed fee of Rs 125 per MBU is charged. With this decision, MBU is now effectively free for all children in the age group of 5-17.

Aadhaar with updated biometric facilitates ease of living and ensures seamless usage of Aadhaar in availing services such as school admissions, registering for entrance examinations, availing benefits of scholarships, DBT (Direct Benefit Transfer) schemes, etc., wherever applicable.

Parents/ guardians are advised to update biometrics of their children/wards in Aadhaar, on priority.

Earlier last month, over 700 policy makers, startups and industry leaders came together for the ‘Aadhaar Samvaad’ in Hyderabad to share ideas to further enhance service delivery using the unique digital ID, an official said.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had conducted the day-long stakeholders conference with ecosystem partners, the official said.

Addressing the stakeholders, S. Krishnan, Secretary, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), underlined how Aadhaar, as the foundational layer of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure, has facilitated many services to be built on it.

He said that the Aadhaar database is the safest, and the quality and convenience that Aadhaar offers are commendable.

He encouraged UIDAI to expand its innovations and usage further, keeping the convenience of people in mind.

Neelkanth Mishra, Chairperson, UIDAI, spoke about expanding engagement with stakeholders and underlined how continued innovation of UIDAI will see many use cases emerging in the near future.

Bhuvnesh Kumar, CEO, UIDAI, said Aadhaar is not only a 12-digit unique identity system, but also a journey of empowerment, accessibility and trust.