Explained: What is Baal Aadhaar which recorded over 79 lakh enrolled in past 4 months?

New Delhi: According to the Ministry of Electronics and IT, over 79 lakh children between the age group of 0 to 5 years have enrolled for Baal Aadhaar from April to July. The announcement was made on August 15 that the enrolment is a part of the resume effort to spread awareness about the Baal Aadhaar initiative among children who are below 5 years of age and enabling parents to take advantage of its many benefits.

“Collection of biometric (fingerprints and iris) is a key feature in issuing Aadhaar as the same is required to establish uniqueness based on de-duplication of these biometrics. However, for Aadhaar enrolment of children in the age group of 0-5 years, these biometrics are not collected,” the ministry said.

Children who are below the age of 5 years are enrolled depending on their facial image and the biometric authentication of their parent or legal guardian who possess a valid Aadhaar card. 

When a child is being enrolled for Baal Aadhaar, a proof of relationship document, preferably a birth certificate is required. Besides, for biometric authentication, a parent or legal guardian needs to accompany a child under the age of 5 years to the nearest Aadhaar Seva Kendra.

Also, the parent needs to fill out a form for the child’s Aadhaar card before submitting it with the respective birth certificate and the guardian’s Aadhaar card.

Following this, take a picture of the child. However, the biometric details will be only taken if the child is above 5 years. 

Within 60 days, the parent of the child will receive a text message and the ‘Baal Aadhaar’ will be provided within the concerned period.

This Baal Aadhaar card is issued in blue to distinguish it from the regular Aadhaar cards. This card will be considered valid until the child turns 5 years after which the parents need to provide the child’s biometrics at an Aadhaar Seva Kendra to complete the mandatory biometric update (MBU) process, which includes the de-duplication process. 

After this, the child is issued the regular Aadhaar card with no changes to its number.

The ministry in a statement said: “Baal Aadhaar registration is progressing very well, with increased speed across the country”.

Baal Aadhaar and The States

As per the data shared by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI, till December 31, 2020, the total Aadhaar saturation percentage in the 0-5 age group was 27.06% (including 36 states and UTs).

Data showed that within that period, an overall 45,63,451 Baal Aadhaar cards were assigned in Uttar Pradesh, followed by 32,65,597 in Maharashtra, 28,45,589 in Bihar, 23,90,174 in Gujarat, and 23,03,666 in Madhya Pradesh, while Meghalaya saw only 1,783 cards issued – the lowest so far in India.

According to the July 2022 Aadhaar brochure, over 133 crore cards were generated across India. On the other hand, 63 crore Aadhaar cards were updated and more than 7358 crore authentications were done till April 2022.

Notably, 100.94% of the adults issued Aadhaar cards, while 92.49% of the children between 5 and 18 years issued the regular Aadhaar card. Moreover, 25.19% of children are eligible for Baal Aadhaar.

IT ministry’s latest statement shows that while 2.64 crore children aged 0 to 5 years had Baal Aadhaar by the end of March 31, 2022, the figure has risen to 3.43 crore by the end of July 2022.