Aadhaar info leakage: Citizens demand imposing fines on banks, telcos

New Delhi: In the wake of the recent incidents of leakage of Aadhaar information, results of a survey revealed that majority of the respondents demanded that a financial penalty be levied on banks, telecom providers (telcos) or any other organisations that compromised their Aadhaar, bank or call/data transaction details.

The survey, which was conducted by LocalCircles on the recent rise of importance of the Aadhaar linkage being flagged by banks and mobile operators, showed that over half of the respondents agreed to process their Aadhaar-bank account-mobile number linkage only after security assurance is provided from service providers and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

In a second set of polls related to mandatory linking of Aadhaar card and bank accounts, 39 per cent said they would completely support the move while 12 per cent declined support.

The other 48 per cent assured support only after banks and the UIDAI assure them that their personal information will not be leaked or misused.

On Saturday, in a major setback to the UIDAI, reports surfaced of over 800 people in Haridwar's Gaindi Khata village sharing January 1 as their date of birth in their new Aadhaar cards.

A similar incident was also reported in Rajasthan's Jaisalmer in May.

However, the governing body clarified that January 1 of a particular year is typically taken by default as the official date of birth by the system in instances where the applicants do not know their exact date of birth or do not have the supporting documents.