The government is resolute to link Aadhaar with mobile SIM cards and all the unlinked SIM will be deactivated after February 2018. Reportedly, Aadhaar mobile linkage was being done as per orders of the Supreme Court given in February this year.
All SIM cards have to be verified with Aadhaar within a year and all unlinked phones to be deactivated after February next year. The move was taken to stop criminals, fraudsters and terrorists to use issued SIMs.
Notably, Biometrics cannot be kept by the operators. Biometrics collected should be encrypted by the telecom company and directed to UIDAI. Any storage of biometric by a service provider is a criminal offense under the Aadhaar Act 2016.
The government told SC in February that it would set up an effective mechanism for the verification of prepaid mobile users. It constitutes 90% of the total subscribers.
The court asked the government to create the mechanism for the verification of existing prepaid mobile connection holders “as early as possible.”
