The Railways Ministry is planning to link Aadhaar with passenger ticketing services in order to reduce the rising cases of impersonation and hence curb corruption.
According to a Supreme Court order passed last year, the use of Aadhaar should be restricted to only the public distribution system (PDS) and LPG connections. Therefore, the consideration of Railway’s to book railway tickets using an Aadhaar is in contrast to the ruling by the top court.
Aadhaar is the world’s largest biometric identity project which came into being with the idea to help citizens avail government services in the absence of any form of portable ID such as a passport or a driving license. However, the top court said the programme cannot be made mandatory for availing government benefits. The matter is pending before the Constitution Bench for a final decision.
The project may entail two phases of implementation. The first phase will it make it compulsory for people to use Aadhaar in case they are eligible to avail a concession as per some 53 categories enlisted by the department. The concessions include the ones given to senior citizens, freedom fighters, differently-abled people, students and unemployed youths.
The second phase will make it mandatory to use Aadhaar in order to book tickets, either online or otherwise. The number provided at the time of booking, will thus be printed on the ticket provided.
