NEW DELHI: The Indian government on Monday released a new, more secure version of the country’s official identity card, an authentication system that has been widely criticised as overly cumbersome.
The new card is being rolled out in a series of pilot projects, and a trial is now being conducted in Mumbai to test the effectiveness of its authentication process, said the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) in a statement.
The card is issued to people aged 18 to 65 and it is valid for two years.
“The new card has been manufactured with the highest security standards and features a new and secure process for creating a new identity card,” DoPT said in the statement.
“It is a new system that provides a stronger security and identity assurance for the cardholder.
It also allows the card holder to check the validity of his/her identity card every three months,” it said.
The new cards have not yet been issued to India’s population of 1.3 billion people, but they are expected to be widely available and will help the government in combating fraud and counterfeit documents.
The DoPT also said it is working on creating a mobile app that will allow people to create a new card without having to use a smartphone.
A mobile app will allow the card to be checked for validity, and if it is not valid, it will automatically be deleted.
DoPT has also created a database for people to check their identities, and they can check their identity on the card, the statement said.
It will be used for the government to check for identity fraud and fraud-related cases, and also for identity verification for the purposes of national security.
India’s new identity cards are currently used to authenticate people’s identities in public places, and to verify the identity of people entering government offices.
It has been accused of discriminating against those who do not have Indian citizenship, including those who have no Indian-born parents.
The government is expected to roll out a mobile application that will help people create a card.
It will be available in the coming days, it said, adding that a trial for people aged 65 and above has already been launched in Mumbai.
In the past, a person could only create a bank account using their Aadhaar number, and then check it by going to their bank’s branch or a public service bank.
The bank could not verify a person’s identity.
