Why it is in news?

• The Unique Identification Authority of India has decided to enable Face Authentication by July 1 this year for validating Aadhaar cards.
• This move comes on the back of reports that beneficiaries of government schemes were not able to avail themselves of their entitlements in the absence of Aadhaar authentication.

How it will be implemented?

1.  fingerprint authentication and
2.   iris authentication.

• But, face authentication will be allowed only in fusion mode along with one more authentication factor either fingerprint or iris or a One Time Password so as to successfully authenticate an Aadhaar number holder.
• Face authentication will only be allowed on a “need” basis.
• In other words, the face recognition authentication will have to be backed by at least one other form of identity authentication.

Reasons given by UIDAI

• While most residents are able to authenticate using fingerprint or iris authentication
• some residents face difficulty in successfully using biometric authentication using one of the modalities.
• Face authentication provides an additional option for all residents to have inclusive authentication.
• This facility will help in inclusive authentication of those who are not able to biometrically authenticate their Aadhaar numbers because their fingerprints are worn out owing to old age or hard working conditions
• Earlier  the UIDAI had attempted to strengthen its security protocols with the introduction of temporary virtual IDs against the Aadhaar numbers.
• The Authority had said that it would not be possible to trace an Aadhaar number from the temporary number (virtual ID).
• This VID can only be generated by the Aadhaar card holder and will be valid to make use of all services that require an Aadhaar number, for a limited amount of time.

Source

The Hindu