Jammu Kashmir Achieves 93 Per Cent Aadhaar Coverage, Generates 1.26 Crore Numbers

SRINAGAR: Jammu Kashmir has achieved 93 per cent Aadhaar saturation, generating 1.26 crore Aadhaar numbers against a projected population of 1.35 crore, officials said during a review meeting chaired by Chief Secretary Atal Dulloo on Friday.

The Chief Secretary was chairing a meeting of the Unique Identification Authority of India Implementation Committee (UIDIC) to assess the progress of Aadhaar-based initiatives and discuss measures to strengthen the authentication ecosystem across the Union Territory.

During the meeting, the Chief Secretary called for a focused approach to achieve 100 per cent Aadhaar coverage, particularly among children aged 0–5 years. He noted that enrolment in this age group stands at 59.07 per cent, which is higher than the national average of 39.54 percent, and directed the Health and Social Welfare Departments to intensify enrolment efforts.

He also instructed the School Education Department to speed up demographic and biometric updates for school-going children, while district administrations were told to submit weekly progress reports on Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme notifications and activation of Enrolment Client Multi Platform (ECMP) and Child Enrolment Lite Client (CELC) kits.

Dulloo emphasised the need for digital transformation in governance by replacing manual certificates with QR-code-enabled online certificates and promoting the use of Face Authentication Technology for biometric verification across age groups.

UIDAI’s Regional Officer, Commodore (IN) Dhiraj Sareen, informed that nearly 4.7 lakh Mandatory Biometric Updates remain pending and that focused enrolment drives would be launched to complete the process. Special camps will be organised in schools and Anganwadi Centres to achieve full coverage, alongside efforts to strengthen the Birth Registration-Based Aadhaar Enrolment (BRBAE) system to ensure every newborn is enrolled at birth.

Currently, Jammu and Kashmir operates over 1,000 Aadhaar enrolment centres supported by two fully functional Aadhaar Seva Kendras (ASKs) in Jammu and Srinagar, with ten more ASKs planned across other districts. UIDAI also proposed deploying Face Authentication Technology at high-footfall religious sites such as Amarnath Shrine and Mata Vaishno Devi Shrine to enhance security and streamline services.

The meeting further discussed the transition from the ECMP platform to the Universal Client (UC) system and the upgrade of ePDS devices to L1 fingerprint technology to improve authentication accuracy. The Chief Secretary also directed departments like ePDS, Revenue, and Regional Banks to share Aadhaar-seeded records with UIDAI for efficient data integration and transparent subsidy delivery.