In a landmark initiative, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) last month launched a service for citizens to facilitate them in ‘reporting the death of a family member’ on the myAadhaar portal. UIDAI is a statutory body that issues unique identification numbers (UID), also known as Aadhaar, to residents in India.

As part of measures to maintain the “accuracy and integrity” of the Aadhaar database, UIDAI has deactivated around 1.17 crore Aadhaar numbers of deceased persons.

Recently, UIDAI requested the Registrar General of India (RGI) to share death records linked with Aadhaar numbers, according to the Ministry of Electronics & IT.

RGI has, till date, provided approximately 1.55 crore death records from 24 states/UTs using the Civil Registration System (CRS), and after due validation, around 1.17 crore Aadhaar numbers have been deactivated, the ministry said in a statement on July 16. “A similar exercise is continuing with non-CRS states/UTs. About 6.7 lakh death records have been received so far, and deactivation is in progress.”

On its new ‘death reporting’ service started on June 9, UIDAI said that the new facility – ‘Reporting of Death of a Family Member’ on the myAadhaar Portal – will register data for deaths in 24 states/UTs using the Civil Registration System, the ministry said.

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Here’s how to report death of family members on the myAadhaar portal

The family member, after authenticating himself/herself, is required to provide the Aadhaar number and the death registration number along with other demographic details of the deceased person on the portal.

“After due process of validation of the information submitted by the family member, further action is taken for the deactivation, or otherwise, of the Aadhaar number of the deceased person. The process of integration of remaining states/UTs with the portal is currently underway,” it said.

UIDAI mulls sourcing death records from banks, other entities

UIDAI is also exploring the possibility of sourcing death records from banks and other Aadhaar ecosystem entities that maintain such information.

The Aadhaar-issuing body is also taking support of states in identifying the deceased Aadhaar number holders.

As a pilot, demographic details of Aadhaar number holders aged over 100 years are being shared with states to verify whether the Aadhaar number holder is still alive, the statement said. On receipt of such a verification report, necessary validation will be carried out before deactivating such Aadhaar number, it added.

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What is the objective behind asking ‘reporting of deaths’ on myAadhaar portal

In order to prevent unauthorised usage of Aadhaar number of any family member after their death, it is recommended that Aadhaar number holders report the death of their family members on myAadhaar Portal after obtaining their death certificate from the death registering authorities.