UIDAI tightens rules on Baal Aadhaar, updates biometrics for 10M schoolchildren

India is tightening up its signature Aadhaar national ID, making sure duplicates and any redundant looseness that remains in the system is patched over, with the latest amendments aimed at children and an update regarding data for the deceased.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has amended regulations to prevent duplicate enrolments for Baal Aadhaar cards, which are issued to children under five.

The change allows Aadhaar numbers generated from birth certificates to be shared with registrars, with parental consent, to stop multiple IDs being created from the same certificate.

Baal Aadhaar is linked to a parent’s Aadhaar and issued without biometric capture, ensuring unique identification until children undergo mandatory biometric updates (MBUs) at ages five and fifteen.

UIDAI recently crossed a milestone of completing over 10 million MBUs for schoolchildren across 83,000 schools, following integration with the UDISE+ education platform. This helps ensure children’s biometrics are updated as they mature, preventing authentication failures in exams or welfare schemes.

UIDAI also confirmed that more than 25 million Aadhaar numbers belonging to deceased persons have been deactivated to prevent fraud. Union Minister of State for Electronics and Information Technology Jitin Prasada told parliament of the update, reported DD News.

The new Aadhaar mobile app launched with updated features for biometric liveness to prevent spoofing, age verification, data minimization and credential sharing. Developed by the UIDAI, the app enables Aadhaar number holders (ANH) to manage their digital identity on smartphones.

It supports functions such as face verification for proof of presence, biometric lock/unlock, authentication history and QR‑based credential sharing. UIDAI also announced that Aadhaar verifiable credentials will soon be compatible with Google Wallet.

With 1.34 billion active Aadhaar holders, UIDAI’s latest measures aim to strengthen identity integrity, reduce duplication and enhance trust in the world’s largest biometric identity system. At the end of 2025, the UIDAI reported record growth for Aadhaar authentications as it recorded 2.31 billion transactions completed in November using digital ID authentication.

Article Topics

Aadhaar  |  biometric enrollment  |  biometrics  |  birth registration  |  children  |  death registration  |  digital ID  |  India  |  UIDAI