Shimla to launch school campaign for mandatory Aadhaar biometric updates

Shimla Deputy Commissioner Anupam Kashyap today announced a special campaign across all schools in the district to ensure mandatory biometric updates of students’ Aadhaar cards. He also urged all residents to enroll for Aadhaar and update the details of their family members.

He made these remarks while chairing a review meeting of the District-Level Aadhaar Monitoring Committee. The meeting reviewed the current status of Aadhaar enrollment and discussed key issues such as Aadhaar authentication, children’s enrollment, updates in schools and Anganwadi centres, and mobile number linking.

Kashyap emphasised the need to bridge the gap between the estimated population and Aadhaar-generated numbers under Aadhaar saturation. He noted that although UIDAI has provided enrollment kits to several departments, some of them are currently non-functional. He directed UIDAI officials to repair and operationalise these kits promptly to increase enrollment.

Highlighting the importance of timely biometric updates, he cautioned that failure to do so could lead to Aadhaar deactivation. This may hinder students from appearing in exams and restrict citizens from accessing government welfare schemes.

He said biometric updates for children aged 5-7 and 15-17 years are mandatory and free of cost. A nominal fee of Rs 50 applies for demographic and document updates, while non-mandatory biometric updates cost Rs 100.

Kashyap urged residents to take immediate action to update their Aadhaar to avoid future inconvenience, especially in availing government benefits and participating in public services.