Indians May Complain About It, But Foreigners Are Happily Getting Their Aadhaar Cards Made
Several foreigners based in India have quietly opted for the 12-digit number. The Act says any resident of India who has stayed in the country for 182 days or more in the 12 months before applying for the card is eligible.
While many Indians are in a tizzy over Aadhaar (to get one or not, to link your bank account or not) several foreigners based in India have quietly opted for the 12-digit number.
Not many know this, but the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 says any resident of India who has stayed in the country for 182 days or more in the 12 months before applying for the card, is eligible for one.
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Freelance writer and blogger Christine Pemberton, who has been living in India for 12 years and is a British passport holder, was an early adopter. "I use the card whenever I am asked to produce my ID, whether it is at monuments or at the airport," she says. Though acquiring a card and using the card has been "painless", Pemberton says she did have a weird experience. "I was asked for my Aadhaar when I went for a test to a private hospital. When I refused to give it, the person asked for my husband¡¯s Aadhaar. It was just absurd. But they backed off when I refused to give it," she says adding that it is not so much the project but its implementation that is being used as a stick to beat people with, which was upsetting.
Getting the card was not so easy for Pune- based Veena Agarwal who is a Thai citizen married to an Indian. She shifted to India four years ago. "We had to wait for nearly a year before we got the card. The seva kendra was not aware that foreign passport holders could actually get Aadhaar and then they kept putting off our appointment to take biometric data," she says.
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Anmol Jain, 28, who moved to India in 2012 after nearly 20 years in Hong Kong and UK, got his Aadhaar in 2016 and finds it helpful as a proof of identity. He holds a British passport and is based in Bhatinda, Punjab running the family diamond business.
Are there concerns over privacy and recent data breaches? Veena, who has linked Aadhaar with her bank account, says that Thailand has had a national ID card for several years now and she did not find the idea unusual.
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Pemberton feels that India with its world-dominating software professionals should have been better prepared for Aadhaar implementation. "I have nothing to hide and I am happy to get the card. But it is a concern when one reads of data breaches or disadvantaged people being denied food or emergency services because they do not have a card," she adds.
