New Delhi: Simplifying the Aadhar enrollment criteria for prisoners, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has agreed to accept the ‘Prisoner Induction Document (PID)’ as a valid document for such enrolments. Accordingly, the Union Home Ministry (MHA) has dashed off a letter to the Principal Secretary (Home) of all States and UTs as well as DGPs and IGs to chalk out a plan for conducting enrolment and update camps in all prisons of the State and UTs and coordinate with the local UIDAI regional office in this regard, who will facilitate in organising such camps on the jail premises.
“You are requested to make use of this special dispensation made available by the UIDAI and facilitate enrolment/updation of Aadhaar for prison inmates,” the Home Ministry said. Since Aadhaar enrolment is done on the basis of valid supporting documents, as a special measure for prison inmates, UIDAI has agreed to accept the ‘Prisoner Induction Document (PID)’ as a valid document for such enrolments, the ministry said.
“The PID can be generated from the e-Prison module (sample copy attached) when authenticated by the authorised Prison Officer with his signatures and seal, it will be accepted by the UIDAI as a valid document for enrolment and update of Aadhaar,” the ministry said. Though the campaign to extend the Aadhaar facility to prisoners was launched in 2017, the process did not take off on expected lines since enrolment in the scheme required valid supporting documents prescribed by the UIDAI.
“Considering the fact that 109 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued, which covers almost 99 per cent of the adult population, it has been felt that prison inmates should also be Aadhaar seeded and various aspects of day to day prison administration like production before the court, return to prison, transport, health facilities, transport to an outside hospital, interview, free legal aid, parole, temporary release mechanism, education/vocational training and release from prison be regulated by use of Aadhaar. It will be of immense utility to link the inmates of correctional homes to Aadhaar as this will not only help in efficient handling of prisoners but will also ensure that the facility does not get misused and that the security of the prisons is not compromised,” the MHA has said.
