Service books to have Aadhaar number

The Narendra Modi government’s penchant for Aadhaar continues, as it now wants the departments and ministries to update the service books of all its employees with these unique numbers.

The Department of Personnel and Training on Monday issued a memorandum asking to ensure that the service books of all employees have an entry of the employees’ Aadhaar number.

As per the Supplementary Rules, which relate to maintaining records of service of a government employee, every step in a government servants’ official life must be recorded in his Service Book and each entry attested by the Head Of Office.

The heads are to obtain the signatures of the government servants in token of their having inspected their Service Books annually. The Service Books at present have details of bio data, posting details, qualifying service, security details, CGHS and LTC besides other details.

“It has been decided to include the respective Aadhaar numbers also of all government servants in their service books. The e-service book format already provides fields for Aadhaar number of the government servant,” the memorandum stated.

The government has also asked its employees to submit their Aadhaar numbers for the biometric attendance system being implemented at present. The fresh instruction comes after a series of decisions on including the Aadhaar number.

Last week, the Department of Telecom (DoT) asked all mobile operators to collect “Aadhaar” number along with customer application form for issuing new connections and store the unique identification number in their database. The DoT has also asked the operators to amend their database in two months for adding the Aadhaar number.

Earlier this month, the Home Ministry reversed its stand and favoured Aadhaar numbers as it “eliminates” the threat of fraud and bogus activity while identifying beneficiaries of government schemes. Earlier, it had opposed Aadhaar citing security concerns.

While campaigning, the BJP had said it will review the Aadhaar programme but after assuming power, Prime Minister Narendra Modi reviewed the functioning of the Unique Identification Authority of India and decided to go ahead with it.