New Delhi- In a sharp retort to Moody’s Investors Service, the Central government has criticized the rating agency’s recent appraisal of the Aadhaar system, calling it a report that lacks substantiating evidence or a solid foundation.
The Ministry of Electronics & IT issued a press release stating that Aadhaar stands as the cornerstone of India’s Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI), and more than a billion Indians have placed their trust in it. The government’s response follows a report by Moody’s that questioned the effectiveness of Aadhaar without providing concrete evidence.
The ministry’s press note stated, “A certain investor service has, without citing any evidence or basis, made sweeping assertions against Aadhaar, the most trusted digital ID in the world. Over the last decade, over a billion Indians have expressed their trust in Aadhaar by using it to authenticate themselves over 100 billion times. To ignore such an unprecedented vote of confidence in an identity system is to imply that the users do not understand what is in their own interest.”
The government further criticized the Moody’s report for failing to cite primary or secondary data or research to support its opinions. The report’s sole reference to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was also questioned for incorrectly citing the number of Aadhaars issued.
The government rebutted the report’s claim that biometric technologies hindered manual laborers in India’s hot, humid climate, particularly in the context of India’s Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS). It clarified that Aadhaar seeding in the MGNREGS database did not require biometric authentication, and payments were made without such authentication. Additionally, the government highlighted alternative methods of biometric submission, such as face and iris authentication, as well as mobile OTP.
Regarding security and privacy concerns raised in the report, the government pointed out that no breaches had been reported from the Aadhaar database to date. It emphasized robust privacy protections and state-of-the-art security measures, including encryption of data at rest and in transit.
The government emphasized that not only had over a billion Indians expressed confidence in Aadhaar, but international agencies like the IMF and World Bank had also praised its role. Several nations have sought India’s guidance on implementing similar digital ID systems.
Recently, the G20 Global Partnership for Financial Inclusion (GPFI) acknowledged Aadhaar’s pivotal role in increasing ownership of transaction accounts from 25% of adults in 2008 to over 80% presently, a transformation that would have taken decades without digital ID systems like Aadhaar.
Aadhaar, the government affirmed, is the foundational Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) of the India stack, and its significance is recognized internationally. The G20 New Delhi Declaration has welcomed India’s plan to build a Global Digital Public Infrastructure Repository (GDPIR), which will be a repository of DPI shared by G20 members and beyond.
By ANI
