Top News

Aadhaar Update: Big news has come for crores of smartphone users of the country. The Indian government has withdrawn its proposal to make the Aadhaar app mandatory in smartphones. This decision has come at a time when questions were being raised continuously regarding the privacy of users and device security. According to the report, the government wanted the Aadhaar app to come pre-installed in every new smartphone, but now this plan has been put on hold.

What was the government’s plan?

Earlier in the year, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had requested the IT Ministry to hold talks with smartphone companies like Apple, Google and Samsung. The objective was to have the Aadhaar app pre-installed in all new smartphones sold in India, so that it could be accessible to more and more people. The government believed that with this, users will not need to download the app again and again and the use of digital services will become easier.

Why is Aadhaar so important?

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique digital identity linked to fingerprint and iris scan. More than 1.34 billion people in the country are using it for many essential services like banking, telecom verification and airport entry. This was the reason why the government wanted to make the Aadhaar app available to more people.

Why was the decision changed?

After reviewing this proposal, the IT Ministry decided to withdraw it. However, UIDAI has not officially clarified why this step was taken. According to reports, this decision has been taken after discussions with electronics and smartphone companies, who played an important role in this issue.

Companies raised big questions

Smartphone manufacturing companies had been raising concerns about user privacy, device security and software compatibility for a long time. He said that forcibly pre-installing any government app can affect the freedom of users. According to the report, companies like Apple and Samsung had specifically raised questions on security and data risks.

The decision was changed many times before

This is not the first time that the government has withdrawn such a proposal. This is the sixth time in the last two years that an attempt was made to make mandatory pre-installation of government apps in smartphones, but every time it had to be withdrawn due to opposition from the companies.

Example of Communication Partner App

A similar case had come to light in December, when the telecom app Sanchar Sathi was made mandatory for some time. But after protests from companies and users, this decision was also soon withdrawn.

What does this mean for users?

This decision simply means that now users will have the right to choose which app to keep in their phone and Aadhaar will not be pre-installed on the phone.