The Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Amendment Rules, 2025 has been recently notified by The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

• The rules outlines a process to provide Aadhaar Authentication to private entities based on the approval of their proposal for the facility

About the Amended Rules

• Objective: To enable both government and non-government entities to avail Aadhaar authentication service for providing various services in the public interest and to help improve transparency and inclusivity in the decision-making process.
• Purpose: Aadhaar authentication is sought for providing services for specific purposes like,
  • Enablement of innovation, spread of knowledge, promoting ease of living of residents and enabling better access to services for them in sectors like e-commerce, travel, tourism, hospitality and health sector, etc
• Proposal: Any private entity willing to utilize Aadhaar authentication, shall prepare a proposal for a purpose specified in rule 3 of the Aadhar Act and submit it to the concerned Ministry or Department of the respective government..
  • The concerned ministry will forward the proposal to the Union government along with its recommendations to the Centre.
• Examination: The applications of private entities will be examined by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) 
• Approval: The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity) will issue the approval based on the recommendation of UIDAI for using Aadhaar authentication.
• Notification: The concerned ministry or department of the central or state government will notify the entity for Aadhaar usage after receiving confirmation from The Ministry of Electronics and IT (Meity).
  • Rule 3: It allows Aadhaar authentication for usage of digital platforms to ensure good governance, prevention of dissipation of social welfare benefits and enablement of innovation and the spread of knowledge.
    • One of the sub-rules under rule 3 mandates that Aadhaar authentication should be on a voluntary basis.

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Private Entity Authentication of Aadhaar

• Puttaswamy v Union of India (2018): The five-judge Supreme Court judgment in Puttaswamy v Union of India (2018) struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016. It disallows private entities from using Aadhaar authentication services.
  • The Supreme Court had termed Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act “susceptible to misuse”. 
• The Section 57: It  empowered private entities to seek and use Aadhaar authentication for business purposes.
  • Private companies like Paytm and Airtel Payments Bank sought Aadhaar details from customers under this provision to establish their entities.
• Reading down Section 2(d) of the Aadhaar Act: The  court also ruled that authentication record should not include metadata. Records cannot be kept beyond the period of six months.

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