Govt says no plan to use Aadhaar data for census

The government has no plan to use Aadhaar data for census, Minister of State for Electronics and IT Rajeev Chandrasekhar told Lok Sabha on Wednesday.

"The Office of the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India has informed that there is no plan to use Aadhaar data for census," he said in a written reply.

According to the Unique Identification Authority of India, more than 136 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued by it till the end of February.

"... after adjusting for the estimated number of deaths, the estimated number of living Aadhaar number holders is 130.2 crore, which is over 94 per cent of the total projected population for 2022," Chandrasekhar said in reply to questions by Congress member Adoor Prakash.

Further, the minister said there is is no mechanism to receive the Aadhaar numbers of deceased persons from the Registrars appointed by state governments under the provisions of the Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 for the registration of births and deaths, to de-activate those Aadhaar numbers.