Deadline to link Aadhaar with SIM card is February 6, 2018

In order to make it convenient for users to get their mobile sim card linked to Aadhaar from anywhere and everywhere without having to visit their outlets, telecom operators such as Airtel, Vodadone, Idea Cellular and Jio have been instructed by the UIDAI or Unique Identification Authority of India to connect the 12-digit identification number via OTP (One Time Password) received on their mobile phones. The deadline for linking Aadhaar with the mobile SIM card is February 6, 2018. The facility will be rolled out from December 1, which means only 10 days are left now.

Last week, the UIDAI approved the telecom operators' blueprint presented by telecom companies to operationalise the OTP-based sim reverification of existing subscribers from December 1.

"Their (telecom operators') plans have been approved... They have come and we have told them they will implement (the process) from December 1," UIDAI CEO Ajay Bhushan Pandey had told news agency Press Trust of India last week.





While the authentication of mobile phone number with Aadhaar, a process called re-verification, by visiting stores of telecom firms will continue, the government has ordered the companies to carry out the exercise at the doorsteps of the disabled, chronically ill and senior citizens.

He said the new methods would also "help achieve the (re-verification) task in the given timeframe (February 6 deadline) and make the whole system more secure as it will prevent misuse of mobile number by unscrupulous elements".