Getting Aadhaar just got tougher: Here's what's changing and why
The Aadhaar system is undergoing a significant transformation to ensure only verified Indian citizens receive the unique identification number, according to a Times of India report. Originally conceived as a proof of identity rather than citizenship, Aadhaar is now subject to stricter enrolment norms, particularly for adults.
As per ToI, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) plans to use online databases of documents such as passports, ration cards, birth and matriculation certificates to verify identity before issuing Aadhaar numbers. These checks will apply both to new adult enrolments and updates to existing records.
Despite Section 9 of the Aadhaar Act stating that Aadhaar is not proof of citizenship or domicile, recent measures aim to restrict Aadhaar access exclusively to Indian citizens. Over 140 crore Aadhaar numbers have been issued in the last 15 years, including for those who are deceased, and adult saturation is nearly complete. With Aadhaar now being assigned to infants at birth, the government has decided to tighten controls on new adult registrations.To prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining Aadhaar through fake documents, the government has shifted the responsibility for verification to state authorities. Aadhaar will now be issued only after document authentication via a designated state portal, ToI reported.A government official told Times of India, 'It is going to be difficult for any illegal immigrant to now get Aadhaar,' highlighting the shift from earlier, more relaxed procedures.
Additionally, UIDAI is rolling out a second-layer verification system for Aadhaar updates and enrolments. This tool will cross-check user details against online databases of documents such as driving licenses, PAN cards, MGNREGA records, and even utility bills in the near future.These enhanced measures also align with India's centralized Know Your Customer (KYC) norms, helping to maintain a more unified and verifiable identity ecosystem.
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News18
an hour ago
- News18
India's Crumbling Bridges: A Nightmare That Must Stop Forthwith
As is the case with most disasters in Bharat today, ill-equipped villagers from the nearby area were the first to take on the challenge of the rescue and relief operations before the team of NDRF, SDRF and fire brigade reached the site. Ironically, but for an eight-wheeled tanker precariously hanging like a Damocles' Sword tethering at the brink of the ill-fated bridge, more vehicles could have drowned in the river, resulting in a much bigger casualty. The rescue and relief operations continued on the fourth day after the collapse of the Gambhira Bridge over the Mahi River in Padra taluka. Though the rescue teams with great difficulty have managed to retrieve all the vehicles from the riverbed, there is no final word yet on the rescued injured and the retrieval of the bodies of the dead from beneath the river. The rescue and relief work was rendered extremely difficult with the recovery operations hindered by the incessant rains and thick mud in the riverbed. Casualties On Wednesday, the day of the accident, the original casualty number reported was 12 dead, including three from a family. Also, 9 injured people were saved by the rescuers. By the time I began writing this piece on July 10, the number of dead had jumped to 18. When I was close to finishing the piece on July 11, the number of dead climbed to 20 with the recovery of one more body and the death of an injured person. As I conclude the piece on July 12, the number of dead has climbed to 21, with one more death. Sadly, even this is not likely to be the final number of casualties because at least two more persons are missing. The Root Cause It is too early to say with a reasonable degree of confidence why and how the Gambhira bridge collapsed. Nonetheless, one palpable reason is evident: the bridge was constructed in another era, 1985 to be precise. In those days, two-axle trucks, smaller light commercial vehicles, and lighter passenger vehicles plied Indian roads and highways, and a bridge constructed then was unfit for handling the fast-growing movement of multi-axle trucks, trailers and tankers, and passenger automobiles. That being the case, the Gambhira bridge collapse was just waiting to happen. But why did the bridge collapse? It will take time to unravel the root cause of the collapse. It is possible, like most bridge collapses in the country, that the root cause may not be known or may not be made public even if known. In the interim, Rushikesh Patel, Gujarat Health Minister and government spokesperson, stated on Friday, July 11, that as per the preliminary investigation, the collapse of the Mujpur-Gambhira bridge was due to the structural failure, specifically the crushing of pedestals and articulation joints. But the moot question that begs an answer is why too many bridges in Bharat keep tumbling down with alarming frequency? I will address this question in a short while. Before that, here in brief are the rituals that are performed after every major accident. Rituals Completed As happens in the aftermath of every such tragic accident, the President of India, Droupadi Murmu, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Gujarat Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel, and others have expressed shock at the unfortunate accident and expressed their condolences to the affected families. Also, true to their salt, the opposition parties of all hues have squarely blamed the government for the mishap. A spokesman of the Congress party has gone to the extent of asserting that the 'hollow Gujarat Model is another name for corruption". advetisement With rituals of expressing shock, offering condolences and the blame game for the accident done with, it is time for yet another ritual—the customary ex gratia announcement to the accident victims. Pricing the Lives Lost Next comes the existential question—how much worth is the life of hapless victims of such accidents, whose only fault was that they were crossing the bridge constructed, managed, and maintained by governments? Make no mistake, the innocent victims are not responsible for their deaths in accidents like the latest bridge collapse. Whether their gruesome death was owing to the structural flaws in the bridge or improper maintenance, indubitably, the blame squarely rests with the government departments responsible for keeping them in safe, usable conditions. Above being the case, what should be the reasonable compensation payable to the victims, both dead and severely injured? The governments have put the price of life lost to a paltry sum of Rs 6 lakh to the next of the dead—Rs 2 lakh from the Prime Minister's relief fund and Rs 4 lakh from the Gujarat government. As regards the injured, irrespective of the severity of injuries, the compensation to be dispensed is an abysmal Rs 1 lakh (Rs 50,000 each from the central and the state governments). advetisement I often wonder, is this the fair value of the life of innocent Bharatiyas whose death or injury is caused by the negligence of governmental authorities? I admit that no amount of monetary compensation can replace the life lost, dreams shattered, and families driven to penury, but I get genuinely baffled by the prevailing situation in Bharat for a valid reason. Here goes my reason: victims of the latest Air India disaster at Ahmedabad will each receive Rs 1 crore from the Tata Group and almost the same amount from the insurance proceeds. Why does Bharat price the cost of human casualties by the type of mode of travel? It must end forthwith. It is time for a drastic overhaul of the current paradigm of the way the country values the cost of the lives of innocents dying with alarming frequency in eminently avoidable disasters on roads, highways, bridges, and railways. It is time to shift to a just and fair compensation regime. Case Closed Chief Minister Bhupendra Patel has ordered a high-level enquiry to be conducted by the State's Roads and Buildings Department. The committee must submit its report directly to the CM within 30 days. In the interim, four junior engineers (executive engineers and assistant engineers) have been suspended. The bridge collapse story from the breaking news on TV channels and front-page coverage in the print media has already exited the media coverage till the next such accident happens somewhere in the country. Going by the past track record of such major accidents in the country, I can say so with reasonable degree of confidence that nothing much will emerge from the inquiry (by the department which itself was responsible for the upkeep of the bridges), no accountability will be fixed, and no real punishment meted out. A case in point is the Morbi bridge collapse in 2022, in which 141 people lost their lives. While some individuals, including those from the contractor side, were arrested and charged in connection with the collapse, no one has been convicted or sentenced yet, and the case is ongoing. Many victims' families are still seeking justice and accountability. The above being the case of the more serious Morbi accident, it is reasonable to expect that, sooner rather than later, the Gambhira bridge accident too will be forgotten, and the case shall stand closed. Falling Again and Again I wish the Gambhira bridge collapse were an isolated event. Sadly, it is not the case. Only in Gujarat, at least six bridge collapses have been chronicled since 2021, with the latest accident next only to Morbi in scale of the disaster, casualties, and damage to property. Bridges continue to collapse in Bharat at an alarming frequency: some during construction, after completion, before inauguration, and during usage. A typical case is that of Bihar, where nearly 2 dozen bridges collapsed in two years between 2022 and 2024, out of which 14 collapsed in just one month in 2024. Though ten engineers were suspended (suspension is no punishment), no concrete measure was taken to prevent the frequent collapse of bridges. Bridge collapses are not confined to Bihar and Gujarat. Here are some more recent cases of 2025: First, on June 15, 2025, an iron pedestrian bridge over the Indrayani River collapsed near Pune, Maharashtra. At least four people died, and dozens were injured. The reason for the collapse was ascribed to the overloading of the British-era Bridge. Second, on May 3, 2025, at least three persons were killed and two others critically injured after a concrete slab fell on them during the construction of a bridge near Khannagar. The bridge was part of the six-lane road conversion from the Kathajodi riverside of NH-16 to Cuttack Netaji Bus Terminal (CNBT). There were many more cases in 2024, 2023, and 2022—for example, Mumbai Ghatkopar (17 dead in 2024), girder failure of an under-construction railway bridge in Mizoram (30 dead in 2023), and the most gruesome Morbi bridge collapse (141 killed in 2022). Moreover, the above is not even a partial story. Collapses Galore A study published in 2020 in the international journal Structure and Infrastructure Engineering reported that between 1977 and 2020, Bharat accounted for the collapse of more than 2,130 bridges (excluding culverts and pedestrian bridges), including many under construction. Alarmingly, the study further noted that while the average life of Indian bridges was 35 years, the global average was more than 50 years. At the same time, Indian bridges reported a 25 per cent higher mortality rate than the global average. Only God Knows The task of preventing bridge collapses begins with knowing how many bridges Bharat has, knowing their precise conditions through structural audits and frequent inspections and taking timely preventive and corrective measures. When Bharat does not count its bridges properly, how can it have the framework of robust maintenance? Bridge construction and maintenance in the country are in the hands of many institutions: the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Indian Railways, Border Road Organisation, State PWDs, city governments, and others. Worse, there is no uniform practice of inspection, structural audit and taking other measures to prevent bridges from collapsing. With each agency maintaining its own records in its own way, India lacks a unified database of bridges, making it almost impossible to have a composite picture of the total number of bridges and their condition. Nonetheless, here is an attempt to quantify the problem—as per GoI Press Information Bureau data, as on 01.04.2019, there were 1,50,74 Bridges on Indian Railways' network. Also, as per another GoI data reported by the Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, as on 1-1-2019, there were 1,72,517 bridges inventoried under the Indian Bridge Management System. If one adds the number of rail and road bridges constructed since 2019 and further adds up the bridges under state and city governments and organisations like BRO, it is highly probable that the country has no less than 500,000 bridges. Proper maintenance of 500,000 plus bridges in Indian conditions, where bridges are under continuous stress of fast-growing goods and passenger traffic (90 per cent of goods throughput and an equal percentage of passenger traffic) requires a robust maintenance paradigm and a move away from the 'Chalta Hai Attitude". Keeping Bridges Fighting Fit Bharat is today the most populous country in the world. It also boasts the world's second-largest urban population after China. The current urban population is more than one and a half times the total population of the USA. Also, the urban population will be 600 million by 2023 and 822-877 million by 2050. Also, the Indian economy is growing fast. By the end of 2025, Bharat will have the fourth largest economy, by 2028 the third largest economy of the world and by 2047, it aspires to be a developed economy. Bharat also aims to be the manufacturing capital of the world. That being the case, roads and rail bridges in India must manage more fast-growing goods and passenger traffic without the periodic shock of caving in. And to increase bridges' life, their ability to carry fast-increasing loads of traffic, the integrity and stability of the bridges must be enhanced many notches. The reasons for bridge collapses are well known. These include the design flaws including but not limited to inadequate load-bearing capacity, improper material selection, or faulty engineering calculations compromising the structural integrity of a bridge, poor construction material and poor workmanship, comprehensive maintenance neglect and lack of proper inspection and audit, lack of upgradation in time to handle increasing traffic, overloading, and natural causes like floods and extreme weather conditions that impact the integrity of the bridges.
Indian Express
an hour ago
- Indian Express
Centre again relaxes SO2 emission norms for coal plants around Delhi-NCR
The Union Environment Ministry on Saturday once again relaxed its deadline for coal plants around Delhi-NCR to meet its sulphur emission (SO2) norms introduced in 2015, while completely exempting several plants located in a 10-km radius of critically-polluted areas from meeting these norms. The order, issued on Saturday, means that of the 600 coal plants that were directed to meet SO2 emissions, only 66 – located within a 10-km radius of Delhi-NCR – will have to comply. The compliance deadline for these plants will be December 31, 2027. The order effectively exempts several coal plants from installing pollution-cutting flue-gas desulphurisation (FGD) technology, which reduces SO2 emissions from the plant's exhaust gases. The government's latest order is the fifth deadline extension given to plant operators since the norms were notified in 2015. Sulphur dioxide, a harmful pollutant, also aids formation of particulate matter that is lethal and can enter the bloodstream. These 66 plants, termed as 'Category A' plants, are located within a 10-km radius of Delhi-NCR or cities with over a million population as per the 2011 Census. There are 72 plants in 'Category B' – located within a 10-km radius of critically polluted areas or cities not in compliance with national air quality standards – on whom SO2 norms will be applicable on a 'case to case' basis, the order said. Meanwhile, over 450 'Category C' plants, which are neither near Delhi-NCR nor near critically polluted areas, have been completely exempted from meeting the sulphur emission norms. However, they will have to adhere to the stack height criteria and timeline, as prescribed by the Central Pollution Control Board (CPCB), the order added. The order came on the back of multiple studies, as well as recommendations made by a high-powered committee chaired by Principal Scientific Adviser (PSA) Ajay Kumar Sood. The committee had concluded that the installation of FGD was not necessary in all coal plants. In a report, the National Institute of Advanced Studies submitted to the high-powered committee that Indian coal, used to generate 92% electricity produced by thermal plants, has a low average sulphur content. In fact, it said that FGD installation in all coal plants by 2030 will increase auxiliary power consumption and add more long-lived carbon dioxide emissions, while removing short-lived sulphur dioxide emissions. All the studies considered by the office of the PSA had instead called for focussing efforts on cutting particulate matter pollution and installing electrostatic precipitators. The order stated that the CPCB had submitted recommendations after detailed analysis and study of national ambient air quality standards of sulphur dioxide across most regions. It added that the pollution control measures were causing an increase in carbon dioxide emissions as well increasing footprint due to use of limestone, and its transportation. The order further said that an explicit recommendation has been received from the Ministry of Power about relaxation in timelines to meet norms. '…several stakeholder consultations were done with Industry… Ministry of Power, Central Pollution Control Board, scientific institutions, and other stakeholders regarding these emission standards and their timeline,' it added. The government had identified 537 coal plant units with a capacity of over 200 Gigawatts (GW) for FGD installation. Of these, the technology has already been installed in 49 units with a capacity of 25 GW, as per data provided by the government in Lok Sabha in March. Contracts awarded for 211 units (90 GW) and 180 units (58 GW) were under various stages of the tendering process. About 97 units with a capacity of 27 GW were under the pre-tendering process, the government had said. An award-winning journalist with 14 years of experience, Nikhil Ghanekar is an Assistant Editor with the National Bureau [Government] of The Indian Express in New Delhi. He primarily covers environmental policy matters which involve tracking key decisions and inner workings of the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change. He also covers the functioning of the National Green Tribunal and writes on the impact of environmental policies on wildlife conservation, forestry issues and climate change. Nikhil joined The Indian Express in 2024. Originally from Mumbai, he has worked in publications such as Tehelka, Hindustan Times, DNA Newspaper, News18 and Indiaspend. In the past 14 years, he has written on a range of subjects such as sports, current affairs, civic issues, city centric environment news, central government policies and politics. ... Read More
Time of India
an hour ago
- Time of India
Spurt in evictions: Assam eyes to reclaim encroached forest land
Guwahati: Assam is carrying out large-scale eviction drives in its forest lands for several interrelated reasons, driven by ecological, legal, and social imperatives with the objective of reclaiming vast tracts of encroached land. According to the Union environment ministry's report to the National Green Tribunal (NGT), the state's total forest area under encroachment was 3,620.9 square kilometers (3,62,090 ha) as of March 2024, making it the second highest among all Indian states and Union Territories, after Madhya Pradesh. The eviction drives in forest lands are primarily motivated by the need to reduce human-wildlife conflict, comply with judicial orders, restore ecological balance, reclaim land for public use, and enforce land laws. These efforts are complex and often controversial, reflecting the intersection of conservation priorities, legal mandates, and social dynamics. The biggest impact of the unabetted encroachment of forest lands for decades in the state has been on wildlife habitats, resulting into high incidence of human-animal conflict, particularly with elephant. Assam, particularly districts like Goalpara, has some of the highest rates of human-elephant conflict in India where encroachment into forest areas disrupts elephant corridors and habitats, leading to frequent and sometimes fatal encounters between humans and wildlife. by Taboola by Taboola Sponsored Links Sponsored Links Promoted Links Promoted Links You May Like [화제] 150cm엄마,170아빠 이거먹고 우리아이는 180cm됐습니다! 3개월만에8cm성장 더 알아보기 Undo The eviction drives also aim to reclaim forest land to restore ecological integrity, protect biodiversity, and ensure the survival of endangered species by reviving degraded habitats. The Gauhati high court has explicitly directed the Assam govt to clear encroachments from protected forest areas. These orders often follow petitions highlighting the impact of encroachment on wildlife and forest conservation. The NGT has also mandated updated reporting and action on forest encroachment, further compelling the state to act. In some cases, land cleared of encroachment is earmarked for public infrastructure projects, such as power plants, which the government argues are for regional development and public welfare. According to data given by forest minister Chandra Mohan Patowary in assembly last March, of the total forest land under encroachment, over 83,000 ha are encroached by neighbouring states, over 2,50,000 ha by people of the state, and over 1,000 ha by tea gardens. Chief minister Himanta Biswa Sarma recently said over 25,000 ha (more than 10,000 ha) of encroached land has been cleared in last four years. Since the BJP govt came to power in Assam in 2016, eviction drives targeting forest land, govt land, and religious places have increased dramatically compared to previous administrations. The govt cites restoration of ecological balance, curbing human-elephant conflict, and removal of illegal immigrants as primary reasons. Many eviction drives have been conducted under direct court orders or PILs, especially after a 2015 Gauhati HC directive to clear encroachments from Kaziranga National Park. The drives have been criticized for disproportionately targeting minority (especially Bangladesh-origin Muslim) communities, and for lack of rehabilitation and short notice periods.
