Awareness Awareness Many people find that Aadhaar is de facto mandatory for bank accounts and SIM cards 3.1 Awareness Many people believe they understand Aadhaar-related processes well—until they encounter prob- Despite the Supreme Court ruling, some banks and telecom providers provide when signing up: a majority of those who provided Aadhaar continue to make Aadhaar de facto mandatory ID for savings accounts believed and/or were told that they must provide Aadhaar in order to and SIM cards. Most people did not have a true choice of which ID to access the service (see Figure 18).70 lems. But, without deeper awareness, people do not know—and therefore cannot exercise—their rights and / or use features or services that could help alleviate some of the challenges the face. Figure 18: Reasons why people provide Aadhaar to access private-sector services % of respondents who used Aadhaar to access the service Just over half of all people report that they understand Aadhaar-related processes and find them easy to use Over half of all respondents who tried to enrol believed that they fully or mostly understood the processes around Aadhaar enrolment (53%); and among people who tried to update, a slightly larger share felt they understood the relevant processes (65%). However, people who were elderly, homeless or third-gender felt less confident in their understanding. Irrespective of religion, caste and whether they were male or female, the majority of people (65%) found all processes (from enrolment to updates to linking) easy. A small group (2%) found all processes difficult. However, ease varied greatly by state: people in Assam found it most difficult to enrol in Aadhaar; people in West Bengal found it easiest.67 Digging deeper, gaps emerge: foremost, the majority of people do not know when Aadhaar is legally mandated and when it is not Awareness of exception handling and grievance redressal mechanisms is low Figure 17: Share of people who mistakenly believe providing Aadhaar is mandated by law, by service Even if people were aware of their rights, they did not have a clear understanding of how % of respondents to enforce them. Awareness of redressal mechanisms was low, or else people do not feel empowered to use them. Most people could not differentiate between circumstances in which providing Aadhaar is mandated by law and those in which it is not. UIDAI has implemented an Aadhaar helpline and a formal complaints process. However, For example, according to the Supreme Court ruling in 2018, Aadhaar among people who faced problems with enrolling in or updating Aadhaar, only a small share cannot be made mandatory for private-sector services.68 The Supreme (13%) knew about central or regional Aadhaar helplines, and even fewer (1%) used them.71 Court also ruled that Aadhaar should not infringe on the right to Formal complaints were similarly rare: only 4% of people who faced problems while applying education (RTE).69 Yet most people incorrectly believed that providing or updating filed a formal complaint. Aadhaar is mandatory for private-sector services, such as SIM cards (83%) and bank accounts (90%), as well as for school enrolment (71%; see Figure 17). Only 6% of Aadhaar holders had ever refused to provide the ID when asked. stories behind the data "Helpline is of little help. We put 'server down' on our WhatsApp group to inform people about the ration store." Ration Store Provider, Maharashtra The ration store providers we spoke to found it hard to get technical support and official explanations when they faced issues. When the server was down, they were unable to use the biometric machine, and could not distribute rations to customers. They relied on informal channels to spread word about the delays. 66. 67. 68. 69. 29 (55%), and social pension (67%) with Aadhaar. Fewer people without formal education reported easier access to PDS (41%), MGNREGS (27%), or social pensions (36%). We defined elderly as above 70 years of age. Forty-two per cent of respondents in Assam found it easy to enrol in Aadhaar, compared to 93% in West Bengal. Supreme Court of India. Judgment no. 35071/ 2012, 26 Sep 2018. Article 21A of the Constitution guarantees the right to education and makes it a fundamental right of Source: SoA Human Centred Design Research 2019 children between 6 and 14 years of age. The Supreme Court ruled that such a right cannot be taken away by imposing upon children the requirement of holding an Aadhaar card (SCI, Judgment no. 35071/ 2012, page 393). 30