Getting Aadhaar: Enrolment And Updates Getting Aadhaar: Enrolment And Updates Lack of Aadhaar is more prevalent among marginalised groups stories behind the data Where differences between demographic groups existed, enrolment castes.19 There were almost no enrolment differences between men and “With an Aadhaar card, I will be able to say that I am also a human being.” was almost always lower for the group that is commonly perceived women, 20 but people who identified as third gender were markedly less Ankita, Unemployed, Karnataka as socio-economically less well off: some minority religions (Muslim, likely to be enrolled (see Figure 6). 21 Rural areas had lower enrolment Christian) have lower enrolment levels than the national average; levels than urban areas, but these differences were mostly due to higher Ankita is a 40-year-old trans woman living with a community of Mangalmukhis (third gender) scheduled tribes have lower levels than OBC or intermediate enrolment in a few states that have large urban populations. 22 in Bangalore. She consistently failed to secure job opportunities and earned her living by begging. When Ankita, along with a group of others from the Mangalmukhi community, went Figure 6: Share of people who do not have Aadhaar, by demographic group to the Aadhaar enrolment centre, they were not allowed to enter. “We don't give it to you % of primary respondents and their household members people,” they were told. “You have a voter ID, that is enough.” She made four attempts over four years, and even participated in a protest rally, but each time, she was met with refusal. AGE GENDER REGION Still, Ankita remained hopeful about the value that an Aadhaar card could bring—something to show the police when they arbitrarily threatened to arrest her, or to show train conductors and landlords if they troubled her. Source: SoA Human Centred Design Research 2019 Residents have errors on their Aadhaar cards, limiting the effectiveness of the ID National average Four percent of people over 15 years of age reported errors in the information printed on their Aadhaar card. 25 Error rates varied by level of education, gender, and the state (see Figure 7). Among children, error rates were similar: 4% for 0-5 year-olds and 3% for 6-17 year-olds. People with a lower level of RELIGION CASTE education and third-gender people had more errors on their cards. 26 Figure 7: Share of people with Aadhaar who report an error on their Aadhaar card, by state % of primary respondents and household members over 15 years of age who have Aadhaar 4% National average However, the differences between individual demographic groups do not convey the full picture. We analysed some of the most marginalised populations and found that they had lower Aadhaar enrolment levels than others. Homeless and third-gender people had particularly low enrolment. About one-third (30%) of all homeless and about one-quarter (27%) of third-gender people did not have Aadhaar. The majority of them (84% of homeless and 85% of third-gender people without Aadhaar) wanted the ID but were unable to acquire it, often despite multiple attempts. 23 The reasons for their low rates of enrolment were often symptomatic of their particular status. For homeless people, a lack of documents was a major obstacle. 24 For people of third gender, problems could arise when the gender on their existing ID did not match their gender identity and appearance; compared to others, they were four times more likely to have an error in the gender data on their Aadhaar card. 19. 20. 21. 11 SoA pulse survey 2019. Upper castes form an exception to this pattern: they have lower enrolment rates than all other caste groups except scheduled tribes. SoA pulse survey 2019. Due to the difficulties in statistically representing homeless or third-gender populations in a household survey, we over-sampled them to ensure adequate coverage in the survey. Results from these groups are reported separately. 22. 23. 24. SoA pulse survey 2019. For example, Delhi (98% urban population) and Tamil Nadu (48% urban population), both large and relatively urban states, have achieved a high (97%) Aadhaar enrolment level. Two-thirds (67%) of homeless people without Aadhaar have made multiple attempts to get the ID. Two-thirds (67%) of all homeless people without Aadhaar do not have any other ID. 25. SoA pulse survey 2019. (i) We collected this data for every member in the respondent’s household. All errors were self-reported by respondents. (ii) Error rates were calculated for individuals older than 15 years to establish a need for updates. UIDAI recommends that children under age 15 update the biometrics regularly, since they tend to evolve over time. (iii) The Aadhaar card has five data fields: name, date of birth, gender, address, and photograph. Additional information that is captured but not printed is: fingerprint/ iris biometrics, mobile number, and email address. Any of these fields can also have 26. errors, but people can less easily identify these errors. (iv) Error rates for the printed fields on Aadhaar were lower than the error rates on voter ID cards (self-reported) in 9 out of 17 states. (i) SoA pulse survey 2019. Error rate by level of education: Completed Std I (5.5%), Std III (5.4%), Std X (4.6%), Std XII (4.7%), graduate degree (3.0%). (ii) SoA in-depth survey 2019. 9% of third-gender people had an error on their card. 12