New Delhi, Mar 15 (IANS): The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has decided to allow residents to update documents in their Aadhaar online free of cost for the next three months.

The decision was taken as part of Digital India initiative, and residents urged to get the benefit of free document update facility on myAadhaar portal. The free service is available for the next three months, i.e., March 15 to June 14, but only on myAadhaar portal and will continue to attract a fee of Rs 50 at physical Aadhaar centres, as in the case earlier.

The UIDAI has been encouraging residents to upload Proof of Identity and Proof of Address (PoI/PoA) documents to revalidate their demographic details, especially if Aadhaar was issued 10 years back and never got updated. This will help in improved ease of living, better service delivery, and enhances authentication success rate.

If there is a need to change demographic details (Name, Date of Birth, Address, etc), the residents can use regular online update service, or may visit nearest Aadhaar centre. In such cases, normal charges will apply.

During the past decade, Aadhaar number has emerged as a universally accepted proof of identity for residents in India. Nearly 1,200 government schemes and programs, run by both the central and state governments, are using Aadhaar-based identification for delivery of services. Besides, several other services by service providers, including financial institutions like Banks, NBFCs, etc are also using Aadhaar to authenticate and onboard customers seamlessly.

As per Aadhaar Enrolment and Update Regulations, 2016; Aadhaar number holders may, on completion of every 10 years from the date of enrolment for Aadhaar, update their supporting documents in Aadhaar, at least once, by submitting POI and POA documents, so as to ensure continued accuracy of their information.