Travel bookings, banking apps, even a chai-vendor loyalty programme — Aadhaar is steadily becoming the required ID, not the recommended one. We tracked one citizen for a week.
When Anita Khatun, a teacher in Pune, tried to renew her insurance policy last month, the form she was sent only had one ID field. It was labelled "Aadhaar".
She had four other government-issued IDs in her wallet. The form took none of them.
How we got here
The original Aadhaar architecture was deliberately designed to be one of several valid IDs. Over the past four years, that position has eroded — first informally, then through a series of small regulatory changes that quietly removed alternatives.
A teacher's professional license renewal. A health insurance claim. A mutual fund withdrawal. All three, in 2025, default to Aadhaar with no other accepted option. The original rules said they should accept any of five.
What's changing
The Unique Identification Authority told Decode by email that "Aadhaar remains one of multiple valid identification options" and that the choice of accepted IDs rests with each service provider. That position is technically true and substantively misleading.
What you can do
You can still refuse to provide Aadhaar in most contexts and demand an alternative. In practice, this requires you to know the rule, find the form to invoke it, and be patient with whoever is asking. hi
Edited by Kabir Singh