Aadhaar is mandatory for driving licence

New Delhi: The draft notification to amend rules for driving licences proposes Aadhaar as one of the documents that can be submitted as address and age proof, the government said on Friday. It said the draft notification to amend the form of application for licence to drive a motor vehicle and the form of driving licence, as prescribed in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, has been submitted to the law ministry for legal vetting.

"As per information received from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Aadhaar card has been incorporated as one of the options in the list of documents to be submitted by the applicant as proof of address and age," Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written statement to the Rajya Sabha. "However, if an applicant does not have an Aadhaar card, there is a provision for submission of other alternative documents like passport, birth certificate, Life insurance policy etc," Prasad said.

He added that there have been instances of concerns being raised on the security of Aadhaar data. "All the concerns raised regarding the security, have been dealt with and addressed by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Adequate legal, organisational and technological measures are in place for the security of the data stored with UIDAI," Prasad said. He added that biometric information, including iris scan and fingerprints, is securely stored in an encrypted form at UIDAI's Central Identities Data Repository.