- Adult Aadhaar applications require mandatory scrutiny and approval at the State HQ.
- Illegal immigration and fake Aadhaar issues have been significant in Manipur.
- A large fake Aadhaar and voter ID racket involving illegal immigrants was recently uncovered.
Manipur follows a process of issuing Aadhaar to adults that is considered the "most stringent" in the country, a senior official of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) said at a meeting with Governor AK Bhalla in the state capital Imphal on Tuesday.
For minors, the state makes it a must for parents or guardians to update their details - free of cost - when they are between 5 and 7 years old, and after turning 15, the state government said.
"It was also noted that each case of adult Aadhaar has to be mandatorily scrutinised and approved only at the level of State HQ in the office of Special Secretary Home," the Manipur government said in a statement on Tuesday.
One of the UIDAI officials present in the meeting observed that "Manipur's adult Aadhaar process is perhaps the most stringent in the country."
The high-quality checks and scrutiny process ensure that no illegal foreigners are able to obtain Aadhaar, the government said.
Based on the guidelines of the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) and the UIDAI, the "rigorous scrutiny in Manipur ensures that approval is granted only after detailed verification of Aadhaar applications," it said.
Those who attended the meeting at the Raj Bhawan included the chief secretary, and senior officers from the home department, UIDAI, social welfare, and education departments.
Police investigations into fake Aadhaar gangs in Manipur go on for a long time as local criminals often have links with 'agents' abroad who push illegal immigrants into India
The Manipur government's statement comes days after Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma in neighbouring Assam said they are planning to empower only district commissioners (DCs) to issue Aadhaar to adults, a move that could prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining the unique biometric identity number.
Manipur shares 400 km of the 1,640 km-long India-Myanmar border. Fencing along the mostly porous border has started, and is expected to take a couple of years to fence the entire length.
Illegal immigration and people using fake Aadhaar have been major issues in Manipur, where Meitei-Kuki ethnic violence broke out in May 2023.
A Myanmarese national who was arrested in Mizoram on June 24 for drug trafficking was found with an Aadhaar card in his name which was issued in Manipur.
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In June 2024, a huge racket of issuing fake Aadhaar and voter identity cards to illegal immigrants in Manipur was busted. Investigators released samples of the fake identity cards held by two Myanmar nationals, who were found living among locals in a district in Manipur.
At a meeting with MHA officials in Delhi On Monday, a delegation of three top civil society organisations from Manipur asked the Centre to begin the National Register of Citizens (NRC) exercise or a similar mechanism in the border state to address the issue of illegal immigration.
