Sunday 3 April 2016

Adhaar card woes

I have had my Adhaar card for a few years now; much before the government started incentivising it. However, then the card did not have a phone number information with it. Now, when I want to use it, it seems the new portal needs phone authentication. I guess whoever implemented that feature never thought of backward compatibility. Now, even though I have an adhaar card, I can't use it.

I guess I am part of collateral damage in government's march for progress. I talked to adhaar customer care and they told me to go to the Adhaar office at Banjara hills, Hyderabad and meet the manager of the institution, who should be able to update my phone number. When I went there, the manager was a difficult person to find as the place was jam-packed. He told me that he can't do it in the afternoon and asked me to come during the morning some other day.

All this while I wasn't aware that there is an adhaar office at Madhapur. The customer care associate (read moron) had asked me for my PIN code and she could not find which office is nearer to me. So, this time I went to the nearer office. The manager of the first office had told me that the office will be open on weekends too. However, when I went to the second office, it was closed on weekends.

I guess this is the bottom line of "digital India". You still need to make multiple trips to government agencies to get the simplest of things done.

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