Aadhaar card is becoming almost mandatory for all the Indian citizens. Despite the Supreme Court’s earlier decision that stated that the Aadhaar card should not be made mandatory for basic and essential services, the government seems to be implementing a great deal of services where Aadhaar card holders will have better service.
Aadhaar Card Will Be Must for Booking Train Tickets Online
On March 2, 2016 the Indian Railway came under this category, as it announced that as a part of the plan for year 2017-2018 the Aadhaar card will be integrated into the railway’s online train ticket booking system. This essentially means that only Aadhaar card holders will be able to book their railway tickets online on the IRCTC website.
Such a decision was first announced in December, 2016, it was said that senior citizens can register their Aadhar numbers with the Indian Railway and by April this option became mandatory. This decision was made mainly to ensure that the ticket concession was being made or given to the right person.
But the decision announced clearly indicates that Aadhaar card will soon become compulsory for railway travel especially passengers looking for concession will have to provide their Aadhaar card details beforehand.
Quotes by Railway Officials
A senior railway ministry official said, “Aadhaar number will be required for one-time registration at the IRCTC ticketing site. The step is aimed at eliminating touts from registering with fake identities.”
Dr A K Manocha, IRCTC Chairman and Managing Director, while making Aadhar verification compulsory for senior citizens said; “The linking of Aadhaar cards with train tickets for senior citizens is a salutary measure designed to streamline the reservation process for people in such a category.”
He also added that, “It will bring in transparency in rail ticket reservations for senior citizens, making the verification process easy and convenient. It will also prevent misuse of such a facility as ticket collectors can instantly verify the claims of passengers.
Our objective is to ensure that only bona fide passengers with legitimate tickets travel in trains and thereby prevent revenue losses to Indian Railways.”
Dr A. K. Manocha also indirectly announced that Aadhars might become compulsory by saying that, “This is a most ambitious push to Aadhaar-based ecosystem in Indian Railways network that would end fraudulent bookings and curb cases of impersonation. In future, all ticket bookings will require an Aadhaar card.”
Adhaar Made Compulsory to Prevent Frauds
This bold decision by the Indian Railways seems to be taken mainly to prevent any bookings done by fraudulent identities, especially for concessions. Suresh Prabhu, Indian Railways Minister also hinted that this step will take Indian Railways towards a cashless, paperless and Aadhaar card based ticketing system by May 2017. The 2017-2018 plans also includes introduction of 1000 ticket wending machines and 6000 points of sales machines.
This Aadhaar based system might prove successful in providing the Indian Railway with a system that helps them detect any frauds out there but the people without Aadhaar card will be left in a fix. Don’t worry you will be able to book a train ticket but you won’t be able to do this at the luxury of your home, you will have to stand in a queues at the railway station; probably for hours.
