NEW DELHI: After considerable concern on social media, India rescinded a warning not to share photocopies of the national biometric identity card on Sunday.

The Aadhaar card, which includes a unique number linked to a person’s fingerprints as well as a face and eye scan, is designed to prevent theft and leakage in India’s social programmes. However, detractors worry that it may lead to a monitoring state.

The press information bureau removed the warning two days after it was issued, claiming that the release was issued in the context of an attempt to misappropriate a modified Aadhaar card and that it was being withdrawn “in light of the likelihood of misinterpretation.”

According to the revised statement, the Aadhaar ecosystem has sufficient protections to protect users’ identity and privacy, and that

People should not share photocopies of their Aadhaar with any organisation, according to the Friday notice, because it might be exploited. The initial announcement said, “Unlicensed private entities such as hotels or movie theatres are not permitted to collect or maintain duplicates of Aadhaar cards.”

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Screenshots of the press release and news pieces went viral on social media, and the matter was among the top 10 popular topics in India on Twitter on Sunday.

“I could have stayed in over a hundred hotels that had a copy of my Aadhar!” @ NairFYI, a Twitter user, stated, “Now this.”

“Other forms of identification have been freely given. But did they cease using these documents because they were afraid that someone would mimic them? No way! “It declares.

In 2018, India’s Supreme Court maintained the Aadhaar’s legitimacy, but raised privacy concerns and halted the government’s attempt to make it mandatory for everything from banking to telecommunications services.