Himachal Pradesh 1st state to launch Aadhaar-based face authentication for PDS

Shimla: Himachal Pradesh has become the first state in the country to introduce Aadhaar-based face authentication ( FaceAuth ) for the distribution of ration to eligible beneficiaries under the public distribution system (PDS).

Gokul Butail, principal advisor (innovation, digital technologies and governance) to the chief minister, informed that till now authentication was carried out using either one-time password (OTP) or biometric method. However, frequent challenges such as short message service (SMS) delivery failures and biometric mismatches at the end of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) were causing inconvenience to the beneficiaries, he said.

With the launch of the FaceAuth mechanism, the process has now been streamlined and made more accessible, said Butail.

Unlike traditional methods, this new facility uses a mobile camera via an app installed on the fair price shop (FPS) owner's smartphone, enabling direct facial authentication of the beneficiaries, he said.

Butail further said the new system had significantly improved the authentication success rate and reduced the time taken for verification, thereby ensuring faster and smoother ration distribution .

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