Dinesh Kamath's Editorial 'Problems related to Aadhar and Pan Cards' that was published in Newsband

Problems related to Aadhar and Pan Cards

Centre’s decision making Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and linking their PAN with it has not pleased many in the South. Most people in the South use initials either before or after their names. This has created a problem. Attempts to integrate the Aadhaar with the PAN have failed for many.

When PAN was issued, people were asked to expand their initials, and the card was issued with the full name. Initials were expanded only for the purpose of getting a PAN card and a passport. However, the Income Tax department’s software has not been accepting the integration of the two cards.

One solution to this issue is to either apply for a name correction in the Aadhaar or on the PAN card. But this defeats the whole purpose of Aadhaar being a one-time enrolment exercise.

Name correction is not possible as PAN doesn't allow you to have single letter initials as first or last name. So only option left is to change name in your AADHAR by expanding your initials, which ultimately means you have to lose your identity.

In South, there is no concept of surname in general. The name is either preceded or followed by initials which are first letters of ancestral place or clan and the second letter is the first letter in father's name.

Government has no machinery to handle countless requests for change in basic docs. It is time the issue is addressed seriously and urgently.

There is no uniformity in Government offices. Just like in Passport, there should be columns for (1) First Name (2) Middle Name and (3) Last Name/Surname. There should be no initials. This should start from the Birth Certificate, School admission application, Aadhaar, Passport, Bank accounts (minor accounts) etc. in that order. There should be a guideline/instructions from the Central Government to all the State Governments to be implemented for future generation. In the meanwhile, those who are stuck up, mandatory linking of PAN with Income Tax PAN Card for those who have already been issued Pan Card should not be insisted upon, but mere quoting of the Aadhaar number should be sufficient.

It is odd that the person who designed the Aadhar did not know of this peculiarity of South Indian names. Aadhar should be for subsidies and should not be mandatory for PAN linking. FM must give a thought to this. Aadhar should be optional or one of the proofs but not mandatory.