Assam Cabinet restricts Aadhaar issuance for adults to curb illegal immigration

📌 Summary:

• The Assam Cabinet decided to stop issuing Aadhaar cards to individuals above 18 years of age to prevent illegal immigrants from obtaining the document
• CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said adults will not be issued Aadhaar except in special cases routed through the District Commissioner, who will submit a proposal for state government approval
• Aadhaar enrolment for those below 18 will continue
• Justification: Aadhaar enrolment in Assam has reached saturation, with coverage exceeding 100% in some districts
• The move ties Aadhaar issuance to internal security and border/immigration management in a sensitive border state

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS3 (Internal Security) — border management, illegal immigration and document integrity; links to GS2 governance and the federal interface between a state and a central identity scheme.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Aadhaar is issued by UIDAI under the Aadhaar Act, 2016
• Assam shares a border with Bangladesh; NRC/illegal immigration are long-standing issues there
• Saturation = enrolment coverage at/above 100% in some districts

🔑 Key Term: Aadhaar saturation — the stage at which nearly the entire eligible population is already enrolled, so fresh adult enrolments are treated as exceptions.