According to Aadhaar Act, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) allows every citizen to keep a soft copy of their Aadhaar card which is as legitimate as the physical one. For validating the digital copy, it comes with a printed signature as proof.
Aadhaar is a 12-digit identity number based on biometrics and demographic data. It is commonly referred to as proof of residence and not citizenship.
What is a digital signature?
After you have downloaded an electronic copy of your Aadhaar from e-aadhaar portal on the UIDAI website, it will be available in a password-protected PDF file.
To ascertain whether your digital copy has a signature, look at the validity space below in the PDF card. If it has a "?" sign, it implies your digital Aadhaar has to be manually validated.
Here's how to add a digital signature to your e-Aadhaar copy:
Step 1: Open the electronic Aadhaar PDF which you have generated through the UIDAI website and add your pin.
Step 2: Once it is open, locate the "Validity Unknown" icon, right click on it, and click on "Validate Signature".
Step 3: A new window will pop up, click on "Signature Properties". Click on "Show Certificate".
Step 4: Check that there is a certification path named "NIC sub-CA for NIC 2011, National Informatics centre". Put a mark on it, click the "Trust" tab and "Add to Trusted Identities".
Step 5: Reply "OK" to the security question window. Tick the field "Use this certificate as a trusted root" and click "OK" twice.
Step 6: Finally, click on "Validate Signature" to complete the validation.
According to the UIDAI website, once "NIC sub-CA for NIC 2011, National Informatics centre" has been as a trusted Identity, any later documents with digital signatures from CCA will be validated automatically.
