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New Delhi: In a major development the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has reportedly deactivated more than 1.4 crore Aadhaar numbers across the country. However it is important to note that these Aadhaar numbers belong to deceased individuals. UIDAIs step is part of Modi governments clean-up drive that began last year to ensure that welfare scheme benefits reach the right people and no false claims are made in the name of the deceased. According to a report by The Times of India UIDAI CEO Bhuwanesh Kumar said Deactivating Aadhaar numbers of deceased persons is necessary to maintain the credibility of welfare schemes and to prevent any scope of misuse. This ensures that public funds are not wasted on fraudulent claims or identity fraud. Here are some of the key details: Aadhaar is linked to more than 3300 government schemes. UIDAI aims to deactivate nearly 2 crore Aadhaar numbers of deceased individuals by December 2025. According to UIDAI officials the biggest challenge in this campaign is that providing an Aadhaar number is not mandatory for death registration. In many cases either the Aadhaar number is not recorded in death records at all or it is entered incorrectly or incompletely. The data is scattered across different financial and non-financial institutions making verification and matching extremely difficult. Profits Divided in the Names of the Deceased The government has noted that there have been several instances in the past where government benefits were issued in the names of deceased individuals. To address this issue UIDAI has been running a continuous campaign. UIDAI has appealed to citizens to report deaths on the mAadhaar portal. CEO Kumar said “Maintaining an accurate database is essential to safeguard millions of beneficiaries and will further strengthen India’s digital identity system.”