Face authentication in PM-Kisan App

Facts for Prelims

Face authentication in PM-Kisan App

News: In a first for any central welfare scheme, the government has rolled out ‘a face authentication feature’ in the PM-Kisan app.

About:
• It will enable beneficiary farmers to complete their e-KYC process by just scanning their face on mobile phones instead of using one-time password or fingerprints. It was launched by Ministry of Agriculture.
• Until now, e-KYC of the PM-Kisan beneficiaries used to be done through either biometrics at a designated centre or one-time passwords sent to mobile phone numbers linked with Aadhaar.
• During the e-KYC exercise, officials found many instances when farmers’ mobile numbers were not linked to Aadhaar due to which the process could not be completed, said an official.
• In the case of biometrics, several elderly farmers faced problems going to the nearby centre. Also, many faced the issue of non-matching of fingerprints.
• Therefore, to ease the e-KYC process, the ministry decided to introduce the face authentication feature in the PM-Kisan mobile app.