The Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) on Thursday issued a notification mentioning that Aadhaar Card was no longer mandatory for online nomination on the ‘National Awards Portal’.

The notification stated that the MHA, which has the Central government’s authorization, is allowed to perform voluntary Aadhaar authentication for the ‘National Awards Portal’ for the purposes given in the notification.

The notification read, “Online Nominations for various awards of different Ministries/ Departments. And Online Nomination from individual or organizations or Non-Governmental Organization (NGO) in various fields/ activities.”

“Under Secretary (Public), Ministry of Home Affairs shall adhere to the guidelines with respect to use of Aadhaar authentication as laid down by the Central Government,” it added.

Notably, the ‘Do you have Aadhaar’ on the National Awards Portal has been disabled. It was earlier made mandatory for the nomination of Awards.