The government has withdrawn the advisory that had asked citizens not to share photocopies of their Aadhaar to any organisation to prevent misuse. In a statement issued on Sunday, the government withdrew UIDAI’s earlier press release, citing “possibility of misinterpretation”.

The Centre clarified, “UIDAI issued Aadhaar card holders are only advised to exercise normal prudence in using and sharing their UIDAI Aadhaar numbers.”

The Unique Identification Authority of India, or UIDAI, in the earlier statement, had suggested that citizens should only share masked copies of their Aadhaar cards to prevent misuse.