India, Sept. 15 -- From October 1, only people who have been authenticated using Aadhaar will be able to book reserved general tickets online during the first 15 minutes of opening of online general reservation on the IRCTC website and mobile app, the railways said in a statement on Monday.

The railways said the change was being incorporated to ensure that the benefits of the reservation system reach the end user and are not misused by unscrupulous elements.

"Our focus is to ensure fair access to tickets and deliver the benefits of the scheme to genuine users. We had earlier introduced measures only for Tatkal booking, but with this step, the focus is to give just an opportunity to all genuine passengers," a railways ministry official s...