The Aadhaar Bill, 2016 was passed recently by the Lok Sabha and was then returned by the Rajya Sabha with certain amendments to be made and were then rejected with the Lok Sabha passing it as a Money Bill.
Although the Aadhaar is not compulsory as of yet, it has been made mandatory for the procurement of a number of government schemes and options. This Bill has carefully mentioned that each resident is ‘entitled’ to an Aadhaar number and also specifically states that the government may ‘require’ citizens to enroll for this card in order to verify his/her identity for the purpose of receiving a government service or subsidy. Aadhaar number was first put forth as an equivalent to the Social Security Number system that is prevalent in the United States of America. A number of controversies arose due to the security of online database that stored Aadhaar related information. What is an Aadhaar card? The Aadhaar card is a 12 digit unique identification number that is allocated by the UIDAI or the Unique Identification Authority of India. This number acts as a proof of identity as well as address and contains biometric information of the individual. Individuals can procure this card at a number of Aadhaar Seva Kendras throughout the country. What is the Aadhaar Bill? The Aadhaar Bill has been put forth with plans to utilise the identification number of the individual that has been provided by the UIDAI or the Unique Identification Authority of India in order to deliver State subsidies to the bank account of the beneficiary directly. Why is this Bill so important? A number of subsidies, payments and schemes are being offered by the Government of India to those who are economically backward but these payments are not provided directly. A number of intermediaries are involved and in the resultant chain, there is a high chance of the amount getting lost or misplaced due to bribes, mismanagement or even corruption. In order to curb this menace and to make matters more transparent, the government wishes to transfer the subsidy amount directly to the bank account of the beneficiary through the Jan Dhan Account - Aadhaar Number - Mobile Number, also known as JAM initiative. This initiative expects to reduce the Centre’s subsidy bill quite steeply. For example, there are around 17.8 crore LPG connections that are provided in India and the government provides 10 cylinders as subsidy to every family. In 2015, a number of individuals voluntarily gave up their LPG subsidy enabling the government to transfer resultant amount into the bank account of the households that required it. How does this impact individuals? The Aadhaar Bill directly affects individuals in two important ways. With the government now asking for the Aadhaar number prior to providing various schemes and subsidies, this document may be a necessity and is time all individuals procure this document. A concern that most individuals have is that since there is no much personal information of citizens on the web with the government, it might be misused or vulnerable to misuse by authorities or even data theft. However, in order to allay concerns, a few safeguards have been put into place. The UIDAI is not allowed to share information regarding any individual’s personal details except in two circumstances that have been mentioned in Section 33 of the Bill. The first one is in the interest of ‘National Security’ wherein a joint secretary working in the Central Government may issue a directive for the same. This decision will also reviewed by an oversight committee which comprises of the Secretaries of Legal Affairs and IT and Electronics along with Cabinet Secretary. Courts may also order that information of an individual be revealed. In conclusion, the Aadhaar card may come with its share of privacy and other concerns but at the end of the day is an important document that provides both proof of address as well as identity, and is hence advisable for every citizen to avail this document.
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