Assuring secured privacy and no mandatory compliance, Ravi Shankar Prasad introduces Aadhaar Bill in the lower house

New Delhi, June 24: Amidst loud thumping in the lower house and protests by opposition parties over concerns of privacy, Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad introduced the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019 on Monday saying that Aadhaar was in national interest and it did not violate privacy.

 

“I want to reassure that there is no mandatory compliance and that the SIM cards can be taken with or without Aadhaar," Prasad cleared the fact to the house. Proposing to impose strict penalties for violation of norms, the legislation is now set to replace an ordinance issued in March this year.

 

Opposing the bill on three major key grounds, Senior leader N.K. Premachandran said that the bill violates Supreme Court’s earlier judgment, allows for private agencies to store data and violates fundamental rights.

 

The amended Aadhaar Act provides targeted delivery of subsidies and benefits to individuals residing in India by assigning them unique identity numbers, called Aadhaar numbers. It provides for the use of Aadhaar number as proof of identity of a person, subject to authentication.

 

The Ordinance replaces the provision to state that an individual may voluntarily use his Aadhaar number to establish his identity, by authentication or offline verification. Previously, a similar Bill was passed by Lok Sabha on January 4, 2019. However, it will lapse with the dissolution of the 16th Lok Sabha.