Aadhar system and privacy concerns in India

As Aadhar beomces omnipresent and mandatory, concerns are being raised about the potential for mass disruption by enemies of the State or fraudsters.

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Aadhar system and privacy concerns in India

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What is Aadhar? Aadhar is a 12 digit number that serves as a unique identification for Indian citizens and residents. It was launched in 2010 with the aim of making delivery of subsidy benefits more effective and transparent, and has since grown manifold.

Increasing spread : Thereafter, more and more central ministries issued notifications making Aadhar mandatory to avail government schemes and subsidies. Today, Aadhar is practically omnipresent! All these notifications were issued in accordance with Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and Services) Act, 2016.

Money Bill! Incidentally, the Aadhar Act was passed as a money bill, and that led to instant opposition in the Parliament, and it also was challenged in the Supreme Court, which is currently hearing the crucial matter. The Supreme Court, first in 2013 and again in 2015, held that Aadhar can only be an individual’s voluntary decision as long as he is eligible to avail benefits and subsidies and the government cannot deny them those subsidies and benefits in the absence of Aadhar card. But the exact reverse has happened in practice!

Deep Dive : Read more about Aadhar here.

Income Tax and Aadhar : After the Finance Bill, 2017 was passed by the Parliament, holding and use of Aadhar card for filing of income tax returns was also made mandatory.

Is our data secure? This has raised many concerns and doubts in the minds of many. The first is regarding the security of so much information of people contained in Aadhar. What if some country hacks the Aadhar database? India deals with frequent cyber attacks from China and Pakistan, and hacking the Aadhaar database will create massive disruption! Even Google and Apple have been wary about taking to Aadhaar due to security concerns.

Forget the Right to Privacy! The second strong argument put forward is that of citizen’s right to privacy. Is the bureaucracy really sensitized and equipped to handle the Aadhar database? Their incapability to do so would create problems, and some internet users have reported that it was pretty easy to access Aadhar card informationfrom government websites! That is a nightmarish scenario.

No legal provisions to protect citizens’ privacy : The issue of legal framework is also raised. While there are safeguards in place in the Aadhar Act, they are not adequate to protect citizen’s privacy. The Aadhar Act says that information will not be disclosed except in the interest of national security. But national security is not adequately defined in the Act!

Big Brother is watching you brother! The biometric data of a vast number of citizens would give the government more intrusive powers. A proper mechanism hence needs to be put in place to avoid the misuse of citizen’s information even by the government.

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Download Resources : Also, download many PDFs on government schemes and Aadhar etc. from our Bodhi Resources page here

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