Aadhaar has
become a matter of intense public debate in recent times. The Government claims to be the torch-bearer of Aadhaar while the Congress Party claims to
be the parent of Aadhaar. Over the past several months a new angle has emerged to this
political slugfest, and that is ‘privacy’.
The ‘Privacy’ Debate
When the Aadhaar policy was challenged in the Supreme Court, the petitioners contested that Aadhaar intrudes into the citizens' right to privacy. The Government contented that privacy is not an absolute right guaranteed by the Constitution. To settle this matter, the Supreme Court set up a five judge Constitution bench to decide if privacy is a fundament right.
In August
2017, the Constitution bench unanimously ruled that privacy is an intrinsic part of
Article 21 (Right to Life), which is a fundamental right.
NDA’s Aadhaar
Policy
Coming back to
the Aadhaar issue, the Government brought in a legislation in 2016 which
mandates possession of Aadhaar Card to receive government subsidies and other
services. With this Law, the government has made Aadhaar a medium to determine
eligibility for a subsidy. This premise is flawed as the original vision of
creating Aadhaar was to establish the identity of a citizen [For example: Aadhaar
can only establish my identity as Varun, it cannot determine if I am eligible
for subsidy]. It was not conceived to determine legitimacy but to eliminate
duplicity.
This policy of
using Aadhaar as a tool to grant access to government policies has resulted in
mass exclusion of legitimate beneficiaries. To establish this point, I rely on two
instances from the state of Rajastan#, which was one of the first
states to make biometric identification mandatory for government schemes:
1. PDS
In March 2017,
Out of 1 crore legitimate ration card holders, only 74 lakh holders obtained
ration. This means, 26 lakh legitimate ration card holders could not draw
ration, even as they were entitled to it. This is known as exclusion, which the
government prefers to call as ‘savings’.
2. Pension
Out of 54 lakh
persons who were entitled to receive pension (disabled, elderly, widowed, etc.)
10 lakh persons were deleted from records. The money which is being denied to
such people constitutes the ‘savings’ claimed by the government.
Extending the
Scope of Aadhaar
It is a fact
that Aadhaar can used to tackle subsidy leakage, but at the same it cannot be
denied that Aadhaar is only a part of the solution the problem. Therefore, it is
not wise to make Aadhaar mandatory to avail government schemes across the board
as a significant section of the population has not yet enrolled for the UID.
The intent
however, does not seem confined to targeted delivery of subsidies. Aadhaar has
been made mandatory for an air ticket, mobile connection, and many more. Even
more, the government has given sweeping powers to itself under grounds of National
Security, with its definition being very broad in the Aadhaar Act. Secondly,
the government has given the UIDAI powers to regulate the scope and application
of Aadhaar. All these actions show that the real intention seems to be to build a
surveillance state.
The Way Ahead
While the
Supreme Court is ceased of the matter, the least government can do now is to make
Aadhaar voluntary. It can also replace the broad scope of ‘National Security’
in the Aadhaar Act with ‘Public Emergency’ and ‘Public Security’. Most
importantly, it must not give the UIDAI powers to regulate the application of Aadhaar.
The UIDAI must be empowered only through the Parliament. As far as concerns
regarding security and privacy of data are concerned, the government must
implement the recommendations of the Justice A.P. Shah Committee (set up by
Planning Commission in 2012) pending the outcome of the Srikrishna Committee, which
is working on a legislation regarding privacy.
#Rajastan
Food Department Website and Rajya Sabha Debates
*Views are personal
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