Cabinet’s Aadhaar move receives mixed response
NEW DELHI: The proposed ordinance allowing private companies to use customers’ Aadhaar identities to meet their knowyour-customer (KYC) obligations has attracted criticism from some experts and activists who say it violates fundamental privacy norms, makes people vulnerable to identity thefts, and undermines the parliamentary process.
It has its share of supporters, though.
Similar mixed reactions have been received for the other decision of the cabinet that exempted the recently launched the Pradhan MantriK is an Sam man N id hi (PM-KiSAN) scheme from Aadhaar-related conditions.
The cabinet on Thursday cleared two separate proposals related to Aadhaar.
The first decision approved promulgation of an ordinance for “voluntary use” of the Aadhaar number for KYC authentication, and the other one made Aadhaar optional for small and marginal farmers to avail of the second instalment of Rs 2,000 on April 1 under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi (PM-KiSAN) scheme.
“The hurried-through ordinance, bypassing Parliament, is disturbing. The Supreme Court verdict does not permit the government to allow private entities access to personal data of citizens,” said Reetika Khera, associate professor at Indian Institute of Technology- Delhi, referring to the court’s Aadhaar judgement.
She alleged that the companies were “lobbying to get access to Aadhaar data, which will expose people to the risk of identity thefts and identity frauds”.
“It is not clear why the government passed the ordinance in a hurry, without discussions in Parliament and without debating it in public,” advocate Vrinda Bhandari, who represented petitioners against the government in the Supreme Court in the Aadhaar case, said.
In September last year, the Supreme Court said Aadhaar was constitutionally fair and gives “dignity to the marginalised”, but ordered that the government could not make Aadhaar-linking compulsory for operating bank accounts, mobile phone connections, and school or college admissions.