(LiveMint)
In a move aimed at providing legal backing to a Cabinet decision allowing voluntary linkage of Aadhaar with mobile phone numbers and bank accounts, the government on Wednesday introduced a bill in the Lok Sabha to amend three laws. The bill to amend the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002 is crucial.
The government is trying to create the ground for allowing Aadhaar usage by private entities despite a Supreme Court ruling in September that Aadhaar can only be used for welfare schemes and for delivering state subsidies. It had barred private companies from using Aadhaar data for authenticating customers. The court sought to address privacy concerns and said it was not mandatory to link Aadhaar with bank accounts or mobile phone numbers.
The draft Aadhaar amendment bill puts the onus on offline verification of Aadhaar number holders where the individual will be verified through QR codes without submission of biometric or demographic information to data servers of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). “Offline verification means the process of verifying the identity of the Aadhaar number holder without authentication through such offline modes as may be specified by regulation,” according to the amendment bill.
