This is a good day for the Aadhaar project, and for the 60 crore people who have the Aadhaar number.
Earlier this month, the UIDAI approached the Supreme Court challenging a Bombay High Court order, one which ordered the UIDAI to share biometric data to help solve an ongoing criminal investigation. The UIDAI stated that this would open up the floodgates for all kinds of requests for resident data. In addition, the UIDAI pointed out that matching partial data to information stored in the UIDAI database would likely result in errors.
Today, the Supreme Court has upheld the UIDAI’s view. We have always stated that the data collected from residents would remain private, and not be shared with other agencies.
In its ruling today, the Supreme Court also reiterated its interim order, that the Aadhaar number should not be mandatory. In its very first strategy document and in subsequent conversations, the UIDAI had clarified that while other government agencies have the option to make the number mandatory, the UIDAI itself will not make the Aadhaar number mandatory.
Over the past year, some government agencies made the Aadhaar number mandatory for specific services and benefits. The argument was that making Aadhaar mandatory enables agencies to weed out fakes and duplicates in their systems, thus reducing corruption.
However, people should not be excluded from the benefits they are eligible for, because they don’t have an Aadhaar number. The fundamental goals of the Aadhaar number are inclusion and anti-corruption. The goals of reducing corruption should not be met at the expense of valid beneficiaries being refused their benefits.
The power of Aadhaar as an anti-corruption tool stems from its uniqueness. A unique number linked to an individual’s biometrics means that no one else can pretend to be the person receiving benefits, and therefore cannot defraud him or her. We have often heard about the truly deserving being defrauded of benefits such as pensions, or food rations when these were stolen or diverted by someone else pretending to be them.
With Aadhaar, such diversion is difficult to do, since the beneficiary can be verified using their biometric data, such as a fingerprint. The incentive for a legitimate beneficiary to use Aadhaar to withdraw their benefits – and stop theft of their own benefits is high. In such a scenario, it is increasingly the people most interested in diversion and continuing corruption, who will be most resistant to using Aadhaar for services.
I am confident therefore, that over the years, the demand for Aadhaar-linked services will become widespread.
Aadhaar is the first identity for a lot of Indians across the country.
In my visits to Aadhaar centres and in my conversations with people who have the Aadhaar card, what came out was the convenience of both the number and the process by which they received it. They found the enrolment process welcoming, simple, and hassle-free. ‘They don’t make us run from one desk to the other to get papers and permissions,’ they told me. And as a result, for the first time, today people arrive from a village to a city already possessing a valid identity, one that works anywhere in the country.
For the first time, people have an identity that is not dependent on a card they are holding – they have an identity they can confirm by just providing their fingerprint or iris.
And for the first time, their right to identity is implicit and easily established, wherever they are in the country.
And for the first time, their right to identity is implicit and easily established, wherever they are in the country.
Posted at 04:50 PM
