by swetha 1 day ago 0 comments
UID Scheme Is Not Mandatory Say’s Govt: The Narendra Modi Govt made it clear to the Supreme Court that possessing a Aadahar Card is Voluntary but not Mandatory.
Govt Says Aadhar Card is Voluntary But Not Mandatory:
The Central Govt made it clear that Unique Identification Scheme (Aadhar) scheme is “voluntary” and not mandatory. The supreme court earlier stopped the authorities from making the Aadhaar card mandatory to provide additional benefits to public in September 2013, seeking Narendra Modi government to clear whether it would continue with the scheme.
A joint affidavit was filed by the Govt including finance ministry, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and other authorities in response to the court’s question based on a petition challenging the validity of the Aadhaar card scheme. The Govt Said that “There is a strong case for continuation of the UID scheme in view of the widespread use and the benefits being provided to the Aadhaar enrollees,”
The government added “The enrollment to the UID scheme is purely on a voluntary basis and it is not mandatory upon any person to enroll with UID scheme and consequently part with their biometric information,”
Government also provided the data of the scheme along with the affidavit, “As on March 31, 2015 a cumulative expenditure of Rs5,980.62 crore and over 1,000 crore on IT infrastructure has been incurred under the scheme.”
Over 80.46 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated, 16.25 crore bank accounts have been linked to it enabling the public to get direct benefit transfer (DBT), over 37 crore LPG subsidy transfer transactions amounting to total of over Rs 11,500 crore and a total of 61.04 lakh payment transactions have been done through DBT across the country for 34 schemes amounting to Rs 681.14 crore,”
A PIL was filed by Bangalore resident Mathew Thomas claiming that collection of data regarding Aadhar is carried out certain foreign companies with alleged uncertain details which will affect privacy.
The Govt said “Robust measures are being adopted to safeguard the information related to Aadhaar and its usage. UID scheme ensures data security protection.”