A selection of readers’ opinions.
Mansi Thapliyal/Reuters
Apr 30, 2018 · 10:30 pm
Aadhaar question
Good that the Supreme Court finally confronted the government on the deceit (“At the very end of SC’s Aadhaar hearings, government admits it has been dishonest all along”).
Being an avowed no-Aadhaar person, I have been diligently following developments in the case and even I, a lay person, knew the government was misrepresenting facts. I couldn’t help but wonder why the Supreme Court was allowing the Centre to diminish its standing and stature. Recently, the IRCTC offered incentives for people to link their accounts with their Aadhaar numbers. Why is the Supreme Court looking the other way?
The judiciary needs to confront the government on the information asymmetry. Why is the government not implementing data security and privacy laws with the same urgency as it is making Aadhaar mandatory for everything, even though the project’s voluntary nature is enshrined in the Aadhaar Act itself?
Even though Aadhaar-linking has been put off, all services routinely ask for Aadhaar cards. The misery caused by this ‘link-fest’ is too much. It’s high time the Supreme Court ruled that Aadhaar is voluntary and making it de-facto mandatory is unconstitutional. It also needs to spur the government into safeguarding the data and privacy of those who opt for Aadhar. And I earnestly plead to the judges not to not fall for the fait accompli argument. – Chitra D
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From the introduction of Aadhaar as a money bill to its linking with various schemes and contrary to the Supreme Court’s views, the government’s stance on Aadhaar begs clarification. The government has often issued inconsistent directives on the due dates to link Aadhaar numbers with various services. Citizens were cautioned that failure to link Aadhaar would deny them access to their bank accounts, mobile phones and a host of other related services. We as citizens look forward to the highest court of our land resolving these concerns, all the more so in the light of frequent reports of Aadhaar data being leaked into the public domain. – HN Ramakrishna
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