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On the eve of the Union Budget, a spirited debate saw nearly all parties fiercely dissect the Aadhaar Amendment Bill in the Lok Sabha, on Thursday, 4 July. The Lower House passed the bill to allow use of Aadhaar as proof of identity for opening bank accounts and procuring mobile phone connections.
A common refrain among Opposition MPs was framed around the necessity of tabling the Amendment Bill despite the Personal Data Protection Bill not having been tabled in Parliament.
Several MPs including Trinamool Congress’ Mahua Moitra, Congress’ Shashi Tharoor, Nationalist Congress Party’s Supriya Sule among others raised the issue in the context of privacy concerns surrounding Aadhaar.
On 26 September 2018, a five-judge Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court upheld the constitutional validity of Aadhaar by a 4-1 majority. The Court, however, struck down several sections of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016
The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on 24 June, and once passed by the Rajya Sabha will replace an Ordinance issued in March 2019.
The amendments provide for use of Aadhaar number for KYC authentication on voluntary basis under the Telegraph Act, 1885, and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Put simply, this means it will allow voluntary use of Aadhaar number for authentication and identity proof in opening bank accounts and procuring mobile phone connections.
Displaying his personal Aadhaar card in the House, the Minister said the card only discloses his name, father's name, date of birth, residential address and does not give out any information on medical records or details of caste, religion and community.
He said the government has saved Rs 1.41 lakh crore due to Aadhaar and removed 4.23 crore and 2.98 crore bogus LPG connection and ration cards respectively.
Prasad said the Bill is a wholesome amendment following the Supreme Court order. "Since crores of poor people are benefiting by using Aadhaar, hence in emergency we brought the Ordinance," he said.
The minister further said the government would soon bring a data protection legislation in the House as it believes that India's data sovereignty has to be respected and the country should have a data analytics centre.
"The data protection law is work in progress. We have the Justice Srikrishna Committee report. Some more inter-ministerial consultation is going on," Prasad said. Justice Srikrishna panel had submitted its report in July 2018.
Defending the tabling of the bill prior to the data protection bill, Prasad said if crores of people are happy with Aadhaar, what is the House’s problem with it ?
Participating in the debate on the bill, Ritesh Pandey (BSP) said there is a need to improve it.
Supriya Sule (NCP) said that "You are cheating common man... What privacy we are talking about?" Hitting out at the BJP, she said that "they are only growing on the programmes which UPA started." "Why is Aadhaar card compulsory? What is it? What is voter card then? We all have voter ID," she said.
R Natarajan of CPI (M) said he strongly opposed the Bill on the ground that it was in contravention to the Supreme Court judgment.
Slamming the government, Asadussin Owaisi (AIMIM), Rammohan Naidu (TDP) and K RSP’ Premachandran alleged the government was seeking to benefit private entities from the legislation. He also demanded that the bill be sent to Standing Committee or Select Committees of Parliament.
Opposing the bill, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, Leader of the Congress in the Lok Sabha, said the government used the ordinance route to bring in the legislation. Chowdhury said it was the UPA government, which brought in the law, to which Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said the NDA government gave legal status to Aadhaar.
(With inputs from PTI)
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