The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016 is a money bill of the Parliament of India.
[2][3] During the budget presentation on 29 February 2016, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that a bill will be introduced within a week which will provide legislative support to the Aadhaar.
Ghulam Nabi Azad, an INC leader, wrote in a letter to Jaitley that the ruling party BJP was trying to bypass the Rajya Sabha, as they did not have the majority in the upper house.
[1] Tathagata Satpathy of Biju Janata Dal (BJD) had raised concerns that the project could be used for mass surveillance or ethnic cleansing in the future.
[10] Rajeev Satav of INC reminded the house that initially the ruling-party BJP had opposed the Aadhaar during the reign of United Progressive Alliance (UPA), before turning around and supporting it.
Sitaram Yechury of Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI-M) argued that the bill was unconstitutional as the Constitution guarantees the freedom of life and liberty and privacy comes under it.
[19] The Clause 2 (g) defines "biometric information" as photograph, finger print, iris scan, or "other such biological attributes" of an individual.
It explicitly excludes race, religion, caste, tribe, ethnicity, language, records of entitlement, income or medical history.
According to Clause 3 (2), at the time of registration the enrolling agency must inform the resident about the manner in which the data will be used, with whom it will be shared and procedure of access.
The Clause 13 states the chairperson and members must have experience and knowledge of at least 10 years in matters relating to technology, governance, law, development, economics, finance, management, public affairs or administration.
[20] The Clause 34 states that providing false information in an attempt to impersonate carries a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison and/or a fine of ₹10,000.
The Clause 38 states that unauthorised access to the Central Identities Data Repository, causing damaging to it or leaking the information stored on it carries a maximum penalty of 3 years in prison and/or a minimum fine or ₹100,000.
[20] The Clause 48 states that the central government may supersede the UIDAI for a period of up to 6 months, if it fails to performs its duties or due to a public emergency.
He also said that this will check wastage of public funds, corruption, fake degrees and improve matching of jobs to employees in the labour market.
[22] Jean Drèze, development economist, said that the bill was designed to evade Supreme Court orders restricting the usage of Aadhaar.
He argued that despite declaring it voluntary the government had created practical compulsions for enrolment, and an intervention of the Supreme Court was need to end the "doublespeak".
[citation needed] A five judge bench on 15 December 2017 agreed to the Central government's decision to extend the deadline of linking of "everything", including mobile phones and bank accounts, to Aadhaar card till 31 March 2018.