The Bill proposes to constitute a statutory authority to be called the National Identification Authority of India and lays down the powers and functions of the Authority, the framework for issuing unique identification numbers (aadhaar numbers), major penalties and other related matters through an Act of Parliament.
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Besides giving statutory status to the Unique Identification Authority of India, the Bill seeks to provide legal backing to Aadhaar, which is used to disburse subsidies.
The Bill neither plans to make the Aadhar mandatory or limit its issuance to citizens.
The government will push for the passage of a long-pending bill to provide statutory status to the Unique Identification Authority of India in the winter session of Parliament.
Unique Identification Authority of India chairman Nandan Nilekani said the Aadhar number "dramatically improves the convenience" and makes the life "simpler".
The statutory status will provide a legal foundation to Aadhaar.
It pulls out past Supreme Court orders that run contrary to the latest one.
Suggesting the bill is in line with the apex court judgment, Prasad said people of India have accepted Aadhaar. The bill proposes to allow voluntary use of Aadhaar number for authentication and identity proof in opening of bank accounts and procuring of mobile phone connections. The Bill also seeks to give a child an option to exit from the biometric ID programme on attaining 18 years of age, while stipulating stiff penalties for violation of norms set for use of Aadhaar and violation of privacy.
The UIDAI, set up in 2009, will manage the generation and authentication of Aadhaar numbers.
Microsoft, the world's largest software company, is keen to partner India in a project to issue unique identification to each citizen, its chairman Bill Gates said on Friday.
The amended bill also provides for a stiff Rs 1 crore penalty and a jail term for private entities for storing Aadhaar data.
'The government's proposal to store citizens' data including Aadhaar data under its Digital India initiative on cloud is violative of the citizens' human rights because the cloud is admittedly beyond India's jurisdiction.'
Bharatiya Janata Party member Subramanian Swamy on Friday introduced in the Rajya Sabha a private member bill which seeks "deterrent punishment", including the death penalty, for slaughter of cow and issues related to that.
Nilekani said new-age technology markets work on a winner-takes-all basis.
'If your data is hacked you cannot go to court. Only UIDAI can go to court.' 'UIDAI is lying that Aadhaar is completely secure.'
Nowhere on the planet, nowhere in mankind's history has such an idea taken the concrete shape in form of a law. The National Food Security Bill, which will come via ordinance and not after the debate in Parliament, is an incredible economic tool to tackle the hunger of poor Indians. Also, it has already been condemned widely as a political gimmick.
There are unprecedented political implications of identification based on 'biological attributes of an individual', such as employed by Aadhaar, warns Gopal Krishna.
The amendment says that UIDAI can now give directions as it may consider necessary to any entity in the Aadhaar ecosystem
Admittedly, EVMs too have a UID number and any convergence of data can make the secret ballot system a party of history, warns Dr Gopal Krishna in the 5th part of his series against Aadhaar.
The world needs to wake up to this new dimension of war at sea and be prepared to face the 'unknown enemy' who have the advantage of attacking at their choice of location and time, cautions Commodore Venugopal Menon (retd).
He said the Aadhaar programme violated informational privacy, self-determination and data protection.
Since the deadline for Justice B N Srikrishna Committee's feedback is December 31, the government is unlikely to table a data protection Bill in the winter session of Parliament.
The apex court's five-judge Constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said Aadhaar is meant to help benefits reach the marginalised sections of the society and takes into account the dignity of people not only from personal but also from community point of view.
Any miscalculation and miscommunication are fraught with the risk of a major catastrophe, warns Rup Narayan Das.
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The implementation of the much-hyped Aadhaar Card scheme is in trouble following the Supreme Court's interim order on Monday, which observed that the card can be issued only to Indian nationals and the identification number cannot be made mandatory for availing of benefits of the government's subsidy schemes.
Aadhaar now has legal backing but it still faces challenges of privacy and data sharing
'All their idealism, intensity of emotions, acute sense of right and wrong, and burning passion for public causes can never serve as justifiable grounds to be touted by students of any country, let alone of India, with all its fragility and vulnerability, to question its unity in the name of freedom of expression,' says B S Raghavan.
The linking of biometric UID/Aadhaar number to all public services makes "We, the People of India" worse than slaves, says Gopal Krishna.
So far, 758 million Aadhaar numbers have been generated.
Aadhar is set to be a preferred tool for various people- focussed initiatives of the government in the new year.
A group of 200 farmers will travel to Jantar Mantar from the Singhu border in buses with a police escort and hold protests there from 11 am to 5 pm, sources in the Delhi Police said.
Policy lays out a 5-year road map seeking creation of 3.5 mn jobs and promoting 10,000 start-ups.
Not only is your privacy stripped stark naked, says Mitali Saran, the system itself is illegal and vulnerable.
The new regime aims to bring in ease of doing business, as the NITI Aayog has proposed to do away with the need to have manufacturing licences to register medical devices or to get a certificate of compliance.
Unless the judges factor in the ungovernability of technologies and their beneficial owners, present and future Presidents, prime ministers, judges, legislators and officials handling sensitive assignments may become redundant with reference to their age-old roles for securing 'national resources and assets', warns Dr Gopal Krishna.
Some of the policy measures announced are expected to go a long way in removing current challenges on financing faced by businesses and also increasing economic activity, especially in areas of construction and manufacturing.
India is on track to register its entire 1.25 billion population using its Aadhaar digital ID.
Aadhaar-related schemes and the Aadhaar Act exist on the assumption that Right to Privacy is not a Fundamental Right.
The Bill suggests an insolvency regulator.
'Biometric Aadhaar-based surveillance is not only about violation of privacy, but also about the treasure hunt for unprecedented financial surveillance and economic intelligence in the economic history of mankind,' asks Gopal Krishna.
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