PM Narendra Modi has done well by adopting the Congress game-changer Aadhaar. It is time now to get the UIDAI Bill passed to give it statutory status to end all confusion.
It was a mistake by the UPA government led by the Congress party to launch Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfer (DBT) without any preparation, just to project it as a scheme which will transfer the benefits of social sector schemes directly to the bank accounts of the beneficiary, and benefit from it in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections.
The scheme failed miserably in delivering results during the UPA time and also in helping the Congress party to improve its fortunes.
But, Prime Minister Narendra Modi did a smart job of deciding to adopt Aadhaar instead of chucking it, after Nandan Nilekani, the creator of Aadhaar platform, convinced him that it will work wonders for the government.
Since then, utilisation of Aadhaar for delivery of social sector schemes by the government has gained tremendous pace – even if the DBT in LPG is left out where it has delivered substantial gains.
At the time of completion of one year of Jan Dhan Yojana on August 28, banks had already opened about 17.74 crore accounts under the scheme with deposits of more than Rs 22,000 crore and Aadhaar was seeded in 42% of these accounts.
Similarly, 3,515,634 permanent account numbers (PAN) are now attached to Aadhaar that will ensure efficient handling of tax payments and refunds.
While these efforts are going on with increasing pace, Aadhaar is also a great help for people in opening bank accounts, getting passports and several other services, which were out of reach of a big chunk of the population in the absence of an acceptable identity proof.
In this backdrop, clearly, the decision of the three-judge bench of the Supreme Court led by Justice J Chelameswar on Wednesday to not make its August 11 order less stringent – which restricted its use to public distribution system and LPG subsidy – till a Constitution Bench considers the legal issue relating to the right to privacy in collection of biometric data for Aadhaar cards – is a big setback for Digital India and other such schemes.
So, what should the government do now?
If both the Congress party and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) are on the same page on utilisation of 92 crore-strong Aadhaar base, It will be a good idea to quickly get the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Bill passed in Parliament, if possible in the Winter session itself, to provide Aadhaar a statutory status and end the confusion.
The rejection of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance of The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, to provide statutory status to the UIDAI, had derailed this exercise.
With many of the concerns raised by the panel on Aadhaar’s technology, use and implementation of DBT, now addressed, and the BJP government coming to power, it is an opportune time to get the Bill passed.
The fact of the matter is, if more than 92 crore people have already enrolled with Aadhaar, it can’t be junked or allowed to gather dust by delays in making use of it.
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