 "LS passes Aadhaar Bill to empower citizens")
Welcoming the move, Nandan Nilekani, architect of Aadhaar and former chairman of Unique Identity Authority of India said, “Aadhaar has got bipartisan support. It started in the UPA and the government used Aadhaar for direct benefit transfer for 30 million LPG connections. This (NDA) government has the wisdom to take it forward and make it the central pillar of its subsidy regime. With the legal issue settled, it could be used for transforming government, as well as transforming business.”
While moving the Bill for discussion and passage, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the primary focus was usage of money belonging to the Consolidated Fund of India to deliver targeted subsidies to only the deserving, which will help plug leakages and save thousands of crores of rupees.
Jaitley said 990 million people, which include 97 per cent of adult India and 67 per cent of minors, now have the unique identity number provided by Aadhaar. Jaitley said the results of using Aadhaar were evident with the government having saved Rs 15,000 crore in LPG subsidy. He said four states — Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Puducherry and Delhi — have introduced Aadhaar in public distribution system and have already saved Rs 2,346 crore.
He said bank accounts of 248.9 million families have been linked to Aadhaar. As many as 108.3 million ration cards, including of all Below Poverty Line families, are now linked to Aadhaar; 118 million LPG connection holders and 60.9 million Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) beneficiaries have also been linked to Aadhaar, he added. The Finance Minister said this would enable MGNREGA payment to directly reach their bank accounts.
With the Speaker certifying it as a Money Bill, the Aadhaar Bill will be discussed in the Rajya Sabha next week but that House cannot vote on it. Several Opposition members said procedures were subverted to categorise it as a Money Bill and bypass the scrutiny of the Rajya Sabha where the government is in a minority.
To Opposition’s demands that the Bill be sent to a standing committee since it had 10 amendments to a similar Bill moved by the UPA government in 2010, Jaitley said a Standing Committee had already looked into the Bill and the issue has also been examined by the Supreme Court in the last seven years.
Most members stressed on the need to protect the privacy of the biometric data of Aadhaar subscribers. BJD’s Tathagata Satpathy pointed out recent instances from around the world of ‘misuse’ of biometric data. “More dangerous is collection of biological data,” he said opposing the Bill. He said mindset of the UPA and the NDA remains the same on this issue. He was also critical of the government for having interrupted the discussion on the General Budget to take up the Bill. On the issue of privacy, Jaitley said there will be no sharing of data from Aadhaar data base without the consent of the resident. “No biometrics is to be shared even with the consent of the resident,” he added.
When asked, Nilekani dismissed the concerns around privacy and said, “This Bill has the best provisions for privacy. The legislation has covered it.”
Next 72 hours at Parliament
With only three days to go before Parliament takes a 40-day recess, the government is keen to ensure passage of some important Bills.
The Lok Sabha will take up the Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Bill on Monday. It was passed by the Rajya Sabha on Thursday. The Lok Sabha will also take up some of the Bills amended by the Rajya Sabha, including the Bureau of Indian Standards Bill, the National Waterways Bill and the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe prevention of atrocities Bill. The Rajya Sabha will take up for discussion the Aadhaar Bill, the Child Labour Bill and the Whistle Blowers Protection Bill. Parliament breaks for recess from March 17, and will meet again on April 25.
Tharoor’s Bill to scrap Section 377 defeated
For the second time in three months, the Lok Sabha on Friday voted against the introduction of a private member’s Bill brought by Congress member Shashi Tharoor to decriminalise homosexuality. Tharoor’s Bill sought to amend the “colonial era” Section 377 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) that criminalises homosexuality. Of 73 members present, 58 voted against introduction of the Bill, while 14 were in favour. One member abstained from voting.