UID scheme for poor, Right to Privacy: Timeline of India's push for Aadhaar

The Supreme Court ruled on Thursday the right to privacy is a fundamental right protected by the Constitution, in a potential setback to the government’s push to mandate the use of Aadhaar, or unique ID numbers for a variety of routine tasks.

Over a billion Indians have already registered for Aadhaar cards, which ascribe unique ID numbers, and record fingerprints and iris scans of each person. The database was originally set-up to streamline welfare benefit payments and reduce wastage.

The current government however, has been keen to mandate the use of Aadhaar for everything from the filing of income taxes