Why Aadhaar is Niraadhaar: Jairam’s objections to the bill -Governance Now

Why Aadhaar is Niraadhaar: Jairam’s objections to the bill

Jairam Ramesh questions Aadhaar’s role in plugging subsidy leakages

GN Bureau | March 16, 2016

#Lok Sabha #parliament #Jairam Ramesh #Arun Jaitley #UIDAI #Aadhaar #Rajya Sabha

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh

After snubbing the finance minister in Rajya Sabha, Jairam Ramesh of Congress questioned the government’s claim of saving Rs 14,000 crore by integrating Aadhaar for the LPG subsidy. Citing a report by International Institute of Sustainable Development, a London-based think tank, which seriously doubts the claim of savings accrued by DBT-LPG, Ramesh asked about the study on the basis of which the government is making such tall claims.

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Ramesh said.

It can’t be the basis of deciding whether one person will get subsidy and another won’t, he added.

He took a jibe on the NDA government’s “fascination” for coining new terms, like JAM –acronym for Jan-Dhan, Aadhaar and mobile. “To say that we have done subsidy sudhaar as we have made Aadhaar mandatory in subsidy distribution is wrong. It only tackles one part of the issue – of fake identity,” he said.

Voluntary not mandatory

He further stated that position of the UPA government and the Congress party has always been that Aadhaar is “voluntary and not mandatory”.

However, “It (clause 57) widens the ambit of Aadhaar. It makes it mandatory,” he said, adding that, “every individual who doesn’t desire to have an Aadhaar should have option of voluntarily opting out.”

Therefore, “this clause should be dropped,” he suggested.

National security vs privacy

The use of term ‘national security’ for overriding privacy clauses gives sweeping powers to the government.

Under the Telegraph Act, 1885, there is no term as national security. It carefully uses terms like ‘public emergency’ and ‘public safety’. “National security is a very broad term and amorphous,” he said. “Instead of using this term, the legislation should use ‘public emergency’ and ‘public safety’.”

Independent member in oversight committee

Ramesh recommended that an independent member should be in the oversight committee that would be headed by the cabinet secretariat.

No delegated legislation

The Aadhaar bill also confers huge powers to the UIDAI in terms of collection of information. If the authority wants to collect data or additional biometrics – DNA for example – they should come to parliament for its approval. “No legislative power should be delegated. The suo motu power to collect information doesn’t inspire public confidence,” he said.

Denial of service

“A study points out that 40 percent of Jan-Dhan account holders could not access their accounts for want of Aadhaar. There could be problems related to connectivity, problem with biometrics of old people or labourers.”

Comments

Other News

Maharshtra braces to face Cyclone Nisarga

Even as Mumbai fights challenges posed by COVID-19 on multiple fronts and as the coronavirus cases continue to rise daily, the city now faces a double whammy with the cyclone ‘Nisarga’ slated to make the landfall in Maharashtra Wednesday. A state-wide alert has been issued for Mumba

Harnessing the demographic capital: how effective are skilling programmes?

Probing data concerning increased job creation and the decline in unemployment has been holding the attention of economists and been subject of discussions in several think tanks in the preceding months. The NITI Aayog reports that 3.53 million new jobs were created between September 2017 and February 2018

It`s time to Unlock now, with economic focus

With Lockdown 4 ending Sunday, the home ministry has issued new guidelines to fight COVID-19 and for phased re-opening of areas outside the Containment Zones. The guidelines, issued based on extensive consultations held with states and UTs, will be effective from June 1 till June 30. The first phase of reo

Small kitchen gardens turn saviours for Gujarat tribal families

When the whole world is fighting COVID-19, food and nutrition security has become a major issue. The pandemic has aggravated the existing food crisis in India, especially in rural and tribal regions. There has been less availability of fresh foods in most parts of the country, and the tribal community has

India will set example of post-Covid-19 economic revival: Modi

India is determined to “set an example” for the rest of the word in the post-pandemic economic revival, prime minister Narendra Modi has said, underling the need to become self-reliant. “There is also a widespread debate on how the economies of various countries, including

3,543 ‘Shramik Special’ trains transport 48 lakh people in 26 days

Close to 48 lakh migrant labourers have been able to reach home from the cities they were working in, as the Indian Railways have run a total of 3,543 “Sharmik Special” trains from May 1. Following the home ministry order regarding the movement by special trains of migrant worker