Verdict as first word

Mains Paper: 2 | Polity  
Prelims level: Aadhaar Act
Mains level: Important points about the recent judgments of Aadhaar act

Introduction :

• Aadhaar is safe, cannot be used for surveillance, and does not have error rates that warrant concern.
• Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, the underlying debates that precipitated this case will reappear in different forms.
• There is good reason to think that this judgment may be the first rather than the last word on the matter.

Supreme Court gives Aadhaar some privacy

• The majority judgment upheld the validity of Aadhaar but limited its use. 
• But it has not provided a consistent framework by which future legitimate uses can be ascertained. 
• The rationale for linking some rights and services provided by the state, and not others is not entirely clear. 
• The general presumption seems to be that the use of Aadhaar for commercial exploitation of data is impermissible.
• The majority claims that Aadhaar is not a tool for surveillance, without doing much to reassure on that count. 
• While the majority provided data protection in many forms, especially by preventing private sector use, the basic question of who can use the data which is linked to Aadhaar and for what purposes is not entirely clear. 
• The court has allowed linking PAN cards to Aadhaar, thereby indirectly linking bank accounts to Aadhaar, even though formally Aadhaar is not required for bank accounts. We still do not have a clear account of who can use this kind of linking and for what purposes?

Other important key points 

• The UPA was cavalier in doing something like Aadhaar without a covering legislation for years; the NDA brought in legislation through patently unconstitutional means.
• The Court’s job is to protect us from arbitrary use of state power.
• But the choice argument and the multiplicity of identification arguments may prove too much. They may allow Aadhaar greater back door entry.
• With the clamour for extending the NRC increasing, you will have to prove that you are a citizen rather than the state having to disprove that you are not.

Conclusion 

• It is also being presumed that the state has the right to seek more and more information on the presumption that you might be guilty of anything from money laundering to terrorism. 
• So the scepticism of Aadhaar on these grounds was well founded.
• But on the question of the poor, in the name of whose empowerment both sides of the debate speak.
• It still looks like both sides have presumed to speak on what will enable the empowerment of the poor, without really knowing what actually will.

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UPSC Prelims Questions: 

Q.1)  Consider the following statements regarding the Unique Identification Authority of India:
1. It is a non-statutory body established by a resolution of the Central government.
2. It works under the aegis of the Ministry of Electronics and Information technology.
3. It is responsible for enrolment, authentication and development of policy related to Aadhaar.
Which of the statements given above is/are correct?
(a) 1 and 2 only
(b) 2 only
(c) 1, 2 and 3
(d) 2 and 3 only
Answer:  D

UPSC Mains Questions:
Q.1)  Discuss the important points about the recent judgments of Aadhaar act as given by Sc?