Aadhaar Amendments Bill, 2019, violates Constitutional values and the Supreme Court judgment
Last night's Press Information Bureau release states that the Union Cabinet “has approved “The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019” to replace the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019”. Rethink Aadhaar had opposed this Bill when it was introduced earlier this year in Parliament and also challenged the Ordinance which was promulgated because the Government failed to get the Rajya Sabha to pass the Bill. We urge Parliamentarians in both Houses to follow up on their earlier protests against the Aadhaar Amendments Bill and protest its reintroduction. We demand that the legally mandated pre-legislative process be followed and the Bill be sent for rigorous public consultation before its introduction. The Bill must also be subjected to scrutiny by the appropriate Parliamentary Committee.
The government's claim of making Aadhaar “people friendly” is astounding given that the government has failed to acknowledge more than 40 starvation deaths resulting directly from a denial of welfare benefits due to lack of Aadhaar enrolment or linking. In Jharkhand, 65-year old Ramcharan Munda died of hunger just two weeks ago on 5 June. He was denied ration for 3 months as the Aadhaar based Point of Sale machine did not work due to network issues.
Further, neither the government nor the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) have accepted that the Aadhaar security ecosystem has major flaws despite reports of various data breaches. We believe that a “people friendly” Aadhaar ecosystem should first address these issues which have been brought to public attention several times in the past years, not try to illegally expand the use of the Aadhaar number or Aadhaar-based verification through acts of Parliament, passed without taking all MPs, especially those from the opposition, into confidence.
This Bill, just as its earlier version and the Ordinance, claims it is aimed at “strengthening of the Aadhaar Act as per the directions of the Supreme Court”. However, the provisions introduced through the Aadhaar Amendments Bill circumvent the Supreme Court’s directions, for instance, the Supreme Court judgment prohibited the use of the Aadhaar number or Aadhaar-based verification by private entities. The ordinance, as we noted earlier, pays lip service to the Supreme Court judgment on Aadhaar, while openly violating the same verdict’s prohibition on the use of Aadhaar for commercial purposes.
We reiterate our concerns on the rampant expansion and function creep of Aadhaar. We reiterate the following demands made toof Members of Parliament:
Oppose the introduction of The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019, in Lok Sabha by Members of Parliament across political parties.
Undertake a thorough and transparent public consultation on the Bill and the amendments and introduce any Aadhaar-related legislation in Parliament only after such a consultation in accordance with the pre-legislative policy; in the interim, let The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 lapse.
If the Bill is still introduced, then it should be sent immediately to the appropriate Parliamentary Standing Committee for legislative scrutiny and review.
Stop constitutional fraud undermining the Rajya Sabha of allowing this overbroad Amendment Bill to be certified as a Money Bill.
Introduce a strong, people-centric Personal Data Protection Bill, after adequate public consultation instead as the top priority of the Union Government. Thus far, a Privacy and Data Protection Bill has not even been presented in Parliament, whereas the Supreme Court had accepted assurances from the government that the concerns raised in the Aadhaar matters vis-a-vis data security and informational privacy would be adequately addressed by a soon-to-be-passed data protection law.
We expect our elected representatives to ensure that legislation on Aadhaar is carried out in strict accordance with the Supreme Court’s judgment on Aadhaar and that our representatives strongly oppose the Aadhaar Amendments Bill.
For more information, please contact:
Raghu 97177-49998
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Rethink Aadhaar Campaign
rethinkaadhaar.in
