Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 - (07 Mar 2016)

Miscellaneous

The Union Government introduced the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 as a money bill in the Lok Sabha. The foremost effect of the Bill will be to make the use of Aadhaar mandatory for availing government subsides, after the same had been disallowed by the Supreme Court. The Bill provides for obtainment, authentication and use of the Aadhaar number. It also envisages an authority overlooking the processes of enrolment and authentication, called the Unique Identification Authority of India. Included also is a Chapter on 'Protection of Information', after the previous iteration of the Aadhaar card was disparaged for its relatively lacking privacy and information protection framework. To what extent the Bill will make use of the Aadhaar number mandatory is unclear as definitions for 'benefit' and 'subsidy' require both to be notified or initiated by the government. Whether public sector undertakings too may fall within its ambit remains to be seen.

Tags : AADHAAR NUMBER BILL BUDGET SESSION