The Aadhaar card Act 2016 and its silent features
This article is dealing with the aadhaar Card act 2016 and its silent features.
On March 11, 2016, the Parliament passed the Aadhaar Act 2016, which provides
for the smooth distribution of benefits and the management of various social
programmes while also giving the Aadhaar project legal support. It aims to
target the delivery of subsidies and services to Indian people by assigning them
special identification numbers known as Aadhaar numbers. It attempts to reduce
the unfair advantages enjoyed by intermediaries in the process and streamline
government-funded benefits and services by catering to targeted distribution of
incentives directly to the recipients.
Features:
Enrollment:
- Every resident is entitled to obtain an Aadhaar number.
- The enrolling agency must inform the applicant of how the information
will be used, the types of parties with whom it may be shared during
authentication, their rights to access the information, and its procedures
before the applicant can enroll.
- Aadhaar can be used as identification documentation. It cannot, however, be
used as identification or proof of residency.
Authentication
- The Central or State Government may stipulate that obtaining an Aadhaar
authentication is necessary in order to be eligible for a subsidy, benefit, or
service.
- It gives asking entities instructions on how to get a person's
permission and advise them of the potential uses of the information they
submitted for authentication.
- The agency or requesting party may only use the supplied information in
accordance with the individual's consent.
Establishment & composition of authority:
- The Act calls for the establishment of a body known as the Unique
Identification Authority of India for enrollment and authentication. (UIAD).
- A chief executive officer, two part-time members, and a chairperson
(either full- or part-time) make up the Authority.
- The Authority's primary responsibilities include creating policies,
procedures, and systems for issuing Aadhaar numbers and carrying out
authentication of such numbers. A minimum of 10 years of experience in areas
like technology, governance, etc. is required of the chairperson and members.
Protection of Information
- The authority must protect the privacy of biometric data and only use it
to generate and authenticate Aadhaar.
- Without the concerned Aadhaar holder's permission, identity information of the
individual undergoing authentication may not be utilised for any other reason
than that stated at the time of authentication.
- Except for the purposes prescribed by rules, no Aadhaar number or basic
biometric information may be published, exhibited, or uploaded publicly.
- The Authority is not permitted to gather, keep, or manage any data used
for authentication.
Circumstances under which information may be revealed:
- Only disclosures pursuant to a court order or a disclosure made in the
interest of national security on the instruction of an officer not below the
rank of a Joint Secretary to the Government of India may be made of identity
information or authentication records. A committee made up of the Cabinet
Secretary, the Secretaries to the Government of India in the Departments of
Legal Affairs and Electronics and Information Technology, shall also
evaluate any directive issued on matters of national security. Core
biometric information, however, must never be disclosed.
- An individual's Aadhaar number, picture, and demographic data may be made
public by court order.
Offences and Penalties
Penalties apply for violating the Act's rules. Identity information disclosure,
illegal access to the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR), unlawful use of
identity information by the requesting entity, and non-compliance with the
intimation requirements are all punishable offences.
If a requesting entity violates the guidelines, it may be penalised with up to a
year in jail, a fine of up to Rs. 10,000, or both.
No offence may be brought before a court without a complaint being filed by the
UID authority or someone it has authorized.
Some threats hanging over Aadhaar
- There are significant worries about phone Aadhaar cards being produced by
dishonest means in order to take advantage of government welfare programmes
intended for the truly indigent members of this society.
- The country's national security is gravely threatened by the issuing of Aadhaar cards through illegal means. It has been noted that illegal immigrants
have acquired Aadhaar identities in numerous locations, taking advantage of
numerous government programs, and defrauding those with legitimate needs who are
left out of social programmes.
- Issue of Identity Theft:
It's frightening to think about identity theft occurring through the theft
of iris and finger print biometric data. Biometric information cannot be
recreated, only lost or forgotten passwords. Since each person's biometric
data is unique, the UIDAI has undoubtedly developed the
highest level of cyber security and several data protection barriers to preserve
and safeguard the data.
- Over 1 billion Indians' biometric and demographic information is stored
in the vaults of the Central Identities Data Repository.
- However, without two factor authentication, the Aadhaar number cannot be
implemented or used for any advantages or services.
Conclusion
In order to protect personal data from misuse and theft by hackers and to ensure
that it is protected and secured with technology of the highest standard of
cybersecurity, a very sound legal framework is required due to the growth of
digital commerce, e-payments, e-governance, government projects involving the
creation of databases, and increased use of information technology by both
government and corporations.
The Aadhaar Act 2016 is a positive start towards securing the PII and SPII
(biometric information like finger prints, iris scans, and addresses) of India's
billion-plus citizens and creating a strong legal framework to prevent its
abuse, fabrication, or fraud.
References:
-
https://www.datasecure.ind.in/blogs/aadhaar-act-2016-and-its-salient-features/
- https://blog.theleapjournal.org/2016/07/privacy-concerns-in-aadhaar-act-2016.html#gsc.tab=0
- https://legalstudymaterial.com/the-aadhar-act/
Written By Shifali, Student Of 2nd Year BA LLB , Lovely Professional
University.
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