#dnaEdit: Aadhaar’s bad luck

The Centre’s plan to introduce a legislation to provide statutory backing to the disbursal of central subsidies through the Aadhaar Unique Identification (UID) project is welcome. However, it has been reported that the government is planning to introduce the legislation as a money bill, so that the Rajya Sabha, where the Opposition commands a majority, cannot block it. This is ill-conceived and may not withstand judicial scrutiny. While there have been two recent instances of the black money and the bankruptcy code legislations being introduced as money bills, the implications of the UID project are much bigger. A thorough discussion by both houses of Parliament will only help iron out the weaknesses in the Bill and ensure it passes legal scrutiny.

The Modi government has come up with the catchy acronym JAM (Jan Dhan, Aadhaar, Mobile Governance) to plug leakages and speed up the delivery of payments related to central welfare schemes worth nearly Rs3.5 lakh crore. Though over 90 crore persons have already been enrolled in the UID project, the failure to ensure statutory backing has hurt its rollout in cash transfer schemes. With concerns about privacy violations and its possible use for intrusive purposes unlike welfare schemes, Aadhaar has come under the Supreme Court’s scanner. Currently, the Supreme Court’s interim order on Aadhaar usage restricts it to identifying beneficiaries of the public distribution system (PDS) and transferring subsidies on cooking gas and kerosene. As a result, ambitious plans to use Aadhaar for biometric attendance, Jan Dhan Yojana, pension payments, scholarships, MGNREGA wage disbursals, and operating payment banks, which were finalised, are being held in abeyance.

The legislation which has reportedly been titled the Aadhaar (Delivery of Benefits, Subsidies and Services) Bill 2016 will have to ensure that the twin imperatives of privacy and data security are upheld. For the government, it is also an opportunity to convey the impression that it has not lost its reformist zeal. The Jan Dhan Yojana has been successful in meeting its financial inclusion goal by roping in more people into the banking structure. But a large number of zero balance accounts opened under JDY are not showing signs of activity thus robbing the scheme of any meaningful utility for the beneficiaries. But by tying the bank accounts to the Aadhaar UID number and the mobile phone number, the Centre is on the cusp of entering a revolutionary phase where cash transfers become the norm. 

The Aadhaar UID number will help in identifying the beneficiary while the mobile number will help in alerting the beneficiary about deposits to the account. Currently, there is no way to account for the leakages at the grass-roots level where fake muster rolls and ration cards are being used to divert MGNREGA funds and food grains allocation. Similarly, payment banks can use Aadhaar and mobile numbers to validate payments thus helping to drive more financial transactions to digital platforms. Despite the benefits that Aadhaar entails, the central government has repeatedly made a mess of ensuring its orderly rollout. The Opposition is certain to see political motives in certifying the legislations as a money bill. The Centre should attempt to build political consensus over Aadhaar, a UPA-era project, rather than provoke the Opposition to mindlessly raise reservations.