Aadhaar number is not going to be linked with the national intelligence grid (NATGRID), the government clarified in the parliament on Monday. “Let me assure the house that Aadhaar’s linking with NATGRID is not there,”said Ravi Shankar Prasad, adding that the government even refused to handover the biometric details even when it was approached by the CBI.
Natgrid, a programme of real-time networking of 21 databases with enforcement agencies to cross-link information and flag tripwires to predict or point out unlawful or terrorist activities, was envisaged and rolled out by former home minister P Chidambaram during the UPA government’s second tenure.
Prasad was trying to allay fears of opposition parties on privacy during a discussion on Aadhaar - its implementation and implications - in the Rajya Sabha.
Stating emphatically that Section 29 of the Aadhaar Act has all the required safeguards, Prasad added, “According to Section 29 (1) of Aadhaar Act, even I cannot disclose my biometrics to anyone. And, in a case of breach of privacy, even the officers of the UIDAI have no escape. I want to dispel all misconceptions (about Aadhaar). Aadhar is robust, safe, secure and totally accountable.”
Speaking about the government’s efforts to have a robust system to safeguard privacy, Prasad informed the house that the government was so strict that it has so far blacklisted 34,000 operators on this very count.
In a powerful defence of linking Aadhaar with government’s schemes to stop pilferage, Prasad said, “Even the UN report has applauded the initiative for saving $1 billion saving in the LPG and World Bank’s chief economist Paul Romer has praised it as the most sophisticated system that should be replicated by others.”
Countering Jairam Ramesh of Congress, Prasad said that unless the Supreme Court stays the law, the Aadhaar Act will hold the field.
Earlier, initiating the debate, Rajeev Chandrashekar, an independent MP, expressed concern over fake Aadhaar cards, data integrity and privacy issues and exclusion of subsidies by making it mandatory.
On fake Aadhaar cards, Chandrashekar said the government had inherited "100 crore unverified database" created prior to bringing the law in 2016.
Not ready to buy the government’s arguments, Derek O’Brien of TMC brought the case of a website leaking the demographic data of 5 lakh minors.
Prasad, however, agreed to Tapan Sen's (CPI) suggestion of revising the biometrics of the elderly and manual labourers as the biometric details of their fingerprints did not match and resulted in their exclusion from welfare schemes.
