Aadhaar A Biometric History of India's 12-Digit Revolution by Shankkar Aiyar

Author:Shankkar Aiyar
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
ISBN: 9789386224958
Publisher: Westland
Published: 2017-07-20T22:00:00+00:00

The context of a crisis seemed tailor-made for the idea of direct benefit transfers. Mysore in Karnataka already had a pilot project for selling LPG at market price, backed by a direct transfer of subsidy into the beneficiary account. A similar project for transfer of subsidy on kerosene into bank accounts was being tried in Alwar, Rajasthan. In Jharkhand, the Aadhaar platform had been used with success to validate PDS ration cards. The government began talking about how Aadhaar could be leveraged to reduce leakage.

In September, Manmohan Singh called a meeting of all ministries to set up the architecture for cash transfers leveraging Aadhaar. The move was presented ‘as a major push to transfer individual benefits directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries’. The prime minister announced the creation of a national ministerial committee that included various ministries, a national executive committee of heads of departments for coordination, an Implementation Mission to finalise operational design, a Cash Transfer Mission for tackling issues of technology and a financial inclusion committee. The logic, the government explained, ‘was to cut down wastage, duplication and leakages and enhance efficiency’.21 The plan was to expand cash transfer of subsidies to cover the entire population.

An enabler came to be soon enough. On 9 October, NPCI announced the launch of the Aadhaar-based remittance facility, leveraging its real-time payment platform to facilitate money transfer from one Aadhaar number to another or from an Aadhaar number to an account and vice versa on a 24x7 basis in a simple format. Participating in the initiative were ICICI Bank, Bank of Baroda, Union Bank of India, State Bank of India, Maharashtra Cooperative Bank and the Mehsana Urban Cooperative Bank. The facility could be used for transfer of government benefits, to bring transparency, reduce delivery cost, expedite process and expand financial inclusion.

On a parallel track, the privacy issue seemed to be approaching a resolution. On 16 October, the Group of Experts on Privacy led by Justice Shah submitted its report – ninety-one pages, including a draft Bill – to Ashwani Kumar, minister of planning. The Shah Committee recommended a conceptual framework for the legislation on privacy. Recommendations included the following: a regulatory framework of privacy commissioners at the Central and regional levels, a system of co-regulation where self-regulation would be approved by the privacy commissioner.

It was mooted that individuals be given the choice to opt in or opt out, that is, have the choice of providing their Aadhaar number without fear of a service being denied. The committee recommended nine privacy principles and observed, ‘The fundamental philosophy underlining the principles is the need to hold the data controller accountable for the collection, processing and use to which the data is put, thereby ensuring that the privacy of the data subject is guaranteed.’22 Ashwani Kumar said a Privacy Act was necessary as, in a democracy, one had to ensure that ‘no one right is so exercised so as to infringe upon the rights of individuals’.23 A law was on the anvil. Or so it seemed then.

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