We all Indians have a unique identity card that makes a citizen of India, it is known as the Aadhaar Card. If you don’t have one, my advice is to get it made, as soon as possible.
Aadhaar Card became a very important possession only after the demonetization of INR 500 and 1000 notes in 2016. Many people had the identity in terms of Pan Card but had no clue about its utilities. And only after the demonetization, multiple use cases of the 12-digit identification were born just in one night.
A Necessity for Every Indian Citizen!
Ranging from depositing money into banks to investing it, Aadhaar Card became a necessity everywhere. So far, 68 crore Indians have taken SIM Card through Aadhaar and 65 crore bank accounts are linked to the unique number. Markets did well as the bank money was invested in other sources.
Aadhaar Bill and Startups!
After all this, what we all need to know is about the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019. What is it all about? And most interestingly, how start-ups can benefit from this bill?
In short, the Bill is all about replacing the ordinance issued in March 2019 and proposes stiff penalties for violation of norms. The Bill also proposes giving a child an option to exit from the biometric ID program on attaining 18 years of age.
1. No Mandatory Compliance
This bill ensures the Aadhaar Cardholders the right to use their 12-digit unique identification number as a proof of identity in numerous cases. In this way, no citizen can be compelled for using Aadhaar Card as the only source of proof of identity unless specified by the law.
Though the Aadhaar Act has held that Aadhaar Card is in the national interest and does not violate the privacy but still the Apex law suggested the provision regarding the use of Aadhaar for issuing SIM Cards and opening Bank Accounts should be done by law, not by executive order.
2. Strengthen Data Privacy
The Bill will ensure that data offered by the Aadhaar Card is not misused and strengthen the nodal body UIDAI to have a robust mechanism to serve the public interest. This Bill also makes provisions for setting up of Unique Identification Authority of India Fund.
It also includes a civil penalty of up to INR 1 crore on entities that violate provisions of the Aadhaar Act, with an additional fine of up to INR 10 lakh per day in case of continuous non-compliance. Cardholders can also now conceal the actual Aadhaar number by using the alternative Virtual Identity (VID) shared by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).
