UIDAI's bid to hire social media agency against its submissions: SC

The Supreme Court Friday said the proposal of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which runs the Aadhaar scheme, to hire a social media agency to monitor such platforms was contrary to its earlier submissions. A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also asked Attorney General K K Venugopal to assist it in the hearing of the plea on the issue filed by Mohua Moitra, an MLA of the Trinamool Congress. "It (monitoring) is directly against the submissions made by the UIDAI during the hearing of the Aadhaar matters," the bench said, adding that what the UIDAI was proposing was contrary to "what it had argued while seeking validity of Aadhaar". The UIDAI, during the hearing of a clutch of petitions challenging the validity of Aadhaar scheme, had told the apex court that it did not want to monitor the online activities of citizens holding Aadhaar cards.

PF-Aadhaar seeding portal hacked, EPFO refutes claim: All you need to know

Employees Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has apparently had to shut down the portal that it uses to for Aadhaar seeding with provident fund accounts of its subscribers following an alleged data breach where confidential user information was stolen by hackers.

The issue was purportedly raised by EPFO Central Provident Fund Commissioner V P Joy in a letter to Common Service Centre (CSC) Chief Executive Dinesh Tyagi on March 23.

“The web portal has been closed one-and-a-half months ago, immediately after a possible data theft was reported to us during a process of routine security check. There was some problem in the application run by CSC and it is not related to our data centre that maintains the EPF accounts,” Joy told Business Standard on Wednesday.

Speaking to PTI, Tyagi said that while the said application had been designed by the CSC, it was now hosted on EPFO data centres and servers. The EPFO shut down the website on March 22, urging the CSC to secure the confidential data of employees.

Aadhaar not needed for mobile SIM; passport, voter ID or licence will do

You no longer need an Aadhaar to get a mobile connection; telecom companies would now also accept other documents like passport, driving licence and voter ID, with the Centre reportedly directing them immediately implement a new rule to this effect.

The development comes after the Supreme Count on March 14 issued an interim order indefinitely extending the deadline for linking Aadhaar to bank accounts, mobile phone numbers, passports and other services, beyond the previous deadline of March 31. A five-judge Bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra had said there was no need to link Aadhaar to these services until a judgment was pronounced on the constitutionality of the unique identification programme.

Here are the top updates on new rules clarifying whether or not Aadhaar is mandatory for procuring mobile SIMs:

1) Aadhaar no longer mandatory: You no longer need an Aadhaar card to buy a mobile SIM, The Times of India reported on Wednesday. The government had directed telecom companies to accept alternative documents like driving licence, passport and voter ID, the report said. Further, it said quoting Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan that telecom operators had been asked to follow the new rule with immediate effect. 

SC red flags threat of Aadhaar data misuse, fears poll manipulation

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The Cambridge Analytica data leak controversy on Tuesday found mention in the Supreme Court, which red flagged the threat of probable misuse of citizens' information by entities which were getting Aadhaar details authenticated by the UIDAI.

A five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, hearing clutch of petitions challenging Aadhaar and enabling 2016 law, referred to the Cambridge Analytica controversy and said these are not "imaginary apprehensions" and, in the absence of robust data protection law, the issue of misuse of information becomes relevant.

"The real apprehension is that elections are swayed using data analytics. These problems are symptomatic of the world we live in," the bench, also comprising Justices A K Sikri, A M Khanwilkar, D Y Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, said.

"Please do not bring Cambridge Analytica into this. The UIDAI simply does not have the learning algorithms like Facebook, Google to analyse details of users," senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi, appearing for Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Gujarat government, said.

SC seeks AG view on video recording of proceedings on key matters

The Supreme Court today sought the opinion of the attorney general on the issue of video recording or live streaming of judicial proceedings of cases, like that of Aadhaar, which have constitutional and national importance.

A bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud said it will first hear the top law officer and the bar before passing any order on the issue which has been raised by senior advocate Indira Jaising and advocate Mathews J Nedumpara in their respective pleas.

Jaising said that the matter was of extreme importance and should be referred to the Constitution bench to ensure that the proceedings in matters of national importance can be video-graphed.

She contended that matters being heard by the Constitutional bench of the apex court are those which the whole country should be able to watch.

Aadhaar can be submitted as address, age proof for driving licence: Govt

The draft notification to ammend rules for driving licences proposes Aadhaar as one of the documents that can be submitted as address and age proof, the government said .
It said the draft notification to amend the form of application for licence to drive a motor vehicle and the form of driving licence, as prescribed in the Central Motor Vehicles Rules, 1989, has been submitted to the law ministry for legal vetting.

"As per information received from Ministry of Road Transport and Highways, Aadhaar card has been incorporated as one of the options in the list of documents to be submitted by the applicant as proof of address and age," Law and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a written statement to the Rajya Sabha.

Old age home inmates denied pension as wrinkles don't allow Aadhaar sign-up

Inmates of an old age home in Uttar Pradesh's Bareilly complained that they are unable to avail certain facilities and collect pension as they do not have an Aadhaar card.

Speaking to ANI, a victim said the machine cannot trace their thumb impression because of wrinkles on their fingers.

"It would be good if I received help in some way. I do not have an Aadhaar card so, I am being deprived of facilities. I do not have documents and the machine cannot trace my fingerprints.

I have no resources. This is the only place I can be. I am not receiving any pension," Veervati, the victim, said.

Senior citizens aged between 60 to 79 years who are below poverty line are entitled to a monthly pension of Rs 400, while those above 80 years get Rs 500 per month.

Aadhaar leak report: Editors Guild condemns FIR against journalist

The Delhi Police has registered an FIR on a complaint by a deputy director of the Unique Identification Authority of India in connection with a newspaper report on the breach of details of the over one billion Aadhaar cards, naming the journalist behind the story.

UIDAI Deputy Director B M Patnaik informed the police that an input was received from The Tribune that the newspaper purchased a service being offered by anonymous sellers over WhatsApp that provided unrestricted access to details of any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India, the police said today.

On January 5, a complaint was received from Patnaik and the FIR was registered the same day, they said.

The police was informed by the UIDAI official that the correspondent of The Tribune, posing as a buyer, had purchased the details.

The FIR mentions the names of the journalist and the people the reporter reached out to purchase the Aadhaar data, but they have not been shown as accused, the police said.

The police said that they will be questioned.

Under fire for filing the FIR, the UIDAI said it respects free speech, including freedom of the press, and its police complaint should not be viewed as "shooting the messenger".AX
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SIM cards not linked to Aadhaar to be decativated after Feb next year

The government is moving ahead with linking Aadhaar with mobile SIM cards and all unlinked phones will be deactivated after February 2018, said informed sources.

The sources said Aadhaar mobile linkage is being done as per the orders of Supreme Court passed in February this year in Lokniti foundation case and all SIM cards have to be verified with Aadhaar within a year from the date of judgement, with all unlinked phones to be deactivated after February next year, so criminals, fraudsters and terrorists cannot use the issued SIMs.

The sources said that biometrics cannot be stored by the mobile operators nor they have access to any of the other personal data.

They said biometrics collected should be encrypted by telecom company and sent to UIDAI at that moment itself and any storage of biometric by a service provider is a criminal offence punishable with up to three years of imprisonment under the Aadhaar Act 2016.

The Central government had told the Supreme Court in February that it would put in place, within a year, an effective mechanism for the verification of pre-paid mobile users who constitute 90 per cent of the total subscribers.
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Now, newborns will get Aadhaar cards at Punjab govt hospitals

Punjab Health Minister Brahm Mohindra said on Friday that Aadhaar cards will be issued to new born children in government hospitals.

"Henceforth, Aadhar card facilities would be extended to newborns at the premises of hospitals itself. The Heath Department would extend this service with the coordination of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)," Mohindra said.

The facility, being launched under the service delivery programme, is likely to benefit hundreds of children born in hospitals in Punjab every month.

Mohindra also said that specialists, including civil surgeons and senior medical officers, posted on non-clinical posts will also perform clinical duties on every Saturday.

"They will also perform scheduled surgeries on fixed days in government hospitals," the minister said.
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Soon, you may enter airports without ID cards, check in with biometric data

The civil aviation ministry, which has for long toyed with the idea of a biometric identification system at airports, is close to rolling it out. Similar to marquee airports such as Schiphol (Amsterdam), Brisbane and Hamad (Doha), travellers could soon enter Indian airports without flashing their identity cards and clear the check-in process through fingerprint and iris scan.

To make this happen, the ministry has asked software giant Wipro to study the prospect of building an integrated platform that will use a passenger’s Aadhaar-based biometric information for the check-in process across all airports. The idea, officials said, was to cut down the time a passenger spends in airport queues. In a small way, the process has already been tried — at a few gates of the GMR-owned Hyderabad airport. The Bengaluru airport, which is owned by the Fairfax and GVK group, is also using biometric information-enabled checking points for swift check-ins.

“Wipro has been told to study whether such an integrated, e-enabled platform can be developed so that all airports can use the database to enable the biometric entry facility across Indian airports,” Airports Authority of India (AAI) Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra told Business Standard.

The decision was taken after Minister of State for Civil Aviation Jayant Sinha’s meeting with operators of all privately owned airports such as New Delhi and Mumbai.

Wipro is likely to give a feasibility report within a month, it is learnt.

Senior ministry officials said, as part of the process, Aadhaar numbers could be made mandatory for passengers to book flight tickets.

“Linking Aadhaar numbers to air ticket bookings is certainly an option but the ministry will not make it mandatory for booking air tickets; we cannot do it. We can ask airport operators and airlines to inform passengers about its benefits, but it cannot be enforced now, according to Supreme Court guidelines,” said a ministry official. Airline companies have asked the ministry to make Aadhaar compulsory for booking tickets.
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World Bank gives Aadhaar thumbs up; wants other nations to adopt it too

As the government is in the process of linking Aadhaar cards with an array of schemes and programmes amid criticism, the system has been lauded by World Bank chief economist Paul Romer. He feels that other nations should also adopt this system.

"The Aadhaar system is the most sophisticated identification programme in the world," said Romer in an interview with Bloomberg. 

Romer asserted that it is best to develop one standardised system so people can carry their IDs wherever they go in the world.

"It’s the basis for all kinds of connections that involve things like financial transactions. It could be good for the world if this became widely adopted," Romer said. 

Interestingly, countries like Tanzania, Afghanistan and Bangladesh have shown interest in the Aadhaar system and visited India, Nandan Nilekani, former chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), who created Aadhaar said. 

In 2016, RS Sharma, chairman of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) told Mint that Russia, Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia have also shown interest in Aadhaar. 

However, many critics suggest that Aadhaar could put privacy at stake. In 2013, a group of petitioners, including a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court, approached the Supreme Court saying that the Aadhaar scheme is an “infringement” on the right of privacy of citizens.

In countries like UK, France and USA similar plans are widely debated. In 2010, UK announced that it was scrapping a plan for a national identity register after objections that it infringed on civil liberties, but it continues to issue biometric residence permits for foreigners. In France a mega database for biometric details of citizens is under the scanner. In US, identity theft complaints were the second-most reported in 2015, Federal Trade Commission said. 

Romer rubbished such concerns saying, "It should be part of the policy of the government to give individuals some control over the data that the private firms collect and some control over how that data is used." (READ MORE)

Budget 2017: Aadhaar maybe made mandatory for rail concession

Latest News - The government is contemplating to make Aadhaar or Unique Identification (UID) card mandatory to avail rail concession, and an announcement is likely to be made by Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley while presenting the first combined General and Railway Budget on February 1.

The move will help the government in better targeting of benefits and check misuse of the facility, sources said.

The Railways provides concession on tickets to more than 50 categories of passengers which include senior citizens, students, research scholars, teacher, doctor, nurse, patients, sports people, unemployed youth, Arjun awardees among others.

At present, Railways is (Read More)