The cabinet on Wednesday approved a bill to allow the voluntary use of Aadhaar as proof of identity to open bank accounts and obtain mobile phone connections. The bill – it will be in the form of a Amendment to Aadhaar’s Law 2016 and other laws and will replace an ordinance issued in March 2019, it also proposes severe penalties for violating the rules.
The Aadhaar Bill and Other Laws (Amendment), 2019 will be tabled in the next session of Parliament, which will begin on June 17.
“For the convenience of the general public in opening bank accounts, the proposed amendments would allow the use of the Aadhaar number for authentication on a voluntary basis as an acceptable KYC (Know Your Customer) document under the Telegraph Act of 1885 and the Telegraph Act of 1885. prevention of Money Laundering. , 2002, “said an official statement.
In short, this means that it will allow the voluntary use of the Aadhaar number for authentication and proof of identity when opening bank accounts and obtaining mobile phone connections.
The bill seeks to give a child the option to exit the biometric identification program upon turning 18 years of age, while stipulating severe penalties for violation of established standards for the use of Aadhaar and violation of privacy. .
“The decision would allow UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) to have a more robust mechanism to serve the public interest and restrict misuse of Aadhaar … Subsequent to this amendment, no person will be required to provide proof of possession of the Aadhaar number or to undergo authentication in order to establish their identity unless they do so establish a law established by Parliament, “the statement said.
The move aims to make Aadhaar “people-friendly,” he added.
The proposed modifications are the same as those contained in the Ordinance promulgated by the President on March 2, 2019. The changes allow for voluntary use of the Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form through offline authentication or verification with the consent of the holder of the Aadhaar number. It will also pave the way for the use of an alternative virtual identity number to conceal a person’s real Aadhaar number.
It seeks to allow entities to perform authentication only when they comply with the privacy and security standards specified by the UIDAI and authentication is permitted by any law made by Parliament or prescribed for the interest of the state by the central government.
That proposes the deletion of article 57 of the Aadhaar Law relative to the use of the biometric identifier by private entities. The amendment will also prevent denial of services for refusing or not being able to submit to authentication.
In addition to this, the proposed amendments provide for the establishment of the Unique Fund Identification Authority of India, and give the UIDAI an enhanced power similar to that of regulators to give the instructions it deems necessary for any entity in the Aadhaar ecosystem.
The proposed changes include a civil penalty of up to Rs 1 crore on entities that violate the provisions of the Aadhaar Law, with an additional fine of up to Rs 10 lakh per day for continued non-compliance.
Unauthorized use of identity information by a requesting entity or offline verification search entity would be punishable by a prison sentence of up to three years with a fine that can be extended to Rs 10,000 or in the case of a business with a fine of up to Rs 1 lakh. The punishment for unauthorized access to the central repository of identity data, as well as data manipulation, is proposed to be extended to 10 years each from the current three years.
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