By Tarun Kumar G. Singhal
Raman Jokhakar Chartered Accountants
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It is welcome that the Supreme Court has referred the Aadhaar dispute to a larger bench that will also examine whether it violates privacy. The government must legislate an explicit law to protect privacy, and penalize its violation.
The absence of a defined right to privacy now gives credence to concerns over how Aadhaar can be abused, for example, by using the Aadhaar tag to collate information on a person’s history of, say, medical, financial and government transactions.
A robust privacy law will offer a shield. Use of Aadhaarseeded bank accounts for transferring government benefits to citizens will eliminate duplication, fraud and waste. Such a system will allow the government to abandon product subsidy, with its inherent potential for diversion and other malpractice, and replace it with transfer of the subsidy amount directly to the end-beneficiary.
This will not just overhaul India’s subsidy administration but also get rid of the ills of product subsidy, such as subsidized kerosene being used to adulterate unsubsidised diesel. That the court has not gone back on its earlier order allowing the use of Aadhaar for food and cooking gas subsidy delivery is recognition of Aadhaar’s potential.
There remains the question about whether Aadhaar is mandatory. Aadhaar must be used wherever administration of subsidy is involved. This would be onerous only if Aadhaar enrolment were difficult. The onus is on the government to ensure that no eligible welfare beneficiary is denied the unique identity number. A beneficiary cannot be denied an entitlement if she cannot obtain Aadhaar. However, if Aadhaar is made available, and the beneficiary chooses not to enroll, she should forgo the benefit. You do not have to have a passport, but if you want to travel abroad, you need one.
(Source: Editorial in The Economic Times dated 09-10- 2015.)
