Recently the GOI has introduced the Aadhaar Amendment Bill 2018 in the parliament. As described in my earlier writings ( Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act is Unconstitutional Says SC, But Why? and Summarizing Aadhaar Judgment ) this was necessary in order to restore/enhance the provisions of the Primary Act (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services Act, 2016), which incidentally got diluted by the Supreme Court (order dated 26th Sept 2018). The purpose of this note is to bring about the key features of this Amendment Bill – enacted to prevent the infringement of “Right to Privacy” – elevated to a fundamental right by SC (Puttaswamy Case).
Virtual Identity
The Amendment Bill proposes to define “Aadhaar number” as both, a) Identification number issued by authority, b) Any alternative virtual identity. This is important, as the proposed virtual identity number can prevent users (apprehensive of breach of Privacy) from disclosing their Aadhaar number.
