Aadhaar is Constitutional but conditions apply: Here's the citizen's verdict

Aadhaar is Constitutional but conditions apply: Here's the citizen's verdict

Multimedia News: The Supreme Court on September 26 ruled Aadhaar Constitutional, but did away with the requirement to have Aadhaar for opening bank accounts and getting a mobile connections.

However, the unique identity number would still be a must for filing I-T returns.

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News Source: BS & Business Standard

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How the the verdict change things for the common man?

Business Standard spoke to people in New Delhi to get their views on the judgment. After Supreme Court struck down Section 57 of the Aadhaar Act, which deals with private entities, and read down a few others, stating that they were unconstitutional.

↓↓↓ Here is the Video Link ↓↓↓

Aadhaar Verdict

From cheating banks to faking identity, Aadhaar frauds peak in 2018

At a recent court hearing, UIDAI admitted that 6% of Aadhaar authentication requests using fingerprints transactions are known to fail.

Finance News India : In January 2018, eight persons were arrested in Chandigarh for purchasing expensive mobile phones with fraudulent loans secured using fake Aadhaar cards. The accused, among whom were former bankers and employees of a finance company, had placed their own photographs on others’ Aadhaar cards to secure bank loans, and were booked for cheating, fraud, forgery and criminal conspiracy under the relevant sections of the Indian Penal Code.

This is just one among the 73 incidents of misuse of the Unique Identity Authority of India’s (UIDAI) Aadhaar programme that have been reported in the English-language media so far this year (up to May 7, 2018). This averages nearly four incidents each week, as per a new database created by independent researchers Anmol Somanchi and Vipul Paikra.

Of these, 52 cases involved fake or forged Aadhaar numbers–coming up with entirely new Aadhaar enrolment based on fake details, or forging existing cards by replacing certain details like photographs–and 21 involved Aadhaar-related banking frauds.

In the six years since the launch of the Aadhaar programme in September 2011, 164 cases of forged or fake Aadhaar numbers and Aadhaar-related banking frauds have been reported in the English-language media, the database noted. These include 123 cases of fake or forged Aadhaar numbers or cards and 41 cases of Aadhaar-related banking fraud.

“This database does not include the whole gamut of reported incidents of Aadhaar-related fraud and forgery,” Somanchi told IndiaSpend. “We had initially included Hindi reports and found more such incidents. However, since we couldn’t include all other regional languages we restricted the database to English news reports.”

Several attempts to reach out to the UIDAI for comment on the findings of the database met with no response. On April 30, 2018, IndiaSpend reached out to the office of the chief executive officer of UIDAI via email. On May 2, 2018, we reached out again and were told by the communications team that UIDAI would get back to us. On May 3, 2018, IndiaSpend reached out a third time, telephonically. On May 8, 2018, we sent out a third email.

The story will be updated with the Authority’s response when we receive one.

Read More on → Aadhaar Frauds

Supreme Court on Aadhaar linking deadline, Aadhaar mandatory for bank accounts, phone and subsidies

For now, you can safely ignore persistent messages from telecom service providers and banks to link your Aadhaar to your phone number and account.

Business News India : Haven’t linked your Aadhaar number with your mobile phone yet? Breathe easy. The Supreme Court on Tuesday indefinitely extended the March 31 deadline for linking Aadhaar with existing bank accounts, PAN, mobile phone numbers, and various other services. However, according to the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), your Aadhaar would still be required for opening new bank accounts or applying for Tatkal passports.

For now, you could safely ignore persistent messages from telecom service providers and banks to link your Aadhaar to your phone number and account.

The apex court also ruled that the government could continue to seek beneficiaries’ Aadhaar, the 12-digit national biometric identifier number, for the transfer of benefits under schemes funded from the consolidated fund of India. “We direct that the interim order passed on December 15, 2017, shall stand extended till the matter is finally heard and the judgment is pronounced,” a five-judge Constitution bench, headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra, said. The judgment provided relief to hundreds or thousands of people who have not yet linked their bank accounts or mobile phones with Aadhaar.

The Aadhaar linking deadline has been extended till the apex court delivers its judgment on a batch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the biometric identification scheme. The current deadline for linking Aadhaar with bank accounts, mobile phone numbers, and other services was March 31, after it had been extended by the apex court on December 15 last year.

As Chief Justice Deepak Misra said their interim order stood extended, the Attorney General told the court that the government was prepared to extend the deadline in the last week of March because arguments in the matter would have concluded by then. “We were prepared for extension in last week of March,” he told the court in a bid to stall the extension.

The Constitution Bench, which also includes Justice A K Sikri, Justice A M Khanwilkar, Justice D Y Chandrachud, and Justice Ashok Bhushan, had on March 7 ruled that the Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) would not insist on Aadhaar-only identification for NEET and other all-India examinations.

Read More On  → Aadhaar Linking Deadline ←

Aadhaar Breach: Rs 500 is all it takes to get details of a billion Indians

A report claims to have bought access to a cheap software, which can be used to print the Aadhaar card of any individual

 

Aadhaar Breach : Anonymous sellers on Whatsapp are said to be providing ‘unrestricted’ access to the Aadhaar details of more than a billion Indians for just Rs 500, according to an investigation by The Tribune on Wednesday. The paper also claims to have bought access to a software for Rs 300, which can be used to print the Aadhaar card of any individual by entering their Aadhaar number.

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identification number that is issued by the UIDAI( Unique Identity Development Authority of India) to every resident Indian citizen, after recording biometric and demographic information about an individual.

The report says that the racket may have started when over 300,000 Village Level Operators(VLEs), earlier mandated to make Aadhaar cards across India were rendered jobless when post offices and banks were given the job instead, in November 2017. Over 100,000 VLEs, sensing an opportunity to make easy money, might have gained illegal access to UIDAI data and provided “Aadhaar services” to common people for a charge, including the printing of Aadhaar cards.

If true, this would spell a serious breach of national security as the UIDAI has linked Aadhaar to individuals’ fingerprints and iris scans. The government’s unfettered access to citizens biometric details has already been in the centre of much debate in the civil society.

Earlier, in August, a Supreme Court judgement had deemed ‘privacy’ as a fundamental right, while dealing with a batch of petitions that claimed the illegality of Aadhaar based on the fundamental right to life and liberty. Most importantly, the government’s argument that Aadhaar will be a useful instrument to aid national security be questioned. Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul, in his judgement on the case, had noted that that big data-fuelled “profiling can also be used to further the public interest and for the benefit of national security”.

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1,000 bank branches open Aadhaar updation centres as Sept 30 deadline nears

UIDAI has directed them to open these Bank Aadhaar Kendras by September 30, 2017 for the convenience of the people

 

The UIDAI has said over 1,000 bank branches of 42 private and public sector banks have opened Aadhaar enrollment and updation centres within their premises.

The Aadhaar issuing body further said it has received commitments for opening of such centres in 15,000 bank branches "at the earliest".

"Bank Aadhaar Kendras are being established with a view to make the Aadhaar verification process of bank accounts convenient for the people as it has become mandatory under amended Prevention of Money Laundering Rules to verify bank accounts with Aadhaar by December 31, 2017," Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of UIDAI said in a statement.

→ Income Tax ←  → Efiling Of Income Tax ←  → Tax ←

In July, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had asked private as well as public banks to open Aadhaar enrollment and updation facilities in one out of 10 branches, and the initial deadline for doing so was August- end.

Earlier this month, the UIDAI gave banks one more month to open Aadhaar enrollment centres in a stipulated 10 per cent of branches, but said it will impose Rs 20,000 as fine per uncovered branch after September 30.

The reprieve was granted as many banks had sought additional time from UIDAI for setting up such facility on their..... Read Full Article

Wrong name in PAN, Aadhaar cards? Now, you can fix such errors online

Last week, the I-T department launched a facility to enable a taxpayer to link his Aadhaar and PAN

 

 

Breaking News : Your permanent account number (PAN) or Aadhaar documents have errors in names or other details? There is no need to worry, the income tax department has launched an online facility to correct such issues.

Alongside the facility to link biometric identifier Aadhaar with PAN, the department has also put two separate hyperlinks on its e-filing website — one to update changes in existing PAN data or for application of new PAN by an Indian or a foreign citizen.

The second hyperlink is for individuals who want to update Aadhaar details by logging into 'Aadhaar Self Service Update Portal' using the unique identity number. The individual can then upload scanned documents as proof for data update request.

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Over 1.22 crore assesses already have Aadhaar-linked PAN but the number is abysmally low as there are over 25 crore PAN card holders in the country, while Aadhaar has been issued to 111 crore people.

As per statistics with the tax department, only 6 crore people file income tax returns at present.

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, through an amendment to the Finance Bill for 2017-18, had made Aadhaar mandatory for filing income tax returns and provided for linking of PAN with Aadhaar to curb tax evasion through use of (read more...)

Google, Apple lock horns with govt over Aadhaar

India's relationship with the global technology industry has become increasingly fraught. This year alone, the government has banned Facebook's free web service and declined to exempt Apple from local sourcing rules and open its own stores. Now, the government could force companies to use technology cooked up in a government-funded lab.

The initiative is part of Aadhaar, the national biometric identity programme.

Millions of people use fingerprint and iris-scan authentication to access a range of public and private services which includes banking, too.

Failure to join the effort could limit the tech industry's access to a vast and growing market, but companies like Apple and Google are expected to resist opening up their phones and operating systems to the country's registration, encryption and security technology.

"There will be a lot of pushing and shoving by the technology companies," says Neeraj Aggarwal, managing director, Boston Consulting Group, India. "It will be a battle of ecosystems, and companies would do their best to hold on to their own."

A few weeks ago, government officials invited executives from Apple, Microsoft, Samsung Electronics and Google to discuss embedding Aadhaar encryption into their technology. None of the companies would comment on  read more..