Cabinet
Making Aadhaar people friendly

No individual to be compelled to provide proof of Aadhaar number unless provided by law

Aadhaar number on voluntary basis to be accepted as KYC document

Cabinet approves The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019

12 JUN 2019

In a major move aimed at making Aadhaar making people friendly, the Union Cabinet, chaired by the Prime Minister Narendra Modi has approved “The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill, 2019” to replace the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019. The amendments proposed are the same as those contained in the Ordinance promulgated by President on 2nd March, 2019. The Bill will be introduced in ensuing session of Parliament.

The decision is expected to go a long way in meeting the people friendly and citizen centric nature of Aadhaar.

Impact:

The decision would enable UIDAI to have a more robust mechanism to serve the public interest and restrain the misuse of Aadhar.
Subsequent to this amendment, no individual shall be compelled to provide proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo authentication for the purpose of establishing his identity unless it is so provided by a law made by Parliament.

For the convenience of general public in opening of bank accounts, the proposed amendments would allow the use of Aadhaar number for authentication on voluntary basis as acceptable KYC document under the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of Money Laundering Act, 2002.
Details:

The salient features of the amendments are as follows :

• Provides for voluntary use of Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form by authentication or offline verification with the consent of Aadhaar number holder;
• Provides for use of twelve-digit Aadhaar number and its alternative virtual identity to conceal the actual Aadhaar number of an individual;
• Gives an option to children who are Aadhaar number holders to cancel their Aadhaar number on attaining the age of eighteen years;
• Permits the entities to perform authentication only when they are compliant with the standards of privacy and security specified by the Authority; and the authentication is permitted under any law made by Parliament or is prescribed to be in the interest of State by the Central Government;
• Allows the use of Aadhaar number for authentication on voluntary basis as acceptable KYC document under the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002;
• Proposes deletion of section 57 of the Aadhaar Act relating to use of Aadhaar by private entities;
• Prevents denial of services for refusing to, or being unable to, undergo authentication;
• Provides for establishment of Unique Identification Authority of India Fund;
• Provides for civil penalties, its adjudication, appeal thereof in regard to violations of Aadhaar Act and provisions by entities in the Aadhaar ecosystem.

Background:

The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 was considered by the Cabinet in its meeting held on 28th February, 2019 and the Ordinance was promulgated by the President on 2nd March, 2019.

The Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance, 2019 amongst other things envisaged strengthening of the Aadhaar Act as per the directions of the Supreme Court and recommendations of Justice B.N.Srikrishna(Retd) Committee.

PIB

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The Prime Minster, Shri Narendra Modi today addressed the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on the 71th Independence Day. Following are the highlights from his speech:

1. Greetings to my fellow Indians on Independence Day.

2. For the freedom and glory of the country, those who have contributed, those who suffered and sacrificed their lives, I salute all those noble souls, mothers and sisters on behalf of 125 crore people of the country from the ramparts of the Red Fort.

3. We remember the great women and men who worked hard for India’s freedom.

4. People of India stand shoulder to shoulder with those affected in the wake of natural disasters in parts of the country & the death of children in the hospital.

5. This is a special year- 75th anniversary of Quit India, 100th anniversary of Champaran Satyagraha, 125th anniversary of Ganesh Utsav.

6. The Quit India Movement was “Bharat Chhodo,” but the call today is “Bharat Jodo.”

7. We have to take the country ahead with the determination of creating a ‘New India’.

8. From 1942 to 1947, the country had demonstrated collective strength, in the coming 5 years, we have to take the country forward with the same collective strength, commitment and hard work.

9. In our nation, there is no one big or small…everybody is equal. Together we can bring a positive change in the nation.

10. We have to move forward for making a New India with the collective strength of 125 crore people without any discrimination of small and big people.

11. 1st January 2018 will not be an ordinary day- those born in this century will start turning 18. They are Bhagya Vidhatas of our nation.

12. We have to leave this ‘Chalta Hai’ attitude. We have to think of ‘Badal Sakta Hai’- this attitude will help us as a nation.

13. The country has changed, is changing and can change. We have to move forward with this belief and commitment.

14. Security of the country is our priority. Internal security is our priority. Whether it is our oceans or borders, cyber world or space for all kind of security India is capable to defeat all such inimical forces.

15. Our uniformed forces have achieved the pinnacle of sacrifice in fighting left-wing extremism, terrorism, infiltration and elements disturbing peace. The world had to recognise the strength of India and it clout in the surgical strike.

16. One rank, One Pension policy has boosted the morale of our security forces.

17. Those who have looted the nation and looted the poor are not able to sleep peacefully today.

18. No law was passed for those having Benami property for years. However after the recent passage of the Benami Act, within a short span of time, government has confiscated Benami property worth Rs. 800 crores when these things happen, common men feel that this country is for the honest people.

19. Today, we are celebrating the “festival of honesty”.

20. GST has shown the spirit of cooperative federalism. The nation has come together to support GST & the role of technology has also helped.

21. Today, the poor of the country is joining the main stream and the country is moving torwards the path of progress.

22. Good governance is about speed and simplification of processes.

23. India’s stature in the world is rising. The world is with us in fighting the menace of terror. I thank all nations helping us doing so.

24. We have to work for the progress of Jammu and Kashmir.

25. There is no question of being soft of terrorism or terrorists.

26. Neither by bullet: nor by abuses but by embracing we can solve the problem of Kashmir.

27. Our fight against black money and corruption will continue. We are trying to bring transparency through technology.

28. There is no question of being soft on terrorism or terrorists.

29. People would be the driving force behind the establishment, rather than the other way around – Tantra se Lok nahin, Lok se tantra chalega.

30. New India will be the biggest strength of democracy.

31. Nature of job is changing with changing demand and changing technology.

32. We are nurturing our youngsters to be job creators and not job seekers.

33. I want to mention those women who have to suffer due to ‘Triple Talaq’- I admire their courage. We are with them in their struggles.

34. India is about Shanti, Ekta and Sadbhavana. Casteism and communalism will not help us.

35. Violence in the name of ‘Astha’ is not something to be happy about, it will not be accepted in India.

36. The country is being run by peace, unity and harmony. It is our civilisation and culture to take everybody along.

37. We are taking the nation on a new track (of development) and are moving ahead with speed.

38. We are devoting significant attention to eastern India-Bihar, Assam, West Bengal, Odisha, Northeast. These parts have to grow further.

39. Our farmers have worked hard to ensure a Record foodgrain production.

40. Over 5.75 crore farmers have been covered under Pradhan Mantri Fasal Beema Yojaana.

41. Under Pradhan Mantri Krishi Sinchayee Yojana, 30 projects have been completed while work is on for 50 more projects.

42. Under Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samapada Yojana we are providing handholding to the farmers from availing seeds to accessing the markets for their produce.

43. More than 14000 un-electrified villages have been electrified.

44. 29 crore JanDhan accounts opened.

45. More than 8 crore youth have received loans without any guarantee.

46. We are fighting corruption – for the bright future of India and the wellbeing of our people.

47. Our fight against black money and corruption will continue and move forward and the loot in the country will not be allowed.

48. Our strive for a Corruption Free India has yielded results.

49. Black money worth Rs. 1.25 lakh crore has been unearthed.

50. Over 1.75 lakh fake companies have been shut down.

51. Post GST savings and efficiency in transportation sector has increased. Efficiency has gone up by 30 percent.

52. More money has come to the banks due to demonetization which will give impetus to the economy.

53. Our country has the world’s largest youth population. Today is the era of IT and let’s move ahead on the path of digital transaction.

54. Let us lead from front, promote digital economy and adopt the Bhim App.

55. We have moved from Co-operative Federalism to Competitive Co-operative federalism.

56. It had been said in the old scriptures that if a work is not completed on time, one does not get the desired results.

57. For the Team India it is the right time to commit for a New India.

58. We shall build together an India, where the poor will have concrete houses with water and electricity connection.

59. We will build such an India, where the farmers will have a peaceful sleep without any worry. He will earn double than what he is earning today.

60. Our resolve is to build an India, which provides all the opportunities to the youth and women to fulfill their dreams.

61. Our resolve is to build such an India, free from terrorism, communalism and casteism.

62. We will build together an India, where there will be no place for nepotism and corruption.

63. We will build together such an India, which will be clean, healthy and fulfill the dream of self-rule (Swaraj).

64. We aspire to build a Divya and Bhavya Bharat.

PIB

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The new Rs.500 notes are different form the present series in colour, size, theme, location of security features and design elements. The size of the new notes is 63mm x 150mm. The color of the notes is stone grey and the predominant new theme is Indian site – Red Fort.

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The workers of the country are all set for the two days’ General Strike on February 20–21, 2013 called by the 11 Central Trade Unions for the first time after independence.

This is the fifteenth joint countrywide General Strike after the inception of the neoliberal policies. The strike has been called jointly by the Centre of Indian Trade Unions (CITU), All India Trade Union Congress (AITUC), Bhartiya Majdoor Sangh (BMS), Indian National Trade Union Congress (INTUC), Hind Mazdoor Sabha (HMS), All India United Trade Union Centre (AIUTUC) and other trade unions.

The independent federations of workers and employees too have joined the protest. More than 10 crores of workers are expected to participate in the General Strike.

The major demands raised by the trade unions in this strike are:

Price Rise

The trade unions have demanded concrete measures to arrest the spiralling prices, universalisation of the public distribution system and a complete ban on speculation and futures trading in the commodity market. They have categorically and unambiguously rejected the spurious arguments put forth by the government that prices were going up because of the increase in the Minimum Support Price to farmers and because people were consuming more.

In stead of taking effective measures to curtail price rise, the government has been taking policy measures that fuel price rise like deregulation of petrol and partial deregulation of diesel prices, electricity tariffs, reduction in fertiliser subsidy, reduction of subsidised cooking gas cylinders etc. It is taking measures that endanger food security.

Minimum Wages

Another important demand raised by the trade unions is the amendment to the Minimum Wages Act to ensure universal coverage by the Minimum Wages Act, irrespective of the schedules as per the recommendation of the 44th session of Indian Labour Conference and fixing of the statutory minimum wage at not less than Rs 10,000 per month.

Under the neoliberal regime, the share of wages in net value added has registered a sharp decline from 30% in late eighties to a mere 9.5% in 2009 while the share of profits has increased from 15% to 55% during the same period. Many sectors are not covered under the Minimum Wages Act. In addition, the Government of India and several state governments are resorting to the dubious method of employing millions of workers, large number of them women, calling them ‘social workers’, ‘activists’, ‘volunteers’, ‘friends’, ‘guests’ etc in the various ‘schemes’/ ‘programmes’ being implemented through their departments, just to deny them minimum wages and other benefits.

Universal social security for the unorganised sector workers

94% of the workforce in our country in the unorganised sector does not have any social security despite contributing more than 60% of the country’s GDP.

Most of the schemes made applicable to the unorganised workers under the Unorganised Workers’ Social Security Act, 2008 are meant only for BPL category excluding majority of the unorganised sector workers due to the ridiculous income criteria fixed by the Planning Commission. No measures have been taken to ensure universal coverage of the Act and to guarantee floor level social security benefits within a specific time frame. The ‘Swavalamban’ scheme, is nothing but a crude attempt to utilise the hard earned money of the unorganised workers to boost up the share market and the profits of the foreign financial companies.

Against disinvestment

The central trade unions have strongly countered the government’s arguments in support of disinvestment – of expanding people’s ownership, mobilising resources for modernisation and for social sector expenditure as fraudulent. Disinvestment leads to cornering of public wealth by private corporates including multinational corporations, and private mutual funds.

Today, the PSUs have huge reserves and surpluses and are all carrying on their modernisation projects with their own resources besides contributing huge amounts to the exchequer by way of dividends and taxes.

The argument of mobilising resources for social security expenditure only indicates the government’s intention to abandon its responsibility to provide social security to its citizens. Disinvestment is nothing but an attempt to hand over huge national assets and natural resources to private corporates.

Employment

Employment protection is one of the major demands of the general strike. The huge tax concessions worth more than Rs 5 lakh crores to the corporates and the big business on an average every year during the last more than 5 years, have helped these corporates to tide over their crisis but have not resulted in employment generation.

According to the National Sample Survey (66th round) data, the annual rate of employment growth decelerated from 2.7% in 2000–05 to 0.8% in 2005-10. Growth of non-agricultural employment declined from 4.65% to 2.53% during the same period despite the high GDP growth of above 8%.

FDI in retail, displacement of lakhs of tribals, fishers and peasants from their land in the name of development are compounding the problem of unemployment.

Effective implementation of labour laws, equal wages and benefits to contract workers and stopping rampant contractorisation, pension for all etc are the other demands raised by the trade unions in this strike, which has evoked massive response from all sections of workers in the country.

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