Lok Sabha Question No. 819 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-12-20
Subject: Mandatory Aadhaar Linkage
Ministry: ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: NALIN KUMAR KATEEL, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH, ELUMALAI VELLAIGOUNDER, KALIKESH NARAYAN SINGH DEO

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.  819

TO BE ANSWERED ON 20-12-2017

## MANDATORY AADHAAR LINKAGE

## 819. SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

SHRI D.K. SURESH:

SHRI V. ELUMALAI:

SHRI KALIKESH N. SINGH DEO:

Will the Minister of ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the proposed mandatory Aadhaar linkage to innumerable Government Schemes and for identification has generated a lot of debate;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the services for which it is mandated;
- (c) whether it is also true that there are several petitions against the Aadhaar linkage that are being heard in the court;
- (d) if so, whether the Government is taking any steps to mitigate the concerns of the general public about the transparency and genuineness of the use of Aadhaar and if so, the details thereof including action taken on complaints of misuse of data or fraud;
- (e)  whether  the  Government  has  studied  the  impact  of  the  Aadhaar  linkage  with  various services on the entire economy of the country and if so, the details thereof; and
- (f) whether serious concerns have been raised about the security of Aadhaar data and if so, the details thereof and the steps being taken by the Government in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI ALPHONS KANNANTHANAM)

(a) and (b): Aadhaar based Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) is a significant governance reform initiative  to  ensure  greater  transparency  and  accountability  in  the  public  service  delivery through  effective  use  of  technology.      Section  7  of  the  Aadhaar  (Targeted  Delivery  of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016  (Aadhaar Act),  enables use of Aadhaar as condition precedent for services and benefits flowing from Consolidated Fund of India, provided no service/benefit is denied for want of Aadhaar.  As per information from Unique  Identification  Authority  of  India  (UIDAI),  252  schemes  from  various  Ministries/ Departments  have  been notified under this section till  30 th November  2017.  These notifications  also  provide  mechanism  to  handle  such  cases  where  Aadhaar  number  is  not assigned to an individual and instruct implementing agencies to deliver benefits on the basis of alternate identity mechanisms.

The  Prevention  of  Money  Laundering  Rules  2005  as  amended  on  1 st June.,  2017  and subsequently    from  time  to  time  also  require  Aadhaar  based  identification    by  various reporting entities including  banks, financial institutions and other intermediaries as defined in Prevention of Money laundering Act 2002.

As  per  section  139AA  of  the  Income  Tax,  1961  effective  from  01.07.2017,  all  taxpayers having Aadhaar number or enrolment number are required to link it with PAN number.

- (c): Yes, Sir.

(d): The  transparency  and  genuineness  of  Aadhaar  is  ensured  by  providing  authentication services as governed by the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and the Aadhaar (Authentication) Regulations, 2016.  To  ensure  transparency  and  genuineness  of  the  use  of  Aadhaar,  following  measures have been taken by UIDAI:

- i. A  notification  is  sent  on  registered  e-mail  ID  of  Aadhaar  number  holder  for  every successful  or  failed  biometric  and  One  Time  Password  (OTP)    based  authentication transaction.
- ii. UIDAI has also provided a facility on UIDAI portal to view "Aadhaar Authentication History" for all types of transactions, which enables an Aadhaar number holder to view details of all successful and failed transactions performed by him / her in the past few months."

UIDAI has also filed 30 FIRs with Police till date, for violation of the Aadhaar Act 2016.

With regard to concerns of the general public about the genuineness of the use of Aadhaar by Licensed  Access  Service  Providers  during  the  re-verification  process  of  existing  mobile subscribers through Aadhaar based E-KYC process, the Department of Telecommunications vide its circular dated 23.10.2017, has directed all the Licensed Access Service Providers not to bundle the other services offered by them like DTH, broadband, bank payments, etc., with the Aadhaar re-verification of the mobile subscribers.

## (e) : As a result of Aadhaar Based DBT, Ministries/Departments have reported saving of Rs. 57,029 Crore till FY 2016-17.

(f): Concerns regarding security of the Aadhaar data have been addressed through legal, organizational and technological measures. Data  Protection measures  have  also been mandated for the requesting entities and ecosystem partners to address the security concerns related  to  Aadhaar  data.  Government  is  fully  alive  to  the  need  to  maintain  highest  level  of data  security,  privacy  and  is  deploying  the  necessary  technology  and  infrastructure.  The architecture of Aadhaar ecosystem has been designed to ensure non-duplication, data integrity and other related management aspects of security & privacy in Aadhaar database.  Security is an integral part of the system from the initial design to the final stage. Security of Aadhaar data is monitored at all the times i.e. at rest, in transit and in storage. UIDAI has been declared ISO 27001:2013 certified  by  STQC  with  respect  to  Information  Security  which  has  added another layer of information security assurance. In pursuance of sub-section (1) of Section 70 of  the  IT  Act  2000,  UIDAI  data  has  also  been  declared  as  protected  system  by  National Critical Information Infrastructure Protection Centre.

Additionally, various policies and procedures have been defined clearly which are reviewed and updated continually thereby appropriately controlling and monitoring any movement of people,  material  and  data  in  and  out  of  UIDAI  premises,  particularly  the  data  centres. Physical security of UIDAI Data Centres is being managed by armed CISF personnel. Further strengthening of security of data is an ongoing process, and all possible steps are taken in this regard.  Chapter  VI  (Protection  of  Information)  of  the  Aadhaar  Act,  2016  and  the  Aadhaar (Data  Security)  Regulations,  2016,  framed  there-under,  have  been  specifically  drafted keeping in account the various security requirements in respect of data collected by UIDAI.

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