VARINDIA IT MAGAZINE

In its latest ruling, the Supreme Court of India has stated that citizens do not necessarily have to link their Aadhaar numbers to bank accounts and mobile phones. The deadline for mandatory Aadhaar linking with bank accounts and mobile phones stand extended indefinitely till the Constitution Bench pronounces verdict on the validity of the Aadhaar scheme. The top court has said that a biometric ID is mandatory for accessing social welfare schemes and subsidies, but till it decides on whether the government's demand for Aadhaar to be linked to private and public services is a violation of the right to privacy, the 12-digit unique number given to each citizen does not have to be linked to other services. Ever since Aadhaar was launched in 2009 to streamline welfare payments and reduce wastage in public spending, PM Narendra Modi’s govt. has been keen to mandate the use of Aadhaar for everything from filing income tax to the registration of mobile phone numbers and boo...

Is Aadhaar really safe? Should I link my bank details and my personal number to Aadhaar? These are some the questions that people keep asking despite UIDAI asserting last November that “Aadhaar data is fully safe and secure and there has been no data leak or breach at UIDAI.” But you will be surprised to learn that there are several rackets going on that can help in getting unrestricted access to details for any of the more than 1 billion Aadhaar numbers created in India thus far. And it just takes Rs 500 paid through Paytm and 10 minutes to do that. On further investigation by a 3rd party agency it has been revealed that an “agent” of the group running the racket created a “gateway” and gives gave a login ID and password. One can enter any Aadhaar number in the portal, and instantly get all particulars that an individual may have submitted to the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), including name, address, postal code (PIN), photo, phone number and email. ...