The Centre government told the Supreme Court that it will continue with Unique Identification (UID) or Aadhaar card scheme for its multiple benefit to public. The Narendra Modi government made it clear that UID scheme is "voluntary" and not mandatory. The apex court had asked the Narendra Modi government to appraise whether it would like to continue with the scheme.

"There is a strong case for the continuation of the UID scheme in view of the widespread use and the benefits being provided to the Aadhaar enrollees," the government said in a joint affidavit filed by the finance ministry, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and other authorities in response to the court's query.

"The enrollment to the UID scheme is purely on a voluntary basis and is not mandatory upon any person to enroll with UID scheme and consequently part with their biometric information," the government added. “As on March 31, 2015 a cumulative expenditure of Rs5,980.62 crore and over 1,000 crore on IT infrastructure has been incurred under the scheme."

"Over 80.46 crore Aadhaar numbers have been generated, 16.25 crore bank accounts have been linked to it enabling the public to get the direct benefit transfer (DBT), over 37 crore LPG subsidy transfer transactions amounting to total of over Rs11,500 crore and a total of 61.04 lakh payment transactions have been done through DBT across the country for 34 schemes amounting to Rs681.14 crore," as stated in the affidavit while explaining the multiple benefits of the scheme.

Under the UPA regime, NPR and UIDAI had been given the permission to collect biometric details of Indian residents. NPR was asked to enroll 60 million people while UIDAI was to enroll the rest of the population.

Having a unique identity card for all the purposes is a very good idea. But the government has to ensure that the date collected by private organizations are not misused. The safety and security of the identity of the Aadhar card holder have to be ensured. There are plenty of apprehensions regarding the security of the data. The government has to ensure the privacy of the citizens are not breached There are also rumours that the private agencies that are collecting the data are selling the information for commercial use. This has to be checked by the government.

By Premji