Didn’t order Aadhaar-SIM link: SC

Didn’t order Aadhaar-SIM link: SC

Context

Says government using an order passed by it on February 6, 2017 for the seeding

What has happened?

The Supreme Court on Wednesday denied directing the mandatory linking of Aadhaar and SIM cards, and said the government was using an order passed by it on February 6 last year as a “tool” to seed Aadhaar with SIM cards

SC observed

The court had only asked the government to tighten the verification process of mobile phone users through Aadhaar linkage, citing national security

UIDAI

• Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), said seeding was done in pursuance of a TRAI recommendation
• It was “legitimate state interest”, with regard to national security, to ensure that it is the applicant, and no one else, who was using the mobile SIM.

Banks and Telcos have bigger database

The Aadhaar scheme has been criticised for aggregation of meta data, while every body ignores the fact that banks and telecom companies have a much “bigger data base.”