In a complete reversal of stand, the Union Home Ministry under Rajnath Singh has favoured Aadhaar numbers as they not only “eliminate” fraud and bogus activity but also help identify beneficiaries of government schemes.
The ministry’s change of mind on Aadhaar comes out in identical letters written to states asking them to start enrolment process in jails to enable prisoners to get such identification numbers.
The volte-face on “Aadhaar” comes months after Singh told Deccan Herald in April during election campaign that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) would “review” the project if it comes to power at the Centre. The ministry under P Chidambaram and Sushilkumar Shinde had been against “Aadhaar”, preferring the National Population Register (NPR).
The BJP had been critical of the United Progressive Alliance’s Aadhaar scheme . A Parliamentary Standing Committee, then headed by BJP leader Yashwant Sinha, had found fault with its duplication with NPR exercise and security concerns arising out of its enrolment process.
In the letter, three out of the five paragraphs sing paeans of the scheme while just mentioning NPR, which was once the pet project of home ministers, including Singh. Singh had earlier set a three-year deadline to identify genuine Indian citizens through the NPR.
While acknowledging NPR is also a national identity programme run by the government, the letter said the benefits of Aadhaar are many.
“Aadhaar can be used at multiple places to prove one’s identity very easily,” it said. The number can be used while opening a bank account as it meets the “Know Your Customer” norms as well as booking tickets online or applying for passport as it serves as identification.
Since one Aadhaar number is allotted to only one person, the letter said, it helps to verify one’s identity and it “eliminates the threat of any fraud and bogus activity”.
“Aadhaar will provide its possessor with universal identification. Aadhaar will facilitate ‘anytime, anywhere, anyhow’ authentication to its beneficiaries. Aadhaar will be a single source of identity verification,” it said.
Giving more details of how Aadhaar can be beneficial, the letter said it will give migrants universal mobility of identity and the government can now provide services and facilities to people, especially in the rural areas, in a “more effective manner.”
The letter also betrayed the National Democratic Alliance government’s change in stand on Aadhaar as it said that more and more government services are going to be linked to Aadhaar.
“It would be of utility to have an Aadhaar card,” the ministry said. However, the ministry had earlier suspected the efficacy of Aadhaar. Uniqueness of identity was not a necessary condition for ensuring authenticity of identity or records of Aadhaar numbers.