Aadhaar Card Compulsory?

The very question about this post is about "Aadhaar Card" issued by Government of India. The UIDAI came to light when Government mulled for reducing the burden of subsidy. The burden of subsidy was high on Government exchequer so it was piloted to reduce the beneficiaries who receive subsidy. The first target was to reduce the subsidy bill on the LPG customers. As almost all household have atleast one LPG connection, which increased the subsidy bill, it was made the primary target to reduce subsidy. The story started with UIDAI setup under the UPA government under the leadership of former Infosys gem Mr. Nandan Nilakeni.

LPG subsidy:

The burden of subsidy increased year by year as the LPG connection started penetrating every household in India. The subsidy was general without any discrimination between rich and poor. As it was thought that rich do not need a subsidy to subsist in India, the government made scheme to filter the poorer section of Indian population. The aim was to make reach the subsidy to the target poorer section and to reduce budget deficit which was increasing exponentially. Though it appears to be good project to reduce burden on government exchequer, Aadhaar card came with a tag that it is not mandatory. But one who wish to claim subsidy must have Aadhaar number linked to a Bank account.

Bank Accounts with Aadhaar numbers:

The Aadhaar project scheme was to deposit subsidy directly with beneficiaries bank account. So the Government mended Banks under RBI to facilitate opening of no-frill account linked with Aadhaar number of the customers. The reason cited was Financial inclusion in Economical development. With aid of Government, almost all household own at least one bank account now. The object of the Aadhaar induced bank account opening satisfied the government. Now, any person UIDAI number could list out bank account number held by that person.

Early problems of Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT):

The pilot project to deposit subsidy directly into beneficiaries account saw many pitfalls. The subsidy bill previously was claimed from the government by the huge corporations. Now, the end-user i.e, LPG consumer has to make claim to the government instead of oil corporations. The LPG consumers were made to run pillar to post to claim the subsidy amount due to them. Though, it saw many pitfalls, the pilot project was considered as success. The government started implementing the Aadhaar linked subsidy all over India.

Such announcement was made at the time when most LPG consumers did not have the Aadhaar card. Though government rushed up the issue of Unique number to all citizens, the delay in issuance of Unique ID left many consumers perplexed. To add fuel to the commotion, the form format were altered many times between the announcement and last date of rolling out the scheme.

Linking Aadhaar with Election Voter ID?

With so many problem attached with the well thought and planned LPG subsidy, now government has started collecting Aadhaar ID from each household in electrol constituency. The idea was to link Unique ID with voter ID. 

At first, the Aadhaar card was made not mandatory and it is optional. Thus, it was the choice of the citizen either to get Unique ID or not. But now, government move to link voter ID with Aadhaar card number hints that the future move would make it compulsory and must to have ID proof. 

The people who come to collect Unique ID from each household insist to get Aadhaar ID as soon as possible. Person who do not have an Aadhaar is looked up on like criminal by the officer who collect details at the instance of the government. The fact that we do not want Aadhaar is not pleasing those field officers.

Making Aadhaar Mandatory:

Various question would arise at this juncture:

1. Could Aadhaar card be made mandatory?

2. What is at stake if made mandatory?

3. How personal information of card holder be handled?

and many more endless queries comes out brain such as privacy rights, freedom of expresssion, etc.

If our memory could help us, the Aadhaar was stated as optional. It is deceiving that some thing which was made not mandatory at beginning was insisted upon the people of India.

Is the Aadhaar ID licence to benefits or act as tool to monitor each and every citizens of this Republic? Why do the government try to invade into personal details of its citizens? Time alone could answer those questions.