The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is responsible for issuing Aadhar cards in the country, has been shifted to ministry of IT and communications from the country's top policy commission, NITI Aayog, reports the Press Trust of India. In the earlier UPA government, the UIDAI fell under the purview of the Planning Commission (which was scrapped by the BJP government for Niti Aayog). NITI Aayog is headed by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as its chairperson. The report added that the decision to change to the ministry was taken keeping in mind the government’s ambitious ‘Digital India’ programme as the Aadhaar numbers were being linked with several services. The Aadhar project by the UIDAI is has been fairly controversial in India as it was created in the absence of a privacy law and without Parliamentary approval. The Supreme Court had ordered the government to not link social benefits to Aadhaar, in September 2013. The West Bengal Assembly had also passed a resolution asking for the Central government to de-link Aadhar from the Direct Benefits Transfer scheme, specifically LPG subsidy, in December the same year. However, the Finance Ministry said that it wants to continue with the Direct Benefits Transfer scheme – touted as a primary reason for setting up Aadhaar – but it doesn’t necessarily need to be linked to the Aadhaar number, as indicated by this Economic times report. Also read: “Violation of privacy doesn’t mean anything because privacy is not a guaranteed right” – GoI Aadhaar-linked schemes: – In December 2014, the Indian Government had launched…
