The Union Cabinet of the Government of India yesterday approved the proposal for introducing the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 in Parliament. The Bill lays down the powers and functions of the National Identification Authority of India, its functions, and the framework for issuing UID (Aadhaar) numbers. The Bill will be introduced in Parliament, and as is the norm, will probably referred to a standing committee for comments, following which it will be put to vote in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha before being notified by the President of India, upon which it will become law. Download the Draft National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 here (via uidai.gov.in) The National Identification Authority of India will manage processes by which the identity of individuals will be authenticated, and transactions such as opening a bank account, getting a mobile number, getting a gas connection, are likely to go through the Aadhaar authentication. The authentication includes biometric information. While this might help marginalized sections of society (such as for authentication in case of the public distribution system (PDS) and National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), it also helps the government keep track of expenditure, and bring accountability to these systems. On the flip side, it helps the government keep track of activities of individuals, and there are privacy concerns. Following the recent elections in the UK, their National ID rollout was repealed. In India, a total of Rs. 3023.01 crore is being spent until March 2011, and the project…
