The Union government has notified the Aadhaar Act 2016, which would make it mandatory for people to acquire an Aadhaar card to avail financial subsidies and benefits, reports the Economic Times. This would operationalize the Act and give it a legal framework for the issuance and use of the Aadhaar. Following this, the government will be appointing the next chairperson for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) with recommendations from a committee headed by the cabinet secretary. The committee consists of secretaries from the department of personnel and training, department of finance and department of IT and technology and two experts from the communications and IT minister. The new chairperson will draw the salary of a secretary,the publication added. The post of the chairman was vacant since Nandan Nilekani resigned over two years ago in 2014. The Aadhaar Act was passed in Parliament in March as a money bill which bypassed voting in the Rajya Sabha. A money bill exclusively contains provisions for imposition and abolition of taxes, for appropriation of moneys out of a consolidated fund. Earlier in the budget, finance minister Arun Jaitley said that the government will enact a law where Aadhaar will be given statutory backing. The finance minister also said that the government will develop a social security platform using Aadhaar to target intended beneficiaries. Supreme Court ruling In August 2015, the SC had made Aadhaar optional except for public distribution system and LPG connections. Various State governments, including Gujarat and Jharkhand along with central bodies such as RBI, SEBI, TRAI and…
