Plug the gaps

Plug the gaps

Aadhaar's legal ecosystem needs big upgrade as it becomes a must for many services.
Aadhaar's reach has been extended once again with government making it mandatory for TB patients who wish to receive state aid for treatment. For sure, Aadhaar is an important tool to prevent misappropriation of resources in delivery of welfare schemes but the speed of its dissemination is worrisome. Not just welfare schemes, even in areas such as filing income tax returns it's now mandatory. Yet, the legal ecosystem around Aadhaar has gaps. Unless these gaps are filled there is a danger they will hamstring a potentially transformational project.
India today is in urgent need of a tight legislation on personal data protection. Digitisation of society is proceeding at a remarkable pace but relevant legislations going back to 1885 and 2000 are inadequate. One defence of the current situation has been that technology outpaces regulation. But this is a lame excuse as sections of government have worked on data protection laws for seven years. Even as two governments have been unable to come up with a law, BJD parliamentarian Jay Panda filed a private members data privacy and protection bill. Government is better equipped than individuals and should take the lead in legislating on personal data protection.
The Aadhaar legislation is over a year old. One of its highlights was an attempt at data protection. But developments during this period show there are problems which need to be ironed out. For instance, there are far too many crucial aspects of its working which are delegated to subordinate legislation. This removes an important layer of oversight. Delegating far too much power to the executive is not prudent. Another weakness is looseness on grievance redressal. Absence of a stand-alone legislation on data protection and privacy makes Aadhaar's weakness in grievance redressal dangerous.
Aadhaar is a voluntary scheme and the legislation aims to target delivery of subsidies. Making it mandatory for other areas such as provision of a driver's license is unnecessary and amounts to disabling red tapism. Here it is best if Aadhaar is just added to the list of existing identifiers. Government's priority now should be to deal with the dangerous gaps in the legal ecosystem which governs India's digitisation. This trend has the potential to transform society. But the potential will be fulfilled only if government carries out its duty of mitigating the risks people face on this journey.