Private Member Business was taken up in both houses. The Self Financing Professional Educational
Institutions (Control and Regulation) Bill was taken up for discussion in Rajya
Sabha. The Rights of Transgender Persons Bill, 2014 which has been passed by
Rajya Sabha was taken up for discussion in Lok Sabha.
Lok Sabha passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of
Financial
and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill,2016.During the debate
several members urged that the bill be sent to a Standing Committee for
detailed legislative scrutiny.
While
discussing the bill, members raised their concerns about allowing private
agencies to use Aadhaar as a proof of identity for any purpose. This provision
will enable private entities such as, airline, telecom, insurance, real estate
etc. companies, to require Aadhaar as a proof of identity for availing their
services.
Members also pointed out that the penalty for unauthorized
access to the central data base and tampering with such data stored in it has been
brought down from Rs. one crore (as in the 2010 Bill) to Rs. ten lakh. You can find a comparison of the 2010 Aadhaar Bill and the 2016 Aadhaar Bill here.
As per the Bill, information collected under Aadhaar may be
disclosed in the interest of national security, or on the orders of a court.
Members during the debate questioned the definition of ‘national security’ that
the bill does not include.
Members questioned the UID authority’s exclusive power to
make complaints. Members raised their concerns about a possible conflict of
interest that may arise. Under the Bill, the UID authority is responsible for
the security and confidentiality of identity information and authentication
records. There may be situations in which members or employees of the UID
authority are responsible for a security breach.
For details on other issues related to the bill, you can take a look our Issue Brief here.
Parliament breaks for recess next week. Productivity of Lok
Sabha stands at 111% of its scheduled time, and Rajya Sabha’s stands at 97%. Question
Hour has functioned for 83% of its scheduled time in both houses. This data is updated
as of yesterday.
Lok Sabha was sitting at the time of sending this report.