Vaishnaw Asks UIDAI to Harmonize Aadhaar with Data Protection

New Delhi, Apr 9 (PTI) Union Minister Ashwini Vaishnaw on Wednesday asked UIDAI to work on harmonising Aadhaar Act with data protection rules.

The minister posted a video speech on social media platform X in which he said there were several gaps in the legal structure when Aadhaar Act 2016 was made and it is now time to update the Act keeping user convenience in mind.

Vaishnaw said consultation on rules for DPDP Act 2023 is about to get over and they will be notified soon.

"In a way, we have an absolutely modern legal framework in the country. Now we need to see how the Aadhaar law can be harmonized vis-a-vis the DPDP Act. That is a task I would request the UIDAI authority to take as one of the major tasks going forward. Because when the Aadhaar Act was enacted, there were many gaps in the legal structure. Today, those gaps have been filled up," the minister said.

The work for Digital Personal Data Protection (DPDP) Act emerged following a Supreme Court judgement that held that Right to Privacy is a Fundamental Right with restriction specified and relatable to fundamental rights as embedded in the Constitution.

The judgement was based on a petition filed by retired Karnataka High Court Judge KS Puttaswamy to challenge the constitutional validity of Aadhaar project.

To implement the apex court judgement as law, the government started an exercise for personal data protection which led to formation of DPDP Act, 2023.

Vaishnaw said when Aadhaar was made there was no horizontal law of data protection and privacy.

"We did not have a law of basic privacy in the country. Now we have DPDP Act 2023 and its rules are almost ready. Just like the consultation was done during the making of the Act, extensive consultation was also done during the making of the rules. Now that consultation is about to finish. The rules will be notified very soon," the minister said.

He said there is a need to bring a modern version of the Aadhaar Act with focuses on users at the center of the entire legislation.

"There are a variety of uses. For all of them, there should be no need to give consent again and again, to provide data in different places, to get cards or authentication in different places. They should not have to do all of that. If such a legal framework is made, a poor mother should have the easiest way for all of her services. That should be the objective of this law," Vaishnaw said.

The minister during a separate media interaction spoke about introducing a face authentication app for Aadhaar-based transactions.

"The important point is how we can make authorisations strong and accurate. To make authorisation strong, finger print, iris or face is used. Facial recognition is easiest because it can be done using your own mobile phone," he said.

Vaishnaw said a beta version of the face authentication app was launched on Tuesday.

"Soon the final version will be released. We will need to keep its large back up. They (UIDAI) are working out back up server capacity. In the next few months it will be rolled out fully," he said.