The Supreme Court of India has given some outstanding judgments in the recent times with regard to Sabarimala and sexuality minority issues. But then the same court has left a lot of gaps in its judgment on Aadhaar petition. As soon as the Supreme Court says Aadhaar is not needed in some cases, people cannot assume they can do without Aadhaar forever. Those who wish to live without, must be prepared to face a fair amount of challenges in this country. Though SC has disallowed private companies from using Aadhar information or card, it is anybody's guess as to how successful this ruling would be. Will the private sector even be able to face the challenges in this context?

Niti Aayog faces a tricky time ahead because of this ruling. The committee was all set to create an action plan to use the Aadhaar and seeded data as basis to access private information. Finance minister Arun Jaitley has indicated that a bill would be tabled in the parliament, to allow use of Aadhaar in private sector. Payments Council of India is said to be against this and has even been insisting on this with finance and law ministers.   

Court has said Aadhaar can be used for other purposes as a collateral document to get Passport, pan card, driver's license and other important documents. In cases of people submitting Aadhaar by choice as proof of address of id, the court has said it would have no issues. But the same court would not allow Aadhaar  to be certified by non-governmental organisations. With the judgment, Air India, and other organisations such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and LIC can accept Aadhaar. But their opponents such as Vistara, Reliance Jio or Kotak Life Insurance etc cannot use the same document as address proof. This helps the public sector organisations and would increase the financial and operational burden on private companies. Who'd bear the cost? obviously, the common person.   

This increased burden, especially after the SC verdict, has become a cause of concern and private companies are already considering what they'd need to do in the future course to manage their costs and the market share along with keeping customers happy. For instance, Reliance Jio obtained the details of customers from their Aadhaar and wrote the best success story in telecom history of India. Costs have come down considerably for all private digital payment companies who obtaining required info from Aadhaar data.

This is the reason behind the pressure created by private sector to pass a bill to use Aadhaar for private use. Efforts are on to create conducive reasons to allow its use. Arun Jaitley has been on this job, anticipating the opposition parties would raise a lot of dust on this. Justice A K Sikri had said parts of sec 57 are unconstitutional since they empower private parties to ascertain the identity of persons. This is against the fundamental rights of a person. If a bill is passed as is, opposition party would be able to leverage this step as BJP's hobnobbing with the corporate sector, leading to confusion among poeple.Hence, the government is planning to have the corporate sector answer all the critics and then a bill would be passed to aid the use of data among private parties. So when one vests the power of using or submitting Aadhaar to individuals, and allow private companies to seek submission of this through their means, the government is escaping from its responsibilities and taking the backdoor entry into outing poeple's information on private sector. All the preparations are on. The final Aadhaar show for private sector will be done in a very consistent manner.

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Amritsar (PTI): Former president Ram Nath Kovind on Friday said that with digital transformation, economic reforms and a strong focus on the ease of doing business, India is moving towards becoming a global economic powerhouse.

He was speaking after inaugurating the 19th edition of the Punjab International Trade Expo (PITEX) in Amritsar.

The former president said that this 19th edition of PITEX is being organised at a time when India is recognised as one of the fastest-growing large economies in the world.

Speaking at the inaugural ceremony of the event organised by the PHD Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PHDCCI) the former president, while referring to Punjab, said the state is a living example of courage, sacrifice and enterprise.

"The spiritual light of Sri Harmandir Sahib (Golden Temple) inspires peace and humanity across the world. The heritage of Punjab is deep and inspiring," Kovind said, according to a statement issued by the PITEX.

The former president congratulated the PHDCCI for hosting the 19th edition of PITEX and suggested that the chamber should expand PITEX outside Punjab.

He proposed that a similar event should also be held in New Delhi.