Moments before it was adjourned, the Lok Sabha adopted the Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Bill, 2016, by a voice vote after rejecting the recommendations for five amendments made by the Upper House.
The bill was passed within in the BJP-dominated Lowe house just hours of being returned by the Rajya Sabha.
The legislation aims at a better targeting of subsidies through the unique identity number (UAN), issued to every Aadhar card holder.
Since the legislation has been deemed a Money Bill by the Speaker, the government rushed it through the Rajya Sabha, which cannot amend such draft legislations. The Upper house can only make recommendations to the Lok Sabha for ammendments.
Once the Lok Sabha passes a Money bill with or without amendments recommended by the Rajya Sabha, it is deemed to have been passed by both the Houses.
Opposition Appeals Government to “Respect the Widsom” of House Elders
The government considers the Aadhar bill a significant instrument for implementing its Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) schemes.
The Opposition attacked the government saying it was violating the Supreme Court direction that Aadhar card cannot be made mandatory but should only be voluntary.
Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who moved the bill and piloted it in both the Houses, also rejected the Opposition argument that Parliament cannot legislate since the matter is before Supreme Court.
Parliament cannot abdicate its duty under the Constitutional which clearly separates powers among various institutions, he said.
In last-ditch attempts, Opposition members including those from Trinamool, CPI(M) and BJD appealed to the government to “respect the wisdom” of the house of elders and accept their amendments in a democratic spirit and not to reject them on “ego”.
The government, however, went ahead and passed the law.
Government & Opposition Divided Over Definition of “National Security”
Opposition members Saugata Bose (TMC), Mohd Salim (CPI-M) and Tataghat Satpathy (BJD) asked the government accept Rajya Sabha’s recommendations on issues provisions relating to description of “national security”, “public safety”, inclusion of CVC and CAG in the oversight committee and penal provisions so that the privacy of individuals is not violated.
Arun Jaitley gave reasons for not accepting these reccomendations.
These amendments have dangerous consequences as they gave wide power to the government to share information.Arun Jaitley, Finance Minister
He was responding to the amendments proposed by former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh and passed by the Upper House in a division pressed by the Congress leader. Ramesh wanted the words ‘national security’ to be replaced by “public emergency and public safety” for sharing the bio-metric details.
Jaitley further said while “national security” is a defined phrase and is mentioned in the Constitution, terms public emergency and public safety can be subject to wide interpretation.
He said he has tightened the provision envisaged in the UPA Bill with regard to protecting the privacy of individuals.
Jaitley Accuses Opposition of Politicising the Issue
The Leader of the House in Rajya Sabha, Arun Jaitley, said that opposition to the Aadhaar Bill was with a “political motive” and most of the amendments were not part of the UPA’s draft. Referring to the other amendment with regard to engaging Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) and Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) for the purpose of disclosing bio-metric details, Jaitley said, the issues concerning “national security cannot be handled by public auditors or anti-corruption authority.” They had to be handled by Home Secretary, Defence Secretary or Cabinet Secretary.
(With inputs from PTI)
(At The Quint, we are answerable only to our audience. Play an active role in shaping our journalism by becoming a member. Because the truth is worth it.)