In a bid to make Aadhaar more user-friendly, the Union Cabinet today approved the Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Bill 2019 to replace Aadhaar and Other Laws (Amendment) Ordinance 2019.
“This move will make Aadhaar number for authentication as acceptable Know your customer (KYC) document for opening the bank accounts,”Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar, who briefed the media on the Cabinet decisions said.
The Bill will now also allow children to cancel their Aadhaar number on attaining the age of 18.
“The decision would enable UIDAI to have a more robust mechanism to serve the public interest and restrain the misuse of Aadhar. Subsequent to this amendment, no individual shall be compelled to provide proof of possession of Aadhaar number or undergo authentication for the purpose of establishing his identity unless it is so provided by a law made by Parliament,” Javadekar said.
“The salient features of the amendments are that it provides for voluntary use of Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form by authentication or offline verification with the consent of Aadhaar number holder,” he further added.
