india

Updated: Mar 01, 2019 00:18 IST

The Union cabinet on Thursday approved the promulgation of an ordinance that will enable the Unique Identification Authority of India to have a more robust mechanism to “serve the public interest” and “restrain the misuse of Aadhaar”.

The ordinance will make amendments to the Aadhaar Act, the Prevention of Money Laundering Act and the Indian Telegraph Act as proposed in the bill passed by the Lok Sabha on January 4, 2019, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said.

Prasad also said Aadhaar number has been made optional for small and marginal farmers to avail the second instalment of Rs 2,000 on April 1 under the Pradhan Mantri Kisan Samman Nidhi scheme. “Subsequent to this amendment, no individual shall be compelled to provide proof of possession of Aadhaar number of [or] undergo authentication for the purpose of establishing his identity unless it is so provided by a law made by Parliament,” an official statement issued after the cabinet meeting said.

The amendments provide for” voluntary use” of Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form by authentication or offline verification with the consent of Aadhaar number holder, it said. The change allows the use of Aadhaar number for authentication on a voluntary basis as acceptable KYC or know your customer document under the Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002.