No foreign agency is involved in data collection, says IT Minister

Biometric data of about 99 crore Indians have been collected so far under the Aadhar scheme and the data is encrypted and its secrecy and security ensured, the Rajya Sabha was informed today.

IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also set aside fears of members on the data collected under Aadhar and said it is sorted within the country at data centres in Bangalore and Manesar and no foreign agency is involved in data collection.

“Today we have got 99 crore Indians on Aadhar. In case of Direct Benefit Transfer scheme, Rs. 15,000 crore was saved and in case of PDS, Rs. 2,346 crore was saved in four states. As far as privacy part is concerned, I want to assure this House that under the architecture which was started by your government, all the care has been taken to ensure its privacy,” he said during Question Hour.

The Minister said as far as the legislation in this regard is concerned, the House will get the occasion to examine it and there are privacy provisions in it.

“As far as I can recall, the core biometrics cannot be shared even with the consent of its owner,” he said, adding that all apprehensions will be allayed when it comes up before the House. The bill is pending before the Lok Sabha.

Mr. Prasad said “as of now, the issue of challenge to Aadhar is pending before a constitution bench of the Supreme Court which had passed certain interim orders. Thereafter, the Authority and many other bodies went (to it) and Supreme Court has permitted invoking the benefits through the Aadhar platform for a variety of services including MNREGA.”

“It will only create an enabling atmosphere through the platform of Aadhar, depending upon how you choose the particular service to be delivered by various government departments,” he said.

As regards the agency which undertakes the data collection, there is a three-tier architecture - first the state government, public sector banks and the common service centre.

“There are nearly 99 crore data (which have been collected) and no allegations have come that my knowledge that the biometrics have been sought to be abused or it has been pilfered,” he said.