Finance Minister Claims Aadhaar Card Helps Government Save Rs. 90,000 Crore

Union Finance Minister, Arun Jaitley, praised the Supreme Court verdict on the Aadhaar Card, saying that it was a boon to the government that the concept of the universal identification was upheld as constitutional, on the whole. He said, ” It’s a great step forward in use of technology in governance.” The Finance Minister claimed that the government was able to save about Rs. 90,000 crores by issuing Aadhaar cards and being able to plug leaks in welfare schemes, such as authenticating beneficiaries. He took a dig at those who had attempted to bring cases against the Aadhaar scheme, clubbing them together with those who had advocated against electronic voting machines, by insinuating that they undermined the country’s attempts to be more willing to utilize technology in the digital age.

Speaking at a press conference, the Finance Minister said that the government would go by the judgment of the Supreme Court, but at the moment the judgment was being studied to understand its repercussions. Speaking to those present, he said, “While upholding the core of the legislation, the Supreme Court has made some observations. It has specified areas where we can’t go and where we need a legislation to go to.”

When asked about the privacy concerns that had been raised at the time the Aadhaar scheme was launched, Ravi Shankar Prasad, Information and Technology and Law minister, said that his ministry was in the process of bringing a data protection law into effect, saying, “The Srikrishna committee report is out in public domain for stakeholder feedback. We are working on bringing a data protection law.”