Aadhaar Push: Should Centre Wait For Supreme Court Verdict?

The RBI has clarified it is now mandatory to link Aadhaar and bank accounts. Every day citizens around the country are being deluged with warning messages from banks and mobile operators about the consequences of not linking Aadhaar to their accounts. On the Buck Stops Here, we ask: are these threats and warnings even legal? Just today, reports from Maharashtra indicate Aadhaar data collection is anything but fool-proof as the government's online loan-waiver scheme ran into trouble as 100 farmers were found to have the same Aadhaar number. In the Supreme Court today, government's top lawyer, the Attorney General said the deadline to link Aadhaar to get benefits of government social schemes would be extended to March-end for those who don't have an Aadhaar card yet but are willing to enroll. But activists and petitioners continue to insist Aadhaar is a violation of privacy and raises serious questions about data security. We debate: why is the government continuing with its big Aadhaar push? Should it not wait for the Supreme Court's verdict?