UIDAI seeks exception from Data Bill

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has appealed from exemption from Personal Data Protection (PDP) Law, to avoid the duplicity of laws.

Key facts

• UIDAI is already being governed by the Aadhaar Act.
• The PDP law was making Aadhaar compulsory for several services including the banks, which first initiated the data privacy debate.

Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)

UIDAI is a statutory authority established under Aadhaar Act, 2016, by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology (MeitY). It was established to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID) called as “Aadhaar”, to the residents of India.

Personal Data Protection Bill, 2019

The bill was passed to provide protection to personal data of individuals. It seeks to create framework for processing personal data, by establishing a Data Protection Authority. It governs processing of personal data by government, companies incorporated in India, as well as foreign companies that deals with personal data of individuals in India. It categorises personal data like financial data, caste, religious & political beliefs, biometric data etc as sensitive personal data.

Provisions of the bill

• Section 35 of the bill call on sovereignty & integrity of India, security of the state, public order and friendly relations with foreign states to provide powers to the Central government for suspend all or any provisions of the Act for government agencies.
• Section 12 provides for processing data for the purpose of service or benefit to the data principal. However, prior notice has to be given.

Aadhaar Act, 2016

This act is also called as Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016. It provides legal backing to the Aadhaar unique identification number project. Lok Sabha had passed it on March 11, 2016.