Aadhar bill passed in Lok Sabha, amendments introduced in RS rejected

New Delhi: A bill to give statutory backing to the unique identity number scheme for better targeting of subsidies was returned by Rajya Sabha to the Lok Sabha on Wednesday with several amendments, with Opposition parties also objecting strongly to treating it as a money bill.

The Lok Sabha on Wednesday evening passed the Aadhar bill after rejecting five amendments introduced in Rajya Sabha.

Earlier, the amendments to the Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Bill, 2016, moved by Congress leader and former Environment Minister Jairam Ramesh, were passed in Rajya Sabha with a majority voting in favour.

Read: Aadhaar, key Bills cause logjam in Upper House

The ruling BJP-led NDA does not have majority in the House. Members of BSP, TMC and BJD also walked out of the House raising objections on several issues concerning the measure.

The process of return of the bill saw an animated debate over why it was brought as a money bill, with a number of opposition members also raising concern over privacy and national security on the biometric data of Indians collected through the scheme.

Also read: Government refuses to discuss Aadhaar bill issue in Rajya Sabha

Brushing aside the objections by the Opposition, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the Aadhar Bill was a money bill as it dealt with the way public money or subsidy will be distributed among the needy under various government schemes.

Moving the Bill in Rajya Sabha, Jaitley said Parliament cannot abdicate its right to legislate just because the issue is pending in the Supreme Court.

Also read: Aadhar legislation is a money bill: Arun Jaitley in Lok Sabha

The Minister also emphasised that the present bill was different from the one brought by the UPA government as it had further tightened the privacy provisions with regard to sharing of information of individuals collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

Several Opposition members including Sitaram Yechury (CPI-M), Jairam Ramesh (Cong), Naresh Agrawal (SP) and K C Tyagi (JD-U) among others, opposed the government's decision to label the Aadhar bill as a money bill.

Refuting the objections in a debate marred by acrimony, Jaitley said the Lok Sabha Speaker had the final authority under the Constitution to declare a bill as money bill and nobody can question that. The Lok Sabha has passed the bill on March 11.

"One, the purpose of this bill is distribution of government money by subsidies and the rest is incidental, so it is a money bill. Two, merely because the executive action is challenged and pending in the Supreme Court, the powers of Parliament cannot suspend the right to legislate. Three, learning from UPA's experience, we have further tightened privacy laws much more than the UPA had in its bill," he said.

Also read: Aadhaar Bill 2016 passed in Lok Sabha

Earlier while moving the Aadhar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other subsidies, benefits and services) Bill, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said the present bill was different from the one brought by the UPA government as it has further tightened the privacy provisions with regard to sharing of information of individuals collected by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

The Leader of the House said privacy laws are tightened to an extent that the data of individuals would be shared only on the ground of national security.

Amid continued interruption, Jaitley took a dig at Ramesh for objecting to the bill, which was originally conceived by the UPA government.

"I think the stand of Jairam depends on where he sits. When he is on this (ruling) side, his stand is different and when is on that (opposition) side, his stand is different," Jaitley quipped.

Ramesh countered by saying that his stand on important legislations be it GST, Aadhar or Land acquisition has been consistent and he did not need a certificate on his intellectual intergrity. He said on all this "Jaitley and his party had changed."

The Finance Minister and the Congress leader also clashed over whether or not the Aadhar bill was 'Money Bill'.

Ramesh said that Jaitley, in his attempt to justify the decision to treat Aadhar bill as 'Money Bill', had "misled" the House by claiming that in the past two Bills, one on

Juvenile Justice and another on African Development Bank, had been brought as Money Bills. "Where was this information manufactured," he asked.

Jaitley then told the House that his source was Lok Sabha website itself.

"You can accuse me of being misled by the website," Jaitley said, while contending that the information was still available on the website and he had taken a printout just few minutes back. Ramesh said the information on Lok Sabha website was "wrong".

Jaitley said it was Ramesh who had "misled" the House by giving a "half-truth". The Congress leader, on the other hand, emphasised that Jaitley should have checked the facts.

As the argument continued, Deputy Chairman P J Kurien said that if the source of the Finance Minister's information was the Lok Sabha website, it cannot be termed as misleading of the House.

Speaking about the Aadhar bill, Ramesh said it was because of "small mercies" that a debate had taken place over it.

The Congress leader said the major use of Aadhar should be that it could be used to improve the way subsidy is distributed to curb leakages, but it should not determine who is eligible for for subsidy.

Ramesh said while much has been made out by the Finance Minister about Rs 14,000 crore savings in the distribution of LPG subsidies because of Aadhar based DBT, the findings of a London-based think tank suggest otherwise.

He said while the present Bill is better in some respects than the one brought by UPA in 2010, it is silent on other aspects. He said he had overall nine objections to the Bill, a number for which Jaitley had shown much fascination in the budget.

He said that during the UPA regime, there was skepticism over Aadhar even among the National Advisory Council (NAC) but his party leaders Sonia and Rahul Gandhi, and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had remained firm.

Ramesh said while the government had provided the opposition with "fait accompli", it should have rather been sent to a Select Committee headed by a BJP member like Anil Madhav Dave or Bhupendra Yadav and better bill could have been come up with.

Speaking after Ramesh, BJP member Chandan Mitra said the Congress leader had on one occasion mentioned that criticism of Aadhar could get anyone labelled as 'anti-national', which reflected the paranoia of the opposition.

Naresh Agarwal (SP) said the government's action of bringing the Bill as a Money Bill raised suspicions. He too suggested that the Bill should be sent to a Select Committee.

Opposing making of Aadhar mandatory, he said questions could be raised about citizenship of several people.

K G Tyagi of JD(U) raised questions about the safety of data saying it could reach CIA or Mossad. He also referred to the Nazi regime in Germany and said it had introduced cards to identify Jews.

"If subsidies are given to unquantified and unidentified sections, then non-merit people will get the subsidy. Centre and states assist people some way or the other by way of subsidy. You are entitled to take UID if you want the benefit of subsidy," Jaitley said. He said the US had passed a similar law in 1935 and India is behind the time.

When the Chair asked Yechury to speak first on the bill, Naresh Agarwal (SP), JD-U's K C Tyagi and Derek O Brien (TMC) objected and insisted that they should also be allowed to speak.

Kurien said, "Chair always has right to call any member. I called him because he has raised objection while introducing the bill. If Chair cannot control the House, you can do it" and objected to the "questioning the authority of the Chair".

During the short debate on the bill later, the Rajya Sabha witnessed sharp exchanges when Congress leader Jairam Ramesh accused Jaitley of giving wrong information that a Bill on Juvenile Justice and another on African Development Bank, had been brought as Money Bill by the government in 1980s.

Quoting information from the Rajya Sabha Secretariat, Ramesh said these two measures were not money bills.