Thread by @SFLCin

Day 20 of final #Aadhaar hearing to begin shortly.
Attorney General K.K.Venugopal, appearing on behalf of the State will commence his arguments.

AG: Various expert committees have examined Aadhaar, and other alternatives were also considered before Aadhaar was decided upon.
Many countries have already implemented unique identity systems. Cites "identifications for development" report of world bank

Says world bank approves of Aadhaar project.
AG goes into security aspects of Aadhaar. Says CEO of Aadhaar has a PowerPoint presentation explaining all technical and security aspects of Aadhaar. He will be able to answer all questions related to aadhaar

AG says tomorrow at 2.30pm, CEO of Aadhaar will be able to give a practical presentation in open court.
CJI says that they want to hear the legal contentions first, especially on Privacy and anonymity. Also says he wants to hear about virtual mass surveillance.

CJI says that in the name of security you can't impose a stamping culture where everyone is stamped with an aadhaar. Inspite of assurance of safety, your database is not entirely safe. He says he wants the State to refute all these contentions made by the petitioners

AG says that after seeing the PowerPoint presentation, the State will be able to explain their legal contentions better. Also wants to show a four minute video on security of Aadhaar. Says all doubts of duplication will be cleared.

Judges say they will discuss if they want to see the PowerPoint presentation. Ask AG to continue with his submissions.

AG: Huge money has been saved by giving benefits and subsidies via Aadhaar. Gap between rich and poor will reduce with use of Aadhaar.

Gives example of the time of British when poverty was 66% and there was massive corruption. The Aadhaar act was framed taking in consideration all these factors. The architecture of the act was designed so as privacy is infringed as lil as possible.

AG: from 2009 to 2016 , Aadhaar was completely voluntary. But people still signed up for it. So question of coercion does not arise, at least until September 2016.
Cites Munn v. Illinois.

AG: Article 21 encompasses right to employment, education, shelter etc. Aadhaar act is helping in achieve all these rights for the people.

Justice Sikri says there's a clash between right to life and right to privacy. Says people are getting excluded. There have been various affidavits filed proving the same.

AG says NGOs are filing these affidavits. Not a single person has come forward and said that they suffered due to aadhaar

Justice chandrachud says that economic and social guarantee is not antithesis to political guarantee. Can't forgo of political liberty for the sake of economic and social justice. Gives example of Bengal famine.

J. Chandrachud says that people died during Bengal famine due to lack of information. During the famine in Maharashtra in 1970s per capita income went lower than Sudan but people did not die because information was not cut off

AG says right of people to not die of hunger and have shelter prevails right to privacy.
J. Bhushan says all these rights do not trump right to privacy. They coexist.

AG reiterates that nobody was coerced to get aadhaar. It was voluntary between 2009-16. J. Chandrachud says that there were no safeguards during that time. It came only when the act was passed. People did not contemplate giving up their personal data for commercial purposes.

J. Sikri says people who enroled that time (not for benefits or subsidies) say there was no informed consent that time.

AG: Says that aadhaar is facilitating Indian residents to get subsidies, benefits, scholarships etc. It's an efficient, transparent delivery of services. It is in consonance with the directive principles of state policy. A handful of petitioners are challenging it.

AG is reading out the statement of objects of the Aadhaar act.

AG is reading exceprts from a 1997 report of world Bank on India spending on leakages.

AG is quoting a finance commission report now.

AG is now reading out a report by Centre for global development.

AG is now reading exceprts from the Wadhwa committee report as mentioned in the case of PUCL v. Union of india

Bench rises for lunch.

Hearing resumes. Attorney General resumes his submissions for the Union.

AG: Section 12 of NFSA also envisages Aadhaar for targeted distribution of food grains and to record transparent delivery of the same.
Quotes binoy viswam v. UoI. Aadhaar prevents multiple identifies and provides one unique identity

AG quotes part of the judgment that mentions Jean Dreze on how India needs sustainable development.

AG mentions problems like money laundering, black money, etc. Says Aadhaar can help curb these issues.

AG still reading exceprts from Aadhaar pan linking judgment which was decided by a bench consisting of Justices Ashok Bhushan and A.K Sikri.

Justice Sikri: How is Employees pension scheme covered under Section 7? It is a person's right to get pension.
AG says that this was done to prevent fake Identity.
J.Sikri: you still haven't answered on the point of exclusion.

J. Chandrachud and Sikri: How does a pensioner who lives abroad with his children get pension since he will not be able to produce his aadhaar card in person?
AG says that Aadhaar is only required for residents.

AG: there must be some provision in the pension act to give pension to an NRI. Such a person will not be governed by aadhaar act. Shows circular related to pension for NRIs.
J. Chandrachud says that pension accounts are individual accounts. No question of impersonation

AG again quotes world banks report as a response to Justice chandrachud's query.
J. Chandrachud: what if an old pensioner has dementia. His fingerprints might not work. He can't keep running around banks for the purpose of authentication.

AG says there are exceptions for individuals whose fingerprints and Iris scans won't work. For eg. People suffering from leprosy.

AG: Govt will not try to deprive someone of their rightful entitlement.
J. Chandrachud: pension doesn't come under "subsidies, benefits and services" under section 7. It is an entitlement.
AG says that pension is given out of the consolidated fund of India. Hence it's covered.

Justice Chandrachud: We should acknowledge that there's a problem of financial exclusion in our country. Cabinet secretary had agreed. To say that someone has not come to court therefore there's no exclusion is wrong.

AG: Mahatma Gandhi said that the world has enough for everyone's needs but not everyone's greed.
AG is quoting various people to stress on the point that poverty is a huge problem and Aadhaar will be a step to solve it.

AG again talks about how there are 300 million poor people in India who deserve to live a life of dignity.
AG: Please weigh the balance and see if these people want privacy or a life of dignity.

AG: Aadhaar act also provides exceptions and backup authentication in various regulations during contingencies like power cut, Network connectivity, Biometrics not working etc.

AG: Aadhaar's results will show in a few years. We've already fixed problems like misappropriation, multiple identities. We are working towards making this project more effective.
He again cites world banks report and says that Aadhaar is the only mechanism for development.

AG: Official identification is more than a convenience. It is a fundamental human right. It helps in economic development, participation in electoral process, and helps the govt in providing benefits to the people.
It is a key enabler of other sustainable development goals.

AG: universal digital identity is becoming important around the world.
The world bank recently launched "identification for development" report.

J. Sikri: We agree that unique identification. But why not use a less intrusive mean. Why is Aadhaar data stored in a centralized database over a long period of time. There's a risk of metadata. Doctrine of proportionaliy is important here.

J. Sikri: In Singapore, people are supposed to have a unique identity. But that data is not stored with the government.
AG: Smart card was considered but it'll not work in the Indian context.

AG: De duplication and aggregation of data is impossible with Aadhaar. Metadata is not stored by cidr.
J. Chandrachud: But authentication records are stored.

AG presses for PowerPoint presentation tomorrow.
CJI says they'll let them know. Says they would like to have the presentation in word format.

Senior Advocate K.V Vishwanathan says that if there's a presentation, then petitioners should be given a chance to cross examine.

J. Chandrachud says that questions can be given to the bench

Hearing concludes for the day. To continue tomorrow at 11.30 am.