The Lok Sabha has passed the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016, referred to as the Aadhaar Bill in common parlance.
Passed as a money bill, the Aadhaar Bill will empower the government in providing targeted services to the intended beneficiaries by assigning them unique identity numbers, called Aadhaar. It provides to give every person, who has stayed in India for 182 days in the year preceding the date of application.
The government chose to introduce it as a money bill, so that its passage is not stalled in the Rajya Sabha, where the ruling NDA has a thin majority.
Introducing the Bill in the lower House, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley said that thousands of crores of rupees will be saved by routing government subsidy through the Aadhaar system.
The Bill was passed by a voice vote after a brief debate, during which the Finance Minister assured the House that the details provided for the card would not be misused in any manner.
