605 : India’ Digital Identity Scheme Passes Supreme Court Challenge
Duvvuri Subbarao and Rahul Choudhury
5 October 2018
The Indian government’s ambitious scheme of giving a unique biometric identity number –
Aadhaar – to all residents of the country was challenged by privacy advocates on the ground
that the increasing requirement to furnish the Aadhaar number to access public and even
private services violated their fundamental right to privacy. The Supreme Court ruled that
Aadhaar was constitutional but, in a clear acknowledgement of privacy concerns, imposed
strict limits on its use. How the government will respond to the court’s judgement is as yet
uncertain.