STATEMENT OF OBJECTS AND REASONS The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (the Aadhaar Act) was enacted to provide for good governance, efficient, transparent, and targeted delivery of subsidies, benefits and services, the expenditure for which is incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India, to individuals residing in India through assigning of unique identity numbers to such individuals and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto. 2. On 27th July, 2018 the Committee of Experts chaired by Justice (Retd.) B. N. Srikrishna submitted its report "A free and fair Digital Economy : Protecting Privacy, Empowering Indians" regarding various issues related to data protection along with a draft Personal Data Protection Bill and also suggested certain amendments to the Aadhaar Act. 3. The Constitution Bench of the Supreme Court, in its judgment dated the 24th August, 2017 in W.P. 494 of 2012 - Justice K.S. Puttaswamy (Retd.) and another vs UOI and others declared privacy as a fundamental right under article 21 of the Constitution. Further, the Supreme Court vide its judgment dated the 26th September, 2018 has upheld the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar Act, with certain restrictions and changes, such as obtaining consent of parent or guardian in case of enrolment of children, providing option to children to cancel their Aadhaar number on attaining the age of eighteen years, providing for informed consent for authentication and limiting the authentication only to purposes permitted by law. 4. With over 122 crore Aadhaar numbers having been issued and with the widespread use of Aadhaar as a proof of identity for various purposes by the Government of India, State Governments and other entities, it is essential to have a regulatory framework for the operation of Aadhaar. The Authority, therefore, must have powers similar to that of a regulator for taking enforcement actions. The Aadhaar Act, in its present form, does not empower the Authority to take enforcement action against errant entities in the Aadhaar ecosystem. This needs to be addressed with a view to protect privacy and also to ensure the autonomy of the Authority. 5. It is, therefore, proposed to amend the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 and the Prevention of Money-laundering Act, 2002. The salient features of the Bill are as follows— (a) to provide for twelve-digit Aadhaar number and its alternate numbers to be generated by the Authority in such manner as may be specified by regulations to conceal the actual Aadhaar number of an individual; (b) to give an option to children who are Aadhaar number holders to cancel their Aadhaar number on attaining the age of eighteen years; (c) to provide for voluntary use of Aadhaar number in physical or electronic form by authentication or offline verification or any other mode which may be notified by the Central Government; (d) authentication of offline verification of Aadhaar number can be performed only with the informed consent of the Aadhaar number holder; (e) prevention of denial of services for refusing to, or being unable to, undergo authentication; (f) to permit the entities performing authentication only when they are compliant with the standards of privacy and security specified by the Authority; and the authentication is permitted under any law made by Parliament or the authentication is for such purpose, as the Central Government may, in consultation with the Authority and in the interest of State, prescribe; 11