The Aadhar card has become a necessity. It is a card which has been accorded supreme powers in the recent past. Recently, Aadhaar number became mandatory for filing of Income Tax returns.
Now, the government has devised another major strategy to track and monitor transactions of all citizens. The government has hinted that the PAN card will now be linked to Aadhar. In case, your PAN card is not linked with Aadhar card, your PAN card will become redundant.
As per a government report, the government has declared a tentative cutoff date of December 31. “People with existing PAN cards will either have to link them to Aadhaar or show proof of having applied for the 12-digit ID by December 31,” HT quoting a source added.
The government is striving to make Aadhaar card the sole identification card in the country. It is striving to plummet the use of Voter ID and PAN. Finance Minister Arun Jaitley recently said in the Lok Sabha that Aadhar will soon replace all other existential identification cards. The unique identification number Aadhaar may become the single identify card in future, he added.
As the latest development in the market suggests, Aadhar card will be linked to the existing sim cards. Now the Aadhar card will be linked to all sim cards, for which the telecom companies will be given appropriate amount of time.
The report also suggested that the ministry has given telecom companies a year’s time to complete the process. Now, for new SIMs, you will have to get your Aadhar number linked.
The report suggests that all existing customers will have to be re-verified by the telecom companies using Aadhaar numbers.
The Aadhaar card E-KYC process will entail verification of pre-paid and post-paid SIM holders, who are customers of big telecom companies like Airtel, Aircel and Jio.
The process is expected to be completed in a digital format. An SMS will be received on the mobile for verification, almost resembling the OTP process.
The move is another attempt by the government to make Aadhaar the single-point identity-cum-verification document.
I am thankful to Mr Shyam Divan and former Karnataka High Court judge K.S. Puttaswamy for taking up this concern in apex court however court is not being clear with regards to usage of aadhar card. Be it for social schemes or for any purpose aadhar cannot not be mandatory …. Govt cant force aadhar against all other valid ID cards which are recognised by Law. Aadhar alone cant be mandate. I understand govt is making effort to curb tax evasion’s and to counter terrorism but still aadhar should be voluntary along with all others cards. Or if apex court is thinking to allow government to make aadhar mandatory then apext court should atleast come up with some exceptions like (to avail benefit schemes, senior citizens, mid day meals, rural areas, EPFO and transgenders)