In a scathing attack on the Modi government, Congress leader P Chidambaram on Thursday said the move to ring-fence Aadhaar was meaningless as millions have already shared their unique identity number with many service providers.
"Under compulsion, millions of persons have already shared Aadhaar number with many service providers. New security layer is like locking the stable after horses have bolted," Chidambaram, a former union home minister, said on Twitter.
On Wednesday, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) had announced a new two-layer system to protect personal data, under which citizens would no longer be required to share their unique IDs for verification purposes.
This was done to address privacy concerns after a news report claimed a breach in the Aadhaar database.
Under the new system, at the user-end, a person will have the choice not to share his Aadhaar number at the time of authentication.
Instead, a random 16-digit Virtual ID number could be generated and used in lieu of Aadhaar with authorised agencies like banks and telecom service providers.
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