Now it is said that your Bank accounts must be linked to your Aadhaar number.
Seems like an innocuous little requirement. But it will cause great agony and pain to a section of people in our nation. And as usual that section of people includes the poor, the uneducated, the rural and the elderly.
This amazing little fact seems to elude everyone including educated well-read people.
Simply Unnecessary
The banks make sure customers jump through hoops for their KYC already. Do we really need another ID card in the melee?
Money may be Stolen
We know Aadhaar data has probably been stolen. Yes Stolen. It is suspected that crores of people’s Aadhaar data has been stolen so far. What happens when these aadhaar data can then be used to access the bank accounts and make transactions? Well that person’s identity and money may both be stolen! The money is no longer safe if seeded with an Aadhaar number!
Locked out – Aadhaar biometrics don’t work
In plenty of cases, Aadhaar fingerprints don’t seem to work. Thousands upon thousands of poor people are denied rations and pension-money across this great nation of ours on a daily-basis for this simple reason – The fingerprints don’t match!
And soon many educated people will find themselves locked out of their life’s savings for this same reason – The fingerprints don’t match!
Financial Exclusion
It is no mystery that the lower echelons of the society have a tough time opening and maintaining bank accounts in India. These people are often uneducated and will definitely not speak English. You probably have seen them being treated as lesser customers at banks.
Now they have another problem. You need to get an Aadhaar card! And then add it to the bank account. The government says 2% of the population is yet to get Aadhaar. Have you ever wondered who these 2% might be? No. Not all of them are smart privacy-conscious individuals. Most of them are old, poor, rural people who have very little access to modern features of this nation.
All in all we can only hope that that Supreme Court of India once again comes to the aid of the common citizen, her privacy and yes, her money! Until then try and postpone adding Aadhaar number to your bank account number as far as possible.