No problem stripping before white man: KJ Alphons slams critics on Aadhar row

KJ Alphons attacked activists who question the validity of Aadhaar.

"I filled up to 10 pages for US Visa form. We have absolutely no problem giving our fingerprints and getting body naked before the white man at all," NDTV quoted the minister as saying.

"When your own government asks for your name and address, there is a massive revolution, saying it is an intrusion of privacy," he said.

In a major decision, the Supreme Court this month extended the deadline to link Unique Identification number indefinitely.

The earlier deadline for linking the Aadhar was Mar 31.

The court said Aadhar will not be necessary to avail services like banking, cellphone connections and tatkal passport till a decision is taken on the issue.

The Supreme Court last year had ruled an extension of the deadline for Aadhaar-linking with mobile phones, bank accounts and government schemes till Mar 31, 2018.

The top court's rule was preceded by the Centre urging the Supreme Court to extend the deadline of Aadhaar-linking to Mar 31, 2018.

Aadhaar is the world's largest biometric ID system, with over 1.171 billion enrolled members as of 15 Aug 2017 which is over 99% of Indians aged 18 and above being enrolled in the scheme.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is a statutory authority established under the provisions of the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016 (“Aadhaar Act 2016”) on 12 July 2016 by the Government of India, under the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY).

UIDAI was created with the objective to issue Unique Identification numbers (UID), named as "Aadhaar", to all residents of India that is (a) robust enough to eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and (b) can be verified and authenticated in an easy, cost-effective way.