---
title: "5Tesn475Qe4Vwaepok94T876Vkuwpd"
description: "Saturday, 26th September 2020, marked two years since the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgement in *KS Puttaswamy v Union of India* (2019 10 SCC 1),  on the constitutionality of the Aadhaar project. Building..."
pubDate: 2020-09-28
author: Rethink Aadhaar
category: Uncategorized
originalUrl: https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/5tesn475qe4vwaepok94t876vkuwpd
---

Saturday, 26th September 2020, marked two years since the Supreme Court’s 2018 judgement in *KS Puttaswamy v Union of India* (2019 10 SCC 1),  on the constitutionality of the Aadhaar project. Building on the constitutional rights to privacy, a clear red line was drawn to contain the Aadhaar project, while Justice Chandrachud’s dissent stuck the project down in its entirety. Courts in Kenya and Jamaica have subsequently relied on Justice Chandachud’s dissent, while containing or striking down similar national ID systems. Private parties were expressly ruled out, and mandatory Aadhaar authentication was only permitted for welfare services and PAN-Aadhaar linkage. However, the spread of Aadhaar continued. This [primer](https://drive.google.com/file/u/1/d/1s8-CrnQmRNjVshZ7ZMbWh_BhY0KI-nV1/view?usp=sharing) laid out what was and wasn’t allowed by the Supreme Court's judgement. Despite the Supreme Court’s judgement, the use of Aadhaar continues to proliferate, though the push-back, too, continues. 
<ul >- In 2019, some of the petitioners in the Aadhaar petition [challenged the Aadhaar Amendment Act, 2019](https://www.livemint.com/news/india/sc-notice-to-uidai-centre-in-plea-challenging-aadhaar-ordinance-1562324945168.html). The Amendment permits private parties to continue to use Aadhaar authentication, albeit on a “voluntary basis”. The challenge to the Act is pending consideration by the Supreme Court. 
- Several notifications, permitting private parties including [health insurance](https://www.bloombergquint.com/law-and-policy/insurance-sector-the-latest-in-the-function-creep-of-aadhaar) companies to use Aadhaar have been issued over the last few months. 
- [Review petitions](https://www.livemint.com/news/india/sc-notice-to-uidai-centre-in-plea-challenging-aadhaar-ordinance-1562324945168.html) challenging the 2018 Aadhaar judgement are also pending.
- In August of this year, the[ Aadhaar Authentication for Good Governance (Social Welfare, Innovation, Knowledge) Rules, 2020](https://rethinkaadhaar.in/blog/2020/8/7/new-aadhaar-rules-for-good-governance-are-constitutionally-impermissible?rq=good%20governance) were released. These expand the permissible uses for Aadhaar authentication for digital platforms for good governance, to "prevent dissipation of social welfare benefits" and to "enable innovation and spread of knowledge”. This widens the scope of Aadhaar beyond permissible limits and needs to be challenged. 
**As we go through various types of lockdowns and unlockdowns, this quarterly update from Rethink Aadhaar is to share stories, research and resistance, and ask for your support and continued resistance as we challenge state and corporate efforts that want surveillance and techno-solutionism to take over our lives.**
It has been several months since our last update, and like everyone else, we at Rethink Aadhaar have been trying to understand the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, the subsequent lockdown, and its immense financial and economic impact. The country has been brought to a standstill, lakhs of people without jobs, without access to income, social security or care. Migrant workers were particularly impacted, and thousands were left stranded away from their homes and sources of income.