Centre open to suggestions on Aadhaar-based privacy framework: Jaitley

Union Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Saturday said the Centre was open to feedback regarding legislation required to improve Aadhaar-based privacy framework.

"Obviously you will have to make the adequate firewalls, but at the same time the larger public interest will always have to prevail over the individual's personal interest," he said while addressing a gathering along the sidelines of a book launch on the Aadhaar system.

Further, Jaitley claimed that with the introduction of this, there has been a significant improvement on the savings front as well.

"We have reworked the whole act, as we felt that there should be substantial provision for privacy. Aadhaar has led to huge amount of savings for the government. It has extensively evolved over the last few years and will keep changing as technology evolves to strengthen the privacy framework," he said while launching 'Aadhaar: A biometric history of India's 12 Digit revolution' written by Shankkar Aiyar.

He further shed light on the journey of the system in India, and also revealed that in the initial stages, the government was reluctant about the same.

"When the new government was formed in May 2014, we were against the idea of Aadhaar. But a few weeks later, when Nandan Nilekani gave a detailed presentation to us, Prime Minister Modi decided to approve the project," he said.

The Finance Minister also claimed that the curb on linkages through Aadhaar has generated huge savings for the government, adding that the estimations for savings through Aadhaar will "continue to expand" in the days to come.