Surveillance, consent, welfare: All you need to know about the Aadhaar case

While the first petition challenging Aadhaar was filed in 2012, the process for this case was kicked off by a October 2015 judgment by the Supreme Court

After going on to become the second-longest hearing in the history of the Supreme Court – spanning 38 working days and nearly five months – a five-judge bench is finally set to deliver its verdict in the Aadhaar case.

The ‘Aadhaar case’ is shorthand for a group of petitions that challenge the constitutional validity of the Centre’s flagship Aadhaar programme and the 2016 law that enables the scheme.

While the Aadhaar initiative started as a self-contained unique identification programme aimed at curbing leakages in India’s welfare system, it has since then morphed into a sprawling identity ecosystem that looks to