UIDAI presently maintains the data of about 114 crore Indians in over 6,000 servers located in Bengaluru and Manesar. Allaying concerns about the security of data in Aadhaar servers in the wake of “WannaCry” ransomware attack, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) today said its database was completely secured and immune to attacks from any kind of malware. “The data in the Aadhaar servers is in the encrypted form. You cannot do anything with that information, which is in an encrypted form.

##FACTS The Court was considering a bail plea of a person who was booked under Section 14F of the Indian Foreigners Act. The person claimed that she is an Indian Citizen that the issuance of the Aadhaar card was in view of long residence of the petitioner in the country. ISSUES BEFORE THE COURT new passport rules which were announced by Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh on December 23 where Aadhaar and E-Aadhaar with Date of Birth will now be considered as a valid identity proof.

Some banks, in their locker hiring agreements, have made it clear that any item stored in the locker is at the customer’s own risk and he or she may, in their own interest, insure the valuables. Do not expect any compensation for theft or burglary of valuables in safe deposit boxes of public sector banks as the locker hiring agreement absolves them of all liability. This bitter truth was disclosed in an RTI response by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) and 19 PSU banks.

The government may cut back some of the plethora of socio-economic schemes that have outlived their utility as it uses outcome budgeting to assess the impact of central sector schemes, a top official said. In a bid to improve quality of public expenditure, the finance ministry has asked every ministry to prepare outcome budget statement linking outlays against each scheme with deliverables achieved and their impact on economy and citizens.

The Motor Vehicles Amendment Bill 2016 has raised fines significantly to make roads safer. The Bill passed by the Lok Sabha last week makes Aadhaar mandatory for driving licences and vehicle registration. It proposes alterations in vehicles, in order to make them suitable for specially abled people. It provides for a Motor Vehicle Accident Fund, which would provide compulsory insurance cover to all road users in India for certain types of accidents.

You can link your Aadhaar to your bank account online, through SMS or from an ATM Aadhaar is slowly becoming an important detail to conduct any financial transaction. From filing income tax returns to availing government schemes and benefits, the Indian Government is slowly making submission of Aadhaar Card mandatory for a lot of procedures. Known as Aadhaar seeding , many banks have added an option to add Aadhaar details online or through SMS in a particular format to a specific number provided by the bank.

Several petitions challenging the constitutional validity of the Unique Identity programme Aadhaar are pending in the Supreme Court. There is “no question” of extending the June 30 deadline for making Aadhaar mandatory for availing benefits of various social welfare schemes, the centre today told the Supreme Court. Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi told the top court that the idea behind making Aadhaar mandatory for welfare schemes was that the benefit should not go to “ghosts” as was noticed in schemes like the public distribution system (PDS).

The Income Tax Department’s e-filing website has created a new link on its homepage making it “easy” to link the two unique identities of individuals. The Income Tax Department has launched a new e-facility to link a person’s Aadhaar with the Permanent Account Number (PAN), a mandatory procedure for filing income tax returns (ITRs) now. The department’s e-filing website - incometaxindiaefiling.gov.in - has created a new link on its homepage making it “easy” to link the two unique identities of individuals.

India had entered into an agreement with the United States for implementation of the Foreign Accounts Tax Compliance Act (FATCA) with effect from August 31, 2015. Bank accounts that were opened between July 1, 2014 and August 31, 2015 and are not in compliance with FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) provisions will be blocked. The Income Tax Department had set a deadline of April 30 for FATCA compliance for these accounts.

The practice of hotels charging for the whole day is beginning to change with some hospitality chains now offering stays for shorter durations at a fraction of the per-day cost. The move primarily benefits pilgrims and other travellers who break their journey for a few hours en route to their destination. For instance, booking a hotel through Frotels.com for a two-hour package at Hotel Imperial Palace at Andheri in Mumbai works out to be Rs 630, as opposed to Rs 2,637 per room night.