Topic Of The Day:- “Finding An Equilibrium”
The Supreme Court’s verdict in the Aadhaar case is best read in light of the dissenting opinion
A thicket of Aadhaar litigation has now ended with the decision of a five-judge Supreme Court Bench comprising the Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A.K. Sikri, A.M. Khanwilkar, D.Y. Chandrachud and Ashok Bhushan, which had reserved its order on May 10, after a marathon 38-day hearing. The right to privacy was won in K.S. Puttaswamy v. Union of India (2017), but that nine-judge Bench had left open the question of Aadhaar: whether the “national security” perspective (the vital role of surveillanceto curb terror and prevent money laundering and crime financing) and “social welfare state” perspective (Aadhaar ensured that subsidies went to the right people) provided constitutional grounds for “reasonable restrictions” (reasonable because non-arbitrary).
Although conceived and executively implemented during the UPA-2 regime, the project got coercivestatutory backing only during the NDA regime, in 2016. The Aadhaar Act has now been upheld, and Aadhaar is mandatory for all government benefits, as somewhat narrowly re-crafted by the majority. “[A]nnoyance, despair, ecstasy, euphoria, coupled with rhetoric, [were] exhibited by both sides”, but Justice Sikri rightly stressed the “posture of calmness”; the political fallouts of a decision, even in an election year, cannot be a matter for judicial concern.
The court examined only whether the entire scheme was constitutionally valid under the nine-judge Bench enunciation of the right to privacy and whether the decision of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha to pass the Aadhaar Act as a Money Bill was declared so “final” by the Constitution as to exclude even the jurisdiction of the apex court.
MEANING AND WORDS
1) surveillance
Meaning : close observation, especially of a suspected spy or criminal.
Synonyms : watch vigilance
Antonyms : carelessness
Example : “he found himself put under surveillance by British military intelligence”
2) curb
Meaning : a check or restraint on something.
Synonyms : check , control
Antonyms : aid
Example : “plans to introduce tougher curbs on insider dealing”
3) laundering
Meaning : wash and iron (clothes or linen).
Synonyms : wash , cleaning
Antonyms : dirtying
Example : “he wasn’t used to laundering his own bed linen”
4) conceived
Meaning : create (an embryo) by fertilizing an egg.
Synonyms : invented , imagined
Antonyms : destroyed
Example : “she was conceived when her father was 49”
5) executively
Meaning : relating to or having the power to put plans or actions into effect.
Synonyms : manager , director
Antonyms : attendant
Example : “an executive chairman”
6) regime
Meaning : a government, especially an authoritarian one.
Synonyms : government , administration
Antonyms : chaos
Example : “ideological opponents of the regime”
7) coercive
Meaning : relating to or using force or threats.
Synonyms : violent , forceful
Antonyms : powerless
Example : “coercive measures”
8) ecstasy
Meaning : an overwhelming feeling of great happiness or joyful excitement.
Synonyms : happiness , bliss
Antonyms : agony
Example : “there was a look of ecstasy on his face”
9) rhetoric
Meaning : the art of effective or persuasive speaking or writing, especially the exploitation of figures of speech and other compositional techniques.
Synonyms : elocution , oratory
Antonyms : quiet
Example : “he is using a common figure of rhetoric, hyperbole”
10) enunciation
Meaning : say or pronounce clearly.
Synonyms : diction , articulation
Antonyms : verdict
Example : “she enunciated each word slowly”
11) exclude
Meaning : deny (someone) access to a place, group, or privilege.
Synonyms : eliminate , reject
Antonyms : include
Example : “the public were excluded from the board meeting”