NEW DELHI, INDIA: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which has been renamed Aadhar, has come out with a draft bill which proposes to make it a statutory body called National Identification Authority of India.

The draft National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, released by UIDAI, has proposed three years imprisonment and a fine in the range of Rs.10,000 to Rs. one lakh for giving false informations and also transfer of information, while it proposed a fine of Rs. one crore for data theft.

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Whoever, not being authorised to collect identity information under the provisions of this Act... shall be punishable with imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years or with a fine which may extend to ten thousand rupees or, in the case of a company, with a fine which may extend to one lakh rupees or with both, says the draft.

Impersonation is a major offence mentioned in the draft bill, that would invite fine and imprisonment.

Whoever impersonates or attempts to impersonate another person, whether dead or alive, real or imaginary, by providing any false demographic information or biometric information shall be punishable with imprisonment and fine, it says.

The proposed punishment for data theft is even stronger. “Those who steals, conceals, destroys or alters or causes any person to steal, conceal, destroy or alter any computer source code used by the Authority with an intention to cause damage, shall be liable to three years' imprisonment and a fine which shall not be less than one crore rupees,” proposes the draft.

UIDAI, which was set up by the government under the leadership of Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani, aims to give a unique ID number to every citizen of India. In the next four years, it would provide ID number to 600 million people, or about half the population.