A number of people across the country staged protests against the Unique Identification or the Aadhaar project on Friday. The protests, organised under Rethink Aadhaar, a campaign launched by a group of people concerned about the Aadhaar project, were held in New Delhi, Bengaluru and Jaipur.

The group stated the Aadhaar project was unconstitutional, technically flawed, and violated the fundamental rights and civil liberties of the citizens of India.

The group wants the government to stop the mandatory use of Aadhaar and withdraw notifications making Aadhaar compulsory for any government benefits, subsidy, or services, and children’s welfare and education schemes. They want the government to stop the commercial use of citizens’ biometrics data and want a Rajya Sabha amendment for an “Opt Out” of Aadhaar, which would allow citizens to get all stored biometrics data and authentication records deleted.

On Wednesday, the government had amended and notified the income tax rules, making it mandatory to provide the 12-digit biometric Aadhaar ID when applying for Permanent Account Number. People had been asked to link existing Aadhaar numbers with PAN by Friday, June 30. The new rules will come into effect from July 1, 2017.