Consider the following statements: 1. Aadhaar metadata cannot be stored for more than three months. 2. State cannot enter into any contract with private corporations for sharing of Aadhaar data. 3. Aadhaar is mandatory for obtaining insurance products. 4. Aadhaar is mandatory for getting benefits funded out of the Consolidated Fund of India. Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

Option (b) is correct because the Supreme Court, in its 2018 judgment, upheld Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act (making it mandatory for benefits funded by the Consolidated Fund of India) and struck down Section 57, which prohibited private corporations from using Aadhaar for authentication. Statement 1 is the most tempting error; it is incorrect because the Court limited the storage of authentication metadata to six months, not three months. The core concept tested is the judicial interpretation of the Aadhaar Act’s constitutionality regarding privacy and state surveillance.