Indian Aadhaar biometric IDs 'not mandatory for tax returns yet'

Not true. The Machiavellian Finance Minister has taken out spots in newspapers saying they are not mandatory for PAN cards - the cards which previously would've become invalid won't be anymore. They remain mandatory for filing returns; instead of linking the PAN card, you now have to mention the number while filing. The loophole continues to be molested.

Nothing new here. The supreme court has kept parroting the line ~5-6 times. They have neither the will nor the integrity to keep the executive to its word.

I think the laconic reply to this is: 'yet'

The best way for the USA to fight terrorism and crime in the USA is to have biometric IDs with unique USA citizenship ID number. Also everybody must inform its home address to the state.

National IDs run by governments are problematic for a variety of reasons. It would make more sense for one or more global nonprofit(s) with significant privacy, InfoSec and document security talent to offer an opt-in, open-source, voluntary "card" which can be deployed, maintained and improved to verify, nonrepudiate and generate a physical/electronic card for a given individual. This way, corporate interests and govt waste/incompetence can be mostly mitigated. Also useful would be the ability to grant/revoke rights to personal information in a single place and to load authoritative information onto a "card" (nationality, status, health records, etc.), perhaps backed by blockchain technology. Card being a physical token into an API that a consumer must have authorization and authentication to access.