989 - Outsourcing Sovereignty

Outsourcing Sovereignty
Why Privatization of Government Functions Threatens Democracy and What We Can Do about It
Paul R. Verkuil, Cardozo School of Law, New York
Hardback
ISBN: 9780521867047
Publication date: September 2007
248 pages
Dimensions: 228 x 152 mm
Weight: 0.506 kg
In stock
£54.00

This book describes the largely overlooked process of using private government contractors to perform essential or inherent functions in the military and civilian sectors of government. It shows how such practices undermine the capacity effectiveness and morale of government officials and it establishes constitutional and statutory arguments against the practice. It recognizes and accepts the proper role for outsourcing or privatization while safeguarding against its improper use. The argument ultimately turns on the necessity for our democratic system to require the executive branch to perform crucial tasks in-house unless Congress has permitted delegations to private contractors.

988 - ‘Activist opposes MNC presence in Aadhar’ - Deccan Chronicle

18th December 2010

Bengaluru, Dec. 17: Noted human rights activist Usha Ramanathan has warned that Unique Identification 

Authority of India (UIAI)’s decision to allow MNC companies to take part in the data collection and card distribution work of the proposed Aadhar multi-purpose UID cards may end in disaster and even pose a danger to the internal security and sovereignty of the country.
 

While delivering a public talk on the implications of the Unique ID Project in India, Ms Usha stated that UIAI has been silent on the various security and privacy issues raised by activists, including sanctioning contracts to the MNCs.
 

“Two companies shortlisted for data collection and analysis have former bosses of the FBI and CIA on their management boards. There is no guarantee that they will not share the data collected for the purpose of UID with the security agencies of their home countries. In such a situation, UID is speaking of collecting DNA samples too,” she alleged.
 

She continued, “All the western countries have scrapped projects of this nature, citing various concerns raised by civil society. But the Indian government is showing unnecessary enthusiasm,” she scoffed.
 

“Details of the pilot project were not made public. The project has been implemented without any feasibility study. The bill related to the UIAI was framed after protests from civil groups. Yet parliament passed it without any discussion. It looks as if the government does not want to keep its citizens informed about this project,” she alleged.
 

“Even though UIAI authorities have assured that no private details of any individual will be divulged and that it will all be confidential, there is no guarantee that Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and IB will not get access to the data,” she said.
 

Taking a dig at union home minister P. Chidambaram, Ms Usha said Capt. Raghu Raman had been appointed head of the national intelligence grid. “But it is this same Capt. Raghu Raman who first proposed the concept of corporate armed forces in the country. When such persons are at the helm of things, there is no guarantee that the UIAI data will not be misused,” she cautioned.
 

987 - The Agenda Agents - Outlook India

Protest against the World Bank’s policies

Are our policies being dictated by the foreign privatisation lobby?
LOLA NAYAR
 

Selling out to the foreigner is an evergreen story. In 1961, India borrowed $200 million from the IMF; in 1981 followed another loan of over $5 billion to deal with the impact of oil shock; there have been numerous “monetary aid packages” along the way. Notably, there were packages during those touch-and-go days of 1990-91. Then why are we surprised by the charge that India’s policymakers are “toeing the line” dictated by the World Bank, IMF, ADB and so on? Twenty years later, in a vastly different India, the same charge has a new dimension: are our policymakers influenced by the neo-institutional approach to reforms?

With many of our bureaucrats, technocrats and economists, including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Planning Commission deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, having served in  some of these institutions which profess pro-liberalisation and pro-globalisation ideologies, such a view has gained ground. Besides, a large section of the bureaucracy is also exposed to this trend through stints at any of the neo-institutions or their affiliate research organisations, through workshops and also via mid-career courses at institutions like IIM-A, which have overseas tie-ups.

Such is the impact of these courses that “many of the bureaucrats who may not be trained economists might end up learning economics through these institutions,” says Prof C.P. Chandrasekhar, Centre for Economic Studies and Planning, JNU. So though the pressure on Indian finances has come down considerably in recent years, policymakers are still pursuing “macho nationalism” rather than taking suitable policy decisions, say academics. “Having internalised the concepts promoted by these neo-institutions, we have policymakers parroting the World Bank approaches and formula of five years back,” says Prof Jayati Ghosh, also of JNU.

Ghosh is critical that “the great unwashed are still not part of the scene” when formulating policies, as many senior bureaucrats actually don’t believe in a government role in service delivery or social infrastructure development—that’s akin to what is promoted by the World Bank and IMF. Instead, whenever they get a chance, governments opt for the private sector. Who can forget the World Bank-proposed (but foiled) bid in the late 1990s to get Delhi’s water supply privatised? A similar bid is on in Mumbai and several other cities across the country. In Delhi, power supply privatisation did go through with no tangible benefit for consumers, who are paying two- to three-folds more in less than a decade.

The culprit often is conditional aid to states, which are more vulnerable to pulls and pressures. For instance, the multi-billion rupee Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission (JNNURM) for the modernisation of cities comes with many conditions. Other such instances cited by experts are the government pursuing a market-determined price policy instead of government-fixed price for agricultural produce; promoting private provisions for health and education instead of state-run institutions; favouring large states more than small ones; and planning to move towards a low-tax rate regime instead of continuing with higher taxes for better revenues.

There is, of course, another view on all of this. Nitin Desai, who was chief economic advisor in the finance ministry before a decade-long stint at the UN, explains, “The real influence came not from Bretton Woods institutions but from the broader process of globalisation. Indian policymakers had to worry more about the Moody’s and Standard & Poor’s, as their ratings made much more difference to market perception than the IMF.” This trend has gained ground with large flows of funds into the country from the private sector and fund managers. They are, in fact, shaping the way our policies are articulated, stresses Desai.

Stating that the misgivings of the neo-institutions having dictated India’s early reforms are restricted to the Left parties and the media, Dr Shankar Acharya, honorary professor at ICRIER, feels these institutions bring wide ‘cross-country experience’ to the table. “You have to have the maturity as a country and government to be secure and seek their advice and then take a decision. That is how the Chinese have made use of these institutions,” says Acharya. Similarly, Jeffery S. Hammer, visiting professor of economic development at Princeton, equates the criticism of Bretton Woods’ influence to the fear of foreign culture corrupting national culture when India opened up to the global world in the early 1990s. “In economic policy, the same could be said,” emphasises Hammer, who has been associated with health and education programmes in India.

Voicing similar sentiments, Arvind Virmani, IMF executive director and former chief economic advisor to the finance ministry, points out that working with different institutions can only widen your horizon, knowledge base and perspective. But how you get influenced “depends on the proportion of time you spend in your home country versus outside,” says Virmani. His contention is that if you spend more than half your time in your home country, it’s unlikely that you’ll lose your “home perspective”. Though that’s debatable, Virmani’s contention that the degree of influence of an institution depends on the quality and quantity of research as well as the professional quality of potential recipients is less arguable.

But what happens, as many experts point out, when for a large part most of the research funding and facilities are dominated by the neo-institutions? Assisted by huge research budgets and a universe of economists, including Indians, much of their research tends to influence policies on how to reduce subsidies—and also ensure equitable development. The influence of the neo-institutions may have got less in recent years (our failure to take heed of the advice on how to put our huge foreign exchange reserves to better use is one instance), but it is not so in areas like privatisation or usage of natural resources, including land. And that’s why this evergreen story will continue to be debated.

986 - Apple Faces Class Action Suit over App Privacy in iPhone, iPad - TMC net

December 28, 2010

Janice McDuffee, TMC Copy Editor

A class action lawsuit has been filed against Apple, Inc. alleging several of its applications pass personal information from iPhone (News - Alert) and iPad users to third party advertisers without consent.

The suit filed Dec. 23 on behalf of Jonathan Lalo in a federal court in San Jose, Calif., asserts the Cupertino, Calif.-based company violated federal computer fraud and privacy laws by allowing advertisers to view what applications are downloaded as well as the duration of use. The lawsuit refers to the Unique Device ID (UDID) contained in iPhones and iPads that provides the information, from which users have no option of concealing to advertising networks, Bloomberg (News - Alert) reports.
 “Some apps are also selling additional information to ad networks, including users’ location, age, gender, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation and political views,” the suit stated, according to Bloomberg.
Application developers including Dictionary.com, Pandora (News - Alert), Paper Toss, TextPlus4 and The Weather Channel are also listed as defendants in the suit.
Yahoo! Finance reports that Apple amended its developer agreement in April to ban applications from sending any information beyond what is necessary for their functionality to third party advertisers. However, the suit contends that criticism from advertising networks caused Apple’s failure to implement the changes.
"None of the defendants adequately informed plaintiffs of their practices, and none of the defendants obtained plaintiffs' consent to do so," the lawsuit alleged, according to Yahoo! Finance.
Facebook (News - Alert) has faced similar issues, most recently acknowledging that several of its applications were passing information to third party advertisers—particularly, the data referred to as User (UID)—that infringed its privacy agreement and has promised to fix the problem. However, one Facebook engineer noted in a blog post that knowledge of a UID does not give access to personal information without user content.
The suit against Apple seeks class action or group status and seeks users of iPhone and iPad who downloaded an application between December 1, 2008 and last week. The case is Lalo vs. Apple, 10-5878, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California (San Jose).
This is one of several legal issues flaring up with Apple that have caused the company to bulk up its legal team. In fact, Bloomberg reported that Apple became the most sued technology company after its release of the iPhone in 2008. Many of the disputes are among other tech companies over intellectual property rights, the most recent battle being against Nokia (News  - Alert), which claimed that the latest iPhone violated 10 of its patents. The suit came after Apple filed a complaint with the U.S. International Trade Commission requesting a block of Nokia’s imports to the United States. The patent dispute continues as Apple filed a countersuit alleging that Nokia has violated 13 of its own patents.

Janice McDuffee has worked in marketing, editing and freelance writing for companies including SheKnows and HBM Inc. after receiving her master’s and bachelor’s degrees in journalism from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. To read more of her articles, please visit her columnist page.

985 - UID No. to be used for mobile user verification - TOI

29 DEC, 2010, 05.46AM IST, SHALINI SINGH,TNN 

NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification (UID) number project, which is poised to use the 700 million-plus mobile subscriber database and distribution network, will in turn become the basis of issuing mobile connections in the future. The UID number will be the definitive proof for subscriber verification.

Security agencies often fret about lack of proper subscriber identification norms and paperwork before issuance of mobile numbers and SIM cards, especially among the fast growing prepaid segment. This is because subscribers across states and socio-economic categories do not have proper paperwork which either forces mobile companies to make exceptions or prevents potential and needy subscribers from getting onto India’s mobile network. Agencies have tried everything from tightening norms to penalties and failed.

Sixteen years after mobile operations were first launched in the country, the government and industry are yet to find a permanent foolproof response to this issue.

When ready, UID may just be the answer. DoT secretary R Chandrashekhar told TOI, “Serious consideration is being given to make UID the fundamental basis of subscriber verification. This will mean that the present arrangement will continue for a period of time but once UID is up and running the transition could occur very quickly and nationwide.”

UID is also far more secure than any of the other verification documents, except perhaps for the passport , which is available with only a very small fraction of the Indian population.

In a terror-prone country like India it has been proved time and again that mobile phones are the favourite communication device for terrorists and anti-social elements. They are easy to get and easier to dispose of, especially under the pre-paid scheme. The watered down subscriber verification norm often allows them to forge documents and other data, which could become considerably difficult, if not virtually impossible , with the coming of the UID number.

This will be especially helpful to genuine consumers in border states and Jammu & Kashmir, where the government has had to intervene on account of security requirements time and again, making it burdensome for the common man to access mobile service.

984 - Tribal stir for ration card ends in prison

Krishna Kumar 

New Delhi, December 27, 2010

Just five kilometres from a Maharashtra village where the UPA government launched its ambitious unique identification card project, 1,960 people were imprisoned for demanding, of all things a ration card on December 15.

The tribals, 670 of whom were women, have been languishing in jail since December 15. Apart from demanding ration cards, they were asking for implementation of the Forest Rights Act to help them claim the land they had been tilling.

Protesters from 28 villages in and around the Nandurbar district had gone to the collector's office on December 13 and submitted a charter of demands. However, when they failed to get an assurance from the authorities, the tribals staged a demonstration before the collector's office that continued for two days. The collector then called up the police, terming it a law and order problem.

 Tribals demanding ration cards

The protesters were arrested and produced before a court and all of them were sent to seven days in judicial custody. Usually, the courts release protesters the same day or after a few hours of detention by the police.

The tribals had gathered under the aegis of the Satyashodhak Grameen Kashtakari Sabha ( SGKS), a tribal rights organisation.

"The protest was peaceful but they were behaving unreasonably. They told me that they would come before 6 pm but they came late and as soon as the meeting got over, asked for minutes of the meeting," claimed collector Appa Kumbhar.

Shifting blame of the prolonged custody of the tribals on to the police, Kumbhar said: "We have no role to play in their judicial custody. In fact, the tribals refused to get bail when the police and administration asked them to do so."

It would be pertinent to note here that under normal circumstances the police do not ask for seven days custody and when the initial period ended on December 21, the police further asked for a seven- day judicial custody. Now the tribals will have to be in the jail at least till December 28.

" Apart from the cruel manner in which the police and administration behaved, they should answer as to why they let 23 women protesters walk away. These women were dropped in the dead of the night at Dhule railway station," alleged Pratima Pardesh of the SGKS. Pratima put the number of those arrested at 2,300 and also rejected the claims that the tribals refused to get bail. " The government should know that ` 300 is worth several days of food for a tribal," she said.

Asked on what offences the police had arrested the tribals, Nandurbar superintendent of police Neelkanth Mhaske said, " Firstly, they had blocked off a road, secondly they were cooking inside the collector's office compound and were also using loud speakers after 10 pm." Congress MP from Nandurbar, Manikrao Gavit, almost justified the arrest saying the government was doing a lot for the tribals.

He also accused the SGKS of misleading the tribals. " The tribals are just being used by this organisation, when they were asked to get bail why did not they take it," Gavit said.

Maharashtra tribal affairs Minister Babanrao Pachpute was not available for comment.

Indifferent government crushes tribal protest

• 1,960 tribals sent to judicial custody and languishing in prison for more than ten days for a staging a peaceful sit- in

• Police charged them with blocking a road, cooking in the collector's office compound and using loudspeaker

• They were demanding ration card and right over the land they had been tilling

• Administration alleges that protesters refused to pay the bail amount of ` 300 for each individual

• Nandurbar Congress MP alleges tribals adamant on remaining in the jail

983 - Rajya Sabha Parliamentary Bulletin Part II

RAJYA SABHA
Parliamentary Bulletin
Part-II

Monday, December 13, 2010
No.    48010    Bill Office
 

Reference of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 as introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending therein, to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance
        
Members are informed that the Speaker, Lok Sabha, in consultation with the Chairman, Rajya Sabha, has referred the above Bill, as introduced in the Rajya Sabha and pending therein, to the Department-related Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, for examination and report within three months.
————

982 - Three Numbers will define us: UID, Mobile & Bank Account - TOI

Nandan Nilekani , 

TNN, Dec 26, 2010, 06.51am IST

Nandan Nilekani, chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), has been named as one of Foreign Policy magazine's 'Top 100 Global Thinkers'. In other words, people who had "the big ideas that shaped our world in 2010." Nilekani's big idea is to give every Indian an identity number, which will address issues of inclusion and mobility. The billionaire co-founder of Infosys Technologies is today a self-confessed "plumber of the government". He tells Asha Rai about the ideas and issues that will define the next decade. Excerpts:

How changed would India be by 2020?
Let's look at the big changes that are happening. Demography's the biggest. India's experiencing the demographic dividend. If we look at the next 10 years from a demographic lens, what do you see? You will see this huge population of young people who are very aspirational. Aspirations are being unleashed at every level: the chauffeur wants college education for his child; the maid is saving for her daughter's English education.

The important thing is that this population is future-looking than past-looking. They are looking at how to make their life better and not worrying about something in the past. That's a huge shift. We need to satisfy the aspirations of these people. If we are not able to do that it will have its own consequences. I believe that's going to be the biggest thing of the next decade.

Meeting the aspirations of the Indian young will also have its own strategic implications: you will need to invest in education, health, and infrastructure. You need to urbanize faster. Plus, now it's in our interest to be globalized. If we are going to be largest pool of young people in the world, then you must keep trade and borders open so that our young can serve the world, either by working from here (outsourcing) or by going there (migration). That's the big thing.

What other trends do you foresee?
Mobility, internal and external. Within India , you will see a large number of people moving from rural to urban, from north to south, from middle India to coastal India. Already, we have some 100-120 million migrants. In the next 10 years it will become only more enhanced.

And remember, when a migrant moves and leaves his family behind, it means that people impacted by migration will be four times the number that migrates . This has huge socio-economic consequences.

It builds a remittance economy; the guy sends the money back, the family is no longer poor. It up-ends traditional equations. It's exacerbated by a few things; one is the demographic difference. Central India has higher population growth rates than south and west. The fertility rate of UP is three times that of Kerala. It's staggering that in the same country you have such huge differences. So when the south and the west start ageing, it will have fewer workers, central India will have more and internal migration will be further accentuated by it.

Finally, technology adoption, which in India is very, very high. Indians have found technology as something that helps them in their aspirations. The mobile phone is a classic example. Technology, aspirations, mobility and demographic dividend. For me, those are the defining themes of the next decade.

What's the role of UID in this?
I think 'Aadhaar' (the brand name of UID) is at the centre of this whole thing. You cannot meet your aspirations without having your identity acknowledged. The fact of the matter is, a large number of Indians don't have that acknowledged existence.

There are just 50 million Indians who have a passport -5 % of the population. People who participate in the stock markets must be 2% of the population, bank account holders must be 20% of the population (220 million). If you want to meet all the people's aspirations, you have to include them in the society. To do that, the basic foundation block is identity.

So, we call it 'Aadhaar' or foundation. Aadhaar addresses the mobility issue too. If you are going to be mobile, you need an identity that travels with you. The ability to create a national identity infrastructure is very important in a very mobile society.

What kind of Aadhaar numbers are you looking at?
600 million in the next four years. By that logic, by 2020 every Indian should have a number.

Yes. In our view, there are three basic numbers everybody should have. The Aadhaar number to identify themselves. A mobile number to communicate and a bank account number. In the world of 2020, everybody will have these three numbers and use them as levers for their aspirations.

You don't take a salary. Why?
My salary gets automatically routed to the Prime Minister's Relief Fund. That's a better way to do it than the Re 1 salary model, I figured. I am doing this as part of giving back to society. When I come home to Bangalore on weekends, I pay my own way. But I do have a government house and car in Delhi.

Many people in the corporate sector would like to follow in your footsteps?
For my project itself, I have got lots of people as volunteers, on sabbatical from outside. I meet a lot of people who have reached a point in their lives when they would like to contribute to public service if they get the right kind of role. People who have been very successful in business, in corporate and other fields. There's definitely an interest but everybody wants to be in the right role.

What kind of innovations can emerge from India?
One of our objectives is to create an innovation ecosystem. On the Aadhaar infrastructure, you can build applications. Some young kid will come out with a nifty application using Aadhaar on the mobile phone where a group of people will suddenly be able to do something they couldn't do earlier. You build these platforms where you take care of what's in the public good. But we should not be writing the innovations. Innovations should be done by innovators.

What do you see as the one overarching idea of the next decade?
The defining meta idea is that Indians in the next 10 years will think more of their future than of the past and believe me that's important. It sounds simple but it changes everything.

Will politics change too?
Obviously. If people are going to be talking of their future-of how it will be better than in the past-politics has to respond to that.

Read more: 'Three numbers will define us: UID, mobile and bank account' - The Times of India http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/sunday-toi/all-that-matters/Three-numbers-will-define-us-UID-mobile-and-bank-account/articleshow/7165555.cms#ixzz19CJb3Ayh

981 - Has Parliamentary Democracy Failed In India? - Techno Legal news and Views

Posted on 25th December by Shyam Prasad

Noted lawyer Praveen Dalal recently asked a very pertinent question. His question was do we have separation of powers in India anymore? In short, his question pertains to the declining role of parliamentary democracy in India. According to him Indian Parliament is slightly better than a non operational one. It does not conduct any relevant business these days and even if it does not operate at all, not much difference would be there.

This opinion is justified if we analyse the present position as prevailing in India. According to Praveen Dalal Indian Agencies and Instrumentalities are working without any law supporting their existence. Whether it is the Aadhar Project/ UID Project, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Intelligence and Law Enforcement Agencies of India, etc none of them are “Practically Governed” by any Legal Framework and Parliamentary Scrutiny.

This is a bitter truth which even the Prime Minister of India Dr. Manmohan Singh has also realised. The clean sweep of the winter session of the parliament is a bad trend in the wrong direction. Even worst is to allow new projects like Aadhar and authorities like UIDAI to operate without any legal framework.

Take another example of the central bureau of investigation (CBI) and law enforcement agencies of India. Even after 63 years of independence, India has still not made laws regarding its law enforcement agencies and CBI. It is only after the CBI Act 2010 that a law has been proposed by CBI to give itself a statutory recognition. However, it is still doubtful that the CBI Act 2010 would become an enforceable law very soon.

Similarly, National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (NIDAI Bill) has been proposed by UIDAI. However, according to Praveen Dalal even after the NIDAI Bill, both Aadhar project and UIDAI would remain “Unconstitutional”. This is because the NIDAI Bill is devoid of “Constitutional Safeguards” that can prevent Civil Liberties Violations by Aadhar Project and UIDAI, opines Praveen Dalal.

If parliamentary democracy has to be established by Indian government it must realise that parliament of India has a very crucial role to play. By bypassing this role, the executive are clearly violating the entire scheme of the Indian constitution.

980 - UID will be sufficient proof for opening bank a/c - Rupee Times

By Joseph Samson
Dec 22, 201

Unique Identification Number (UID) is soon going to be the only requirement for opening up bank accounts. The project titled 'Aadhaar' has been officially given authentication as being a 'valid document' by the Ministry of Finance.

Aadhaar will now be sufficient to fulfill KYC norms for opening accounts with banks.

The ministry said that the step has been taken so that the poor find it easy to establish their identity in banks and the motive of financial inclusion is achieved.

The process has already been brought to practice by some banks, said sources.

Apart from this facility, Aadhaar can be used by citizens of India to avail a vast range of benefits and services.

979 - Indian Parliament, Aadhar Project, UIDAI And Privacy Rights - Techno Legal news and Views Journalists

Posted on December 22, 2010

by Baljeet Singh  

 In this “Guest Column” Praveen Dalal, Managing Partner of Perry4Law, has shared his personal views regarding Aadhar Project, UIDAI and the corresponding responsibility of Parliament of India in this regard.

India is perhaps the only country of the World whose Agencies and Instrumentalities are working without any law supporting their existence. Whether it is the Aadhar Project/ UID Project, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Intelligence and Law Enforcement Agencies of India, etc none of them are “Practically Governed” by any Legal Framework and Parliamentary Scrutiny.

Surprisingly, India has a long and unpardonable history of clinging to antique and colonial laws like Indian Telegraph Act. It is beyond any reasonable doubt that laws like Telegraph Act do not serve the present purposes of lawful interception in India.

In the absence of a Constitutionally Valid Lawful Interception Law in India, companies like Google, Skype and Blackberry can legally refuse to part with any information regarding its users citing absence of a lawful interception law on the one hand and protecting its users’ Privacy on the other hand.

Unfortunately, Blackberry’s maker Research in Motion (RIM) has succumbed to Indian Government’s pressures and has openly shown its intentions to violate the Privacy Rights of its users in a “Cloud Computing Environment”. This also proves that India is still not ready for a cloud computing environment. Fortunately, Google has rightly rejected Indian Government’s possible demand well in advance citing privacy reasons.

India is deliberately escaping from enacting suitable Privacy Laws and Data Protection Laws. Further, since the Colonial Laws like Telegraph Act serve the purpose of Indian Government, it is abstaining from enacting suitable and timely Legislations.

However, of all Illegal and Unconstitutional Projects nothing can match the Violating Limits of Aadhar Project and UDIAI. With “Biometric Information” as its base and core components, Indian residents have virtually surrendered their Privacy Rights in the hands of a Regime and Government that cannot be trusted at all in this regard. That is why there is an urgent need of Robust, Effective and Constitutionally Sound Legal Framework in this regard.

In these circumstances it can be safely said that Indian Parliament is slightly better than a non operational one. It does not conduct any relevant business these days and even if it does not operate at all, not much difference would be there. Are Indian Parliamentarians listening or has Indian Constitution been “Bypassed” for surrendering all its “Constitutional Powers” to its Executive Branch and Bureaucrats? Perhaps, the concept of “Separation of Power” no longer exists under Indian Constitution.

978 - UID & Privacy - A Call for Papers - CIS

by Elonnai Hickok in Privacy 

Dec 15, 2010 10:55 AM

Privacy India is inviting individuals to author short papers focused on Unique Identity (UID) and Privacy. Selected candidates will have their papers published on the CIS website, and their transportation and accommodation provided for the “Privacy Matters” conference being held in Kolkata on 22 January 2010.

Topic
Privacy and the UID

Submission Deadline
By 15 January 2010 to admin@privacyindia.org

Word Length
3,000-5,000 words

Topic Summary
The Aadhaar scheme, or Unique Identity (UID) scheme is a plan to provide citizens identity cards that are tied to their unique biometric data – such as their fingerprints or retinal scans. Although the most frequently cited justification for this project is to ensure the secure delivery of relief to beneficiaries of government aid schemes, it is clear that the uses to which it will be put exceed this narrow mandate.

As India embarks on one of its most ambitious techno-administrative projects to date, there is surprisingly little clarity or introspection into the implications of having such a concentrated identity locked into a single card. In particular it appears that the grave threats to privacy the scheme poses have not received due attention. Although the final draft UID Bill circulated by the UIDAI in October 2010 contains some provisions that reference privacy, there seems to be a tacit assumption that privacy is an expendable or at least a less-desirable privilege that can be attended to fully once the scheme is in fully in place.

We invite individuals to author short inter-disciplinary papers that engage various topics on the theme of Privacy and the UID, including but not limited to the following:

• Comparative studies on privacy and national identity card schemes in other countries

• Privacy and the UID Bill

•   How will a project such as the UID change the relationship between the state, the individual, and the market?

Selected candidates will have their papers published on the CIS website, and their transportation and accommodation  provided for the “Privacy Matters” conference being held in Kolkata on January 22nd 2010.

Who We Are
Privacy India was set up with the collaboration of the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS) and Society in Action Group (SAG), under the auspices of the international organization ‘Privacy International’. Privacy International is a non-profit group that provides assistance to civil society groups, governments, international and regional bodies, the media and the public in a number of countries (see www.privacyinternational.org). Privacy India's objective is to raise awareness, spark civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around privacy challenges and violations in India. In furtherance of this goal we aim to draft and promote an over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.

977 - Britain scraps controversial identity card scheme - Governance Now

PTI December 23rd 2010

ID cards to be cancelled and national ID register database to be destroyed

Britain has scrapped a controversial identity card scheme whose introduction by the previous Labour government as part of anti-terrorism plans had outraged civil rights activists.

The scrapping of the scheme has been approved after the the David Cameron government's first Home Office bill, the Identity Documents Bill, received royal assent.

The Identity Cards Act 2006 provided for a personal identification document and European Union travel document, linked to a database known as the National Identity Register.

All identity cards issued so far will be cancelled within one month and the National Identity Register, the database which contains the biographic information and biometric fingerprint data of card holders, will be physically destroyed within two months.

"The Identity Card Scheme represented the worst of government. It was intrusive, bullying, ineffective and expensive," Home Office minister Damian Green said.

"The Government is committed to scaling back the power of the state and restoring civil liberties. This is just the first step in the process of restoring and maintaining our freedoms," he added.

The Identity Documents Bill invalidates the identity card, meaning that within one month, holders will no longer be able to use them to prove their identity or as a travel document in Europe.

The Identity Card Scheme and associated work around biometrics has already cost the taxpayer 292 million pounds.

The government will now stop planned future investment in the scheme of 835 million pounds.

All existing cardholders will be notified in writing and the Identity and Passport Service will now inform international border agencies, travel operators and customers of the change in law.

The Office of the Identity Commissioner has also been closed.

 

976 - Whose AADHAAR is it any way ?

Who’s AADHAAR is it anyway?

Reflections on the UID debate
 

Chair: Ravi Sundaram
 

Panelists:
The Unique ID project in India: A Skeptical Note
~ R. Ramakumar
 

A Unique Identity Bill ~ Usha Ramanathan
 

The Unique Identity Number Project: 
Should Non-Citizen Residents be Concerned? 
~ Sahana Basavapatna
 

The UID Project & Social Welfare Schemes
~ Reetika Khera
 

Panel Coordinator: Subasri Krishnan & Reetika Khera
9.00  - 10.45 am  

From: siddharth narrain : siddharth.narrain@gmail.com
 

Dear All,
You are most cordially invited to the second Law and Social Sciences Research Network (LASSnet) Conference, on 27-30th December 2010 at FLAME, Pune. The conference is being co-organised by the Centre for the Study of Culture and Society (CSCS) Bangalore, the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance (CSLG), JNU, Delhi, the Foundation for Liberal and Management Education, (FLAME) Pune and the
Alternative Law Forum (ALF), Bangalore. The invite and the brochure is attached for your perusal.

Regards
Siddharth Narrain and Sruti Chaganti

On Behalf of 

the LASSnet Steering Committee
Law and Social Sciences Research Network,
Anchored by the Centre for the Study of Law and Governance, Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi
lassnet@gmail.com 
http://lassnet.blogspot.com/
www.lassnet.org <http://www.lassnet.org>

975 - Another Nail in Real ID's coffin

Posted by Jim Harper

December 15th 2010

The REAL ID Act—the 2005 national ID law rejected by the states asked to implement it—continues its long slow death. The latest nail in the coffin: moves in Congress to defund the “hub” system that would share driver information nationwide.

The House-passed “Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act” contains the following language in the section that funds U.S. Citizen and Immigration Services: “none of the funds made available in this section shall be available for development of the system commonly known as the ‘REAL ID hub’.”

And also: “From unobligated balances of prior year appropriations made available for United States Citizenship and Immigration Services for the program commonly known as the ‘REAL ID hub’, $16,500,000 is rescinded.”

Senator Inouye’s (D-HI) amendment in the Senate also denies USCIS funding for the REAL ID hub. And it, too, rescinds $16.5 million in prior-year funding.

Money spent on REAL ID is waste. That money should be put to better uses, including deficit reduction. No future money should go to the national ID boondoggle, and REAL ID should be repealed once and for all.

974 - Bangalore’s New Year date with Aadhaar put off - DNA

Published: Thursday, Dec 23, 2010, 16:03 IST
By Hemanth CS | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

.The 12-digit Aadhaar number will miss its New Year date with Bangaloreans as enrolment for the unique identification number (UID) in the IT city has been put off for a month.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), along with the state e-governance department which set January 1, 2011 as the date for rolling out the project in Bangalore, has now decided to postpone it till the end of January 2011.

UIDAI deputy director general, Ashok Dalwai, told DNA that plans to kick-start enrolment for Aadhaar in Bangalore from January 1 next year had been put off as tenders to shortlist the service providers for the project are yet to be finalised.

“The Request for Proposal (RFP) is still under way and will be out only by December end. Following this, the tenders will be floated and service providers will be finalised, which means that enrolment in Bangalore might happen only by January-end,” Dalwai said.

The UIDAI and e-governance department had announced that Bangalore would be the next stop for enrolling residents for the Aadhaar numbers after Mysore and Tumkur districts, from where the project commenced in Karnataka.

In Bangalore, officials had planned to start the enrolment in the BangaloreOne centres wherein residents — upon producing proof of identity documents like passport, PAN card etc — would have to get their biometric data like iris identification and fingerprints and photographs taken. Two weeks later, the residents would be given their 12-digit Aadhaar number.

After the project rolled out in Mysore and Tumkur in October 2010, UIDAI officials had said that in Karnataka 6.2 crore residents would be issued identification numbers by December 31, 2011.

When asked if the delay in implementing the project would result in the state missing the December 31, 2011 deadline, Dalwai said enrolment would commence soon.

973 - Wikileaks Nilekani Unique Card project bill is Rs3K Crore _ My Digital

By Reji John, Nov 17th, 2009

Giving every Indian resident an identity number will cost Rs 3000 crore. That is the estimate made by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) led by the former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani. In a 40-page document on the unique ID project, leaked on the online portal wikileaks.org, the authority says enrolling each resident in the project will cost between Rs 20 and Rs 25, taking the cost of providing ID numbers to 1.2 billion people to over Rs 3,000 crore. Estimates in the media on the project have varied sharply between Rs 500 crore and Rs 1,50,000 crore.

Wikileaks calls itself the ‘uncensorable part of Wikipedia’, focusing on protecting internal dissidents, whistleblowers, journalists and bloggers. The UID document is the third Indian one this year on the site, which specialises in exposing documents marked secret or is beyond public purview.

Here’s everything you ever wanted to know about the project gleaned from the UIDAI document.

The Unique ID Number: The authority will create a unique ID number for each resident in the country, linked to a person’s demographic and biometric information. It will have a person’s name, date of birth, place of birth, gender, father’s name, father’s UID number (optional for adult residents), mother’s name, mother’s UID number (optional for adults), address (permanent and present), expiry date; photograph and fingerprints (all ten fingers). No other information will be collected. The law on UID will specifically prohibit collection of any information regarding religion, race, ethnicity, caste and similar matters. It’s called ‘unique’ because a duplicate for the same person cannot be issued. It will remain valid for life with regular updating. Any attempt to enroll for a second UID elsewhere with the aim to defraud will attract penal action.

Purpose of UID: It will only guarantee identity and will not confer any rights, benefits or entitlements. It does not confer citizenship. The residents would however be spared the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents each time they open a bank account or apply for passport or a driving licence or any other similar service. It will be accepted as identity proof across service providers.

The Cost: Residents will not be charged for enrolling for the UID numbers.

Is it mandatory? No. The authority believes that getting the UID number will be demand-driven, where the benefits and services linked to the number will ensure demand for it. Even schools will demand a child’s UID before admission.

ID card & registrars: The authority will not issue any cards. However, registrars, which include state governments, or central government entities such as oil ministry or Life Insurance Corporation of India which would enroll residents would have the option to issue UID cards for a certain charge. The authority will decide the charge. Registrars may also be private sector participants such as banks and insurance firms. Rural development and panchayati raj department and municipalities would be sub-registrars to the state government registrars.

Enrolling agencies: Registrars will also establish resident touch points through enrolling agencies. For example, a hospital where a baby is born would be an enrolling agency for the baby’s ID, reporting to municipality sub-registrar. A baby would necessarily have to be given a name before enrolling. Birth certificates will carry the UID number. Enrolling agencies will take in a person’s information and verify the supporting documents on the basis of ‘know your resident’ standards. Document norms for the poor or marginalised groups may be relaxed or different.

ID repository: The authority will be the regulatory body for managing the central ID data repository. Once the enrolling agencies send the demographic and biometric information to the repository, a Unique ID number, randomly generated, would be sent to the enrolling agencies and given to the resident with details, including a 2D barcode.

Ensuring uniqueness: Each resident’s data will be checked on key fields and the fingerprints against the database to ensure that there is no duplication.

Updating information: The UID number will remain the same for a lifetime, but biometric information would have to be updated every five years for children and ten years for adults. Demographic information like change of address and name (after marriage) would also be updated.

Authentication & privacy: The authority will offer online authentication where agencies can compare the demographic and biometric information with the record in the central database. When authenticating data on a particular resident, it will not part with information, but only give a ‘Yes’ or ‘No’ answer. Several levels of technology safeguards are being put in place to ensure that privacy of residents is maintained. Basic identity confirmation, say the UID number, name and one other parameter such as date of birth would be free. But address verification will cost Rs 5 and biometric confirmation on the photograph or fingerprint would be a charged at Rs 10. Biometric confirmation may largely be done by credit card and financial companies. The authority expects to earn Rs 288 crore a year from paid verification.

Two-language formula: All data entry by enrolling agencies will be done in English. However, this can be converted into the local language using transliteration software. The details sent to residents will have all demographic data in English and the local language.

Tracking enrolments: The authority will use a internet-based geographical information system (GIS) to visually track all enrolment trends and patterns down to the districts.

The Timeline: The authority will start issuing UIDs in 12-18 months and it aims to cover 600 million people within four years, and almost the whole population in another six.

Recording deaths: The UID system will not remove a record upon a person’s death; it will simply be marked as ‘deceased’ which will render it inactive for identification purposes.

The authority says eliminating duplication under various government schemes is expected to save the exchequer over Rs 20,000 crore a year. 

India is the first country to implement a biometric-based UID system on such a large scale.

972 - "Is UIDN a tool for holocaust?" - DNA Gopal Krishna's Comments

The Editor

DNA

By Gopal Krishna

Apropos of "Is UIDN a tool for holocaust?" (November 28, 2010, DNA) authored by Nirad Mudur, Associate Editor, DNA Newspaper, it is quite clear that he has not done his homework while attributing benevolent motives to a regressive and malevolent project like UID Number. 

The story is available here:

Mudur says, "UIDN is NOT an identity proof." His contention is factually incorrect.

According to the Press Brief for National launch of Unique

Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), “The Aadhaar number will ease these difficulties in identification, by providing a nationally valid and verifiable single source of identity proof. The UIDAI will ensure the uniqueness of the Aadhaar numbers through the use of biometric attributes (Finger Prints and Iris) which will be linked to the number”. This release was issued on 29th September 2010 when Unique Identification Numbers (Aadhaar) was first distributed by Dr Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi.

Mudur says, "what is the guaranteed that the already existing 15 identity proofs (including voters’ identity card or ration card) mentioned by Gopal Krishna will not be tapped to identify minorities to launch a holocaust-like pogrom?"

The answer to this question is there in Government of India's Draft Discussion Paper on Privacy Bill which  states, “Data privacy and the need to protect personal information is almost never a concern when data is stored in a decentralized manner. Data that is maintained in

silos is largely useless outside that silo and consequently has a low likelihood of causing any damage."

As to Mudur's blind faith in the US system, he has not checked relevant facts. Draft Discussion paper on Privacy Law reveals, “There is no data protection statute in the country” unlike the U.S. Federal Privacy Statute or the European Directive on Data Protection.

The US passed a Federal law (the REAL ID Act, 2005) requiring the States to allow the Federal Department of Homeland Security to access State databases such as drivers’ licences and motor vehicle registration. Mudur must take note that not a single State has ratified this Act, and 25 States have passed legislations to exclude themselves from its purview.

Not only that a confidential working paper titled “Creating a Unique Identity Number for Every Resident in India” was recently posted on the transparency website Wikileaks. The leaked document admitted, “the UID database will be susceptible to attacks and leaks at various levels”. Profiling on the lines religious, racial or caste identity has led to violence against Asians and Muslims in US and Australia.

Based on his touching faith in government systems, Mudur meekly says that Nazi Germany condition is unlikely, "a situation that may never arise in a widely diverse India, US or Australia." Such faith is hardly a rational explanation for his misplaced inference about UID Number.

I must submit that "propaganda based on suspicion and half-knowledge" has been launched by the beneficiaries of UID Number.

Not surprisingly, UIDAI has also hired a public relations agency with an objective to “Provide consistent flow of information across all mediums to create the right perception of UIDAI and Aadhaar throughout the country”; one such agency has created a stalemate in the Parliament.

One editor of a financial daily too is a great supporter UID Number. We were not surprised to find his name in the Radia Tapes.

UID Number is an attempt to convert a resident into a number, Indian population into a market and then citizens in to subjects. Mudur says, "government’s fault lies in not ensuring a series of open discussions on the project before launching it." Is it an innocent fault or a grave and unpardonable sin?

If all was so well besides this "fault" why was  National

Identification Authority of India Bill introduced in Parliament after the constitution of the UIDAI and appointment of Nandan Nilekani as its Chairman in the rank and status of a Cabinet Minister?

The Bill seeks to provide statutory status to the UIDAI which has been functioning (by awarding contracts to US companies like Accenture and L1 Identities Solution)without backing of law since January 2009 and seeks legitimacy for its previous work.

Gopal Krishna

Member

Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties

New Delhi

971 - ID cards do little to change life in Tembhli

INDIA | 21.12.2010
ID cards do little to change life in Tembhli

In September, a nondescript tribal hamlet in India suddenly found itself in the national spotlight when the PM turned up to launch a project to issue Unique Identification (UID) numbers. But the excitement faded fast.

This brand new road is a source of excitement for the village children

 

In the lazy midday sun, it is playtime for the children in the tribal hamlet of Tembhli in India's western state of Maharashtra. Using sticks, they roll old tire tubes and stones along a concrete road. They are excited to have such a smooth surface to play on.

Three months ago, this road did not exist. But in September the otherwise sleepy hamlet saw a flurry of activity as it prepared to receive Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Congress Party President Sonia Gandhi, who were coming to distribute the first set of Unique Identification (UID) cards.

Titled "Aadhaar," meaning support, the project aims to equip each Indian citizen with biometric identification numbers based on thumbprints and iris scans. This ambitious scheme has come under heavy criticism for several reasons, one of them being the claim by some experts that it will result in the invasion of privacy. But the Indian government has defended the project, claiming it will help poor and disadvantaged citizens avail public welfare schemes more easily.

Road construction has been left incomplete in some parts of Tembhli

Fleeting elation
 
After years of feeling abandoned, the villagers of Tembhli were initially thrilled to be chosen for a visit by no less than the prime minister himself, but their elation did not last long.
 
The attention bestowed on them by the government was only fleeting, says 28-year-old Sunanda Karma Thakre, who with her husband is one of the many who usually migrate to the neighboring state of Gujarat to find work.
 
"We were about to leave for Gujarat this year too, but then we heard of the prime minister’s visit. We decided to stay, thinking the ministers would help us find work here. But that did not materialize," she points out.
 
"If they come again, we will tell them about our troubles. But all these government officials only came to us around the time of the PM’s visit. Now no one seems to be interested in listening to us. No one has stepped into the village since then. Even the roads that were being built lie incomplete and some of us still don’t have electricity."
 

 

 Sunanda Karma Thakre is a skeptical about the new biometric UID cards

Lack of work opportunities drive laborers away

Laborers in Tembhli struggle to find occasional work as farm hands in the nearby fields, which fetches them barely a euro a day. By comparison, the state of Gujarat, especially the Saurashtra region, offers plenty of employment opportunities on the sugarcane plantations, cotton and groundnut-crushing factories, or on farms. This work can fetch a laborer between two to three euros a day. This ensures that when they return to Tembhli at the beginning of monsoon, they have a decent amount saved up.

While it may seem to be an advantage in terms of income, migration brings with it a host of other problems. The migrants often leave their homes behind to live in dire conditions in Gujarat, often without shelter. On top of this, they have to uproot their families every year, taking their children out of school, causing a high dropout rate and increasing illiteracy.

Immediate needs have to be addressed

What is important right now is to address the villagers’ more immediate needs of employment and housing, says Madi Raju Makkan, a member of the Tembhli Gram Panchayat, or village council.

"Implementation of the National Rural Employment Guarantee scheme should begin as soon as possible. The government makes promises and then doesn’t follow up on them. That is why the people lose all hope of getting work and leave for Saurashtra. There are many in our village with a 'below poverty line' status, who don’t have proper houses to live in. Many public schemes in the village are incomplete and our village is often inundated in the monsoon floods. We have lodged many appeals, but the government has not taken any initiatives to act on them."

Many migrant workers are forced to live on the streets

 

The Unique Identification (UID) cards are supposed to change matters. Villagers can seek loans and open bank accounts more easily. Officials claim the cards will help improve execution of the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme, although it is not yet clear how this will work.

It may be too soon to tell whether these cards will make a difference. However, as the initial hype and excitement fades away, there is increasing disillusionment among the people of Tembhli as they realize that while the UID card is a much needed proof of identity, it will not give them what they want most of all – a chance to earn a better living.

Author: Pia Chandavarkar (Tembhli)
Editor: Anne Thomas

970 - Scrapping ID cards is a momentous step - Guardian

Scrapping ID cards is a momentous step

uesday 21 December 2010 08.00 GMT

Damian Green

ID cards represented the worst of government. Abolishing them is a statement of our intent to create a fairer and freer society

Today's final abolition of the intrusive and expensive ID card scheme is the climax of a long campaign that has been extremely close to my heart. I believe civil liberties and values that we should fight to uphold have been under serious threat for some years.

So it is with enormous pleasure that I celebrate as the identity documents bill passes into law and scraps the ability of the state to gather volumes of personal biographical and biometric information from citizens without the data serving any specific purpose or benefit.

The ID card was launched with fantastic claims about supposed benefits. In truth, it represented the worst of government. The first duty of government is to ensure its citizens are protected, but ID cards could never have done that. They would have been a distraction from the real work that needs to be done in countering terrorism, illegal immigration or benefit fraud.

The law paves the way for the secure destruction of the national identity register. Photographs, fingerprints and personal information that were submitted as part of the application process for an ID card will be destroyed within two months. ID cards will no longer be valid for travel and identity verification purposes within one month. Only around 12,000 members of the public signed up for a card, showing the lack of enthusiasm for the scheme, despite the intense propaganda campaign from the Labour government.

Scrapping ID cards brings many benefits. It will save the taxpayer around £86m over the next four years, once all cancellation costs are taken into account. It also avoids the commitment given in 2009 by the previous administration to further planned investment of some £835m over the next 10 years.

That would have represented a spend of more than £1bn on ID cards. The previous administration claimed that this money would be recovered by fees, but however the government proposed to pay for the scheme, the money would have to come out of the pockets of UK citizens. Cancelling the ID card scheme is a momentous step, and a statement of our intent to create a fairer and freer society in the UK.

The next step is the freedom bill, scheduled to be introduced in the new year. This bill will address a number of issues where the balance between liberty and security has not been struck. The bill is likely to include provisions on DNA retention and the further regulation of CCTV. It will prevent schools taking children's fingerprints without parental consent. We also aim to include reforms of the criminal records regime and vetting and barring scheme to scale them back to commonsense levels.

These measures are only the start. In the following months and years, we will continue to act decisively to defend civil liberties while protecting the public. I hope we have put the era of ever increasing state intervention in our private lives behind us forever.

968 - BIG BROTHER WATCHES - The Telegraph, Calcutta

'Citizens’ groups are up in arms over the recently introduced National Identification Authority of India Bill.'

Manjula Sen finds out why.

Person or number?: A unique identity number will be 

provide to each Indian citizen by the UIDAI.

The National Identification Authority of India Bill (NIAI), 2010, was introduced in the Rajya Sabha early this month, nearly two years after the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) was set up in February 2009. The UIDAI intends to provide a unique number to each resident in the country, a number which will “primarily be used as a basis for efficient delivery of welfare services.” Towards this end, a biometrics-based database of every Indian citizen would be maintained by the government.

The UIDAI was established by an executive order of the Union government, with its chairman Nandan Nilekani handpicked for the Cabinet minister-ranked job by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The pilot project called Aadhaar rolled out in September this year. The NIAI Bill is essentially aimed at making the UIDAI a legally sanctioned body and setting out its powers and functions.

Though the law is obviously necessary, several legal experts and citizens’ groups say that the bill leaves a lot to be desired. One major point of concern is that the bill does not offer enough safeguards against breach of privacy, profiling and “function creep”, the process where data collected for one function may end up being used for another purpose. In fact, the draft bill had called for checks against profiling, but this has been ignored entirely in is current version.

Again the bill does not clearly specify whom the ID number will be applicable to. It says the number would be given to “individuals residing in India and certain other classes of individuals.” Critics say that the term “certain other classes” is too vague and ambiguous to be acceptable.

In a detailed critique, the Centre for Internet and Society (CIS), a Bengaluru-based research and advocacy group, says that the term is a broad generalisation that lends itself to potential misuse. Narrowing the term to “individuals residing in India” would be much better, it argues.

CIS also points out that the bill seems to do more with the regulatory authority of the UIDAI rather than with measures to protect the rights and interests of citizens. “Lots of important details have been left to be defined by the UIDAI. This is dangerous because it affords it far too much discretionary powers. The bill only protects the interests of the UIDAI. It does not protect the rights of citizens and residents,” stresses Sunil Abraham, executive director, CIS.

Again, the proposed law does not contain adequate measures to redress transactional and system errors or fraud. Possible fraud scenarios include the misrepresentation of information, multiple registrations by the same resident, registration for non-existent residents, and so on.

Others point out that the loose language and intermixing of terms in the bill pose the threat that data will be collected and used for purposes other than those stated. The devil is in the detail, says Pratiksha Mehta, legal counsel for a consumer retailer. “The language of the bill is very generic, leaving scope for loopholes in the way data is accumulated and shared,” she says.

Another cause for concern is that the bill holds only the UIDAI accountable for violations. Rather, say critics, it needs to hold enrolling agencies (those that collect data), registrars, and other service providers entrusted with the job of collecting information accountable. Furthermore, the bill does not specify how enrolling agencies will be appointed. Nor is there any provision to penalise data collectors for misusing or sharing data. “There is zero data protection provision in the bill,” says Abraham.

Of course, the bill has its supporters too. They point out that it is actually an improvement on its draft version in some aspects. For instance, it now expressly prohibits the dissemination of any information that is stored in the Central Identities Data Repository (a centralised data base of a whole population). It also raises the level of authorisation for “disclosure of information in the case of a national emergency” from a single minister to a joint secretary equivalent in the central government specifically authorised to do so by an order of the Union government.

But the worries over the bill refuse to go away. Another major complication in the NIAI Bill is to do with biometrics. Enlisting for a UID number is meant to be voluntary. However, under the Citizenship Act, it is an offence not to provide biometrics information. “This is the legal loophole that the UID project is using to convert its so called ‘voluntary’ scheme into a mandatory surveillance project,” Abraham contends.

Again, while it does not explicitly bar denial of essential services in the absence of a UID, service and product providers such as insurance agencies, banks, telecom operators, the tax department and medical agencies could end up making UID a condition for availing of their services. And the law does not state explicitly that these agencies cannot do so.

“The winter session of Parliament is over and the UIDAI must urgently work in the direction of making Aadhaar/UIDAI constitutional,” fumes Praveen Dalal, who heads an information and communication technology law firm.

Dalal, who has written to various government agencies as well as to UID project head Nandan Nilekani, believes that Aadhaar or the UIDAI in its present form is “unconstitutional” primarily because neither the Aadhaar project nor the UIDAI is governed by any legal framework. “And their legal framework must be ‘constitutionally valid’, that is, it must pass the tests of Part III (Fundamental Rights) and other Parts of the Constitution of India.”

There was no response from Nilekani to an email questionnaire by this paper at the time of going to print.

In an online signature campaign against the bill addressed to the President and several public and government agencies, petitioners claim further anomalies: Personal and household data are being collected through the Census 2010 with a view to establishing a National Population Register (NPR). It is proposed to make this information available to the UIDAI. This is in contravention of Section 15 of the Census Act, which categori-cally states that information given for the Census is ‘not open to inspection nor admissible in evidence’.”

Clearly, with the entire UID project fraught with controversial issues related to citizens’ rights, the NIAI Bill and its provisions too will be hotly debated before they can come into being as law.