Bourgeoisinspirations
A Gathering Storm – How UID Will Transform India Into A Police State
In Economics, India Inc, Politics and Government, Poverty in India, Terrorism on March 22, 2010 at 12:27 AM
UID Resources: For other articles and updates on UID
Various initiatives within the government are converging to transform India into a classic police state. Enabling this transformation is everyone’s darling, the UID project. The UID project is a triumph of marketing over reality. Marketed as a fundamental enabler for targeted delivery of government services, UID numbers will instead form the bedrock for pervasive state surveillance.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) however, has repeatedly downplayed the use of UID numbers for surveillance and security functions by consistently omitting this topic in official communication through their website and press releases. Nevertheless the context and limited scope of the Authority reveal its real intent. While conceptually the project has been in discussion since the Vajpayee government (2002), renewed impetus came in the wake of Mumbai terror attacks in November 2008. The UIDAI was established in February 2009, less than three months of the attack. Despite the altruistic marketing, the Authority refuses responsibility for improved service delivery stating, “The UIDAI is only in the identity business. The responsibility of tracking beneficiaries and the governance of service delivery will continue to remain with the respective agencies”.
Concurrently with setting up the UIDAI, the Indian Parliament substantially amended the Information Technology Act 2000 in December 2008 to give the government power to tap all communications without a court order or a warrant. Section 69 of ITA 2008 states “[…] necessary or expedient to do in the interest of the sovereignty or integrity of India, defense of India, security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of any cognizable offence relating to above or for investigation of any offence, it may […] direct any agency of the appropriate Government to intercept, monitor or decrypt or cause to be intercepted or monitored or decrypted any information transmitted received or stored through any computer resource.”
Against this legislative and infrastructural background, the government is setting up a national intelligence grid (NATGRID). The NATGRID under Raghu Raman (ex-CEO, Mahindra Special Services Group) will interlink 21 categories of databases (railway and air travel, Income Tax, phone calls, bank account details, credit card transactions, visa and immigration records, property records, driving licence) for real-time monitoring of all residents in the country. NATGRID is expected to be fully operation by May 2011 and will eventually use UID numbers for these inter-database linkages.
Simultaneously work has begun on the National Population Register (NPR) which will collect information such as name, sex, date of birth, current marital status, name of father, mother and spouse, educational level attained, nationality, occupation, activity pursued, present and permanent addresses along with individual biometrics. Chidamabaran has cautioned that due care needs to be taken to ensure that “illegal” residents in border districts (Bangladesh, Nepal) don’t worm their way into the NPR giving the census an ominous policing quality. The NPR will depend on UID for de-duplication.
UID numbers will also facilitate the advance of a neoliberal state. There’s trepidation amongst many in the civil society about data convergence using UID numbers, and its monetization for private profit. This is not just a remote possibility but part of the official intent. The government is licensing credit information companies (CICs) under the Credit Information Companies (Regulation) Act 2005 to develop consumers’ credit profiles based on their transaction history from banks, NBFCs, telecoms and insurance companies. CICs will use UID numbers to collect and collate this information. This will inevitably lead to the type of predatory marketing seen in the United States (on the basis of social security numbers) and on the other side facilitate financial exclusion not inclusion of the poor. The Authority itself takes a predictably hands-off approach to data convergence stating, “Convergence of existing databases will need to be addressed and governed under a larger data protection regime applicable to the whole country and therefore this is a matter beyond the mandate of the UIDAI”.
While terror is a high-profile and charged topic in the country, mass surveillance cannot be justified in the name of improved security. There are other alternatives to track organized terror outfits without undertaking blanket real-time citizen monitoring. In fact there is substantial evidence that identity cards/numbers would not have prevented many recent terror attacks (e.g., Madrid bombings in 2004, 9/11, London underground attacks in 2005, Israel suicide bombings, Pakistan bombings). Moreover surveillance in India is not just limited to identifying alleged terrorists but any activity that can be twisted into “defense/sovereignty of India” or cognizable offence. The potential for misuse is tremendous (e.g., inconvenient activists, purported Maoists).
UID project’s basic premise of fundamentally improving delivery of welfare services does not withstand scrutiny. UID deployment will come at a prohibitively high cost and only address a small subset of leakages in marked contrast to other more effective governance mechanisms inexplicably snubbed by the government. At the same UID deployment will enable a mass surveillance police state leading to both invasion of individual privacy and curtailment of civil liberties. There is immediate need for transparency about the objectives of the project and a vigorous public debate on its need and relevance.
Why this Blog ? News articles in the Wide World of Web, quite often disappear with time, when they are relocated as archives with a different url. Archives in this blog serve as a library for those who are interested in doing Research on Aadhaar Related Topics. Articles are published with details of original publication date and the url.
In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.
On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.
In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.
In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.
In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.
"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi
Ram Krishnaswamy
Sydney, Australia.
Aadhaar
The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018
When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi
“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi
“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.
Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.
Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha
“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh
But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP
“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.
August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"
“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden
In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.
Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.
Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.
UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy
1) Denial
2) Issue fiats and point finger
3) Shoot messenger
4) Bury head in sand.
God Save India
