Cabinet allows use of biometrics for UID
Iris scans to be collected on a national basis for the first time; UID numbers to be issued from August
Sanjiv Shankaran
New Delhi
The government has approved the collection of an individual’s biometric attributes, including iris scans, as part of the unique identity (UID) programme, also known as Aadhaar.
It will be the first time that such scans will be collected on a national basis and used for the government’s ambitious plan to provide an ID to residents of India. Apart from a photograph, the ID will also contain the person’s fingerprints.
The cabinet committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has given an “in-principle” approval to the template that will be used to collect biometric and demographic information, Nandan Nilekani, chairman, UIDAI, told a press conference after the cabinet meeting.
According to Nilekani, the approval was in-principle as there were “a lot of implementation issues”.
UIDAI plans to place draft legislation in public domain in a few days giving details of the legal framework for its operations.
Listen to an explainer on UADAI. Click here
The cabinet committee also approved iris scans for children from five to 15 years of age, which will be part of the ongoing census.
UIDAI, which is attached to the Planning Commission, plans to use existing databases such as the National Population Register (NPR) to provide residents with a 12-digit unique identity number.
According to a strategy report on UIDAI’s website, “biometric attributes of the residents are going to be used as the basic signature for deduplication and ensure uniqueness”.
The UID number is a 12-digit lifetime number, but biometric information contained in the database would have to be regularly updated. Children may have to update their biometric information every five years, and adults every 10 years, the strategy report said.
The unique identification would be used by both Central and state governments to enhance the effectiveness of social welfare schemes by ensuring the benefits reach the target population. According to Nilekani, UIDAI has signed a memorandum of understanding with nine states and Union territories to extend the project there.
Harsh Mander, a former bureaucrat who is now the Supreme Court commissioner on food security, is sceptical about the impact UID would have on the government’s social welfare programmes. According to Mander, the aim of bringing the poor into a database through a unique number was at odds with the behaviour of the people the project sought to help.
“They (the vulnerable sections) survive by staying out of the state,” Mander said. The most vulnerable fear that getting into the state’s records would endanger them in future, he added.
The first set of UID numbers will be issued between August 2010 and February 2011, a government press release said. Later, 600 million UID numbers will be issued in the next five years, the release said.
UIDAI will carry out its mandate through intermediaries known as registrars. Registrars would be entities such as NPR’s Registrar General of India and other government entities which have an existing database. In addition, private registrars will also collect demographic and biometric data. The cabinet’s approval of the template on Tuesday will allow all the registrars to gather data in a standardized manner.
The ongoing data collection for national census is already collecting demographic data for the UID project. This includes basic information, including names and addresses of residents.
According to Nilekani, the UID project will eventually function as a back end where an individual’s identity can be verified by any agency which needs to do that. According to the strategy paper on the website, UIDAI’s revenue model would be based on collecting a fee from agencies that want to verify the identity of an individual.
UIDAI was constituted by the government in January 2009 and the cabinet committee to deal with it was set up in October.
sanjiv.s@livemint.com
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
