‘UID tech can be leveraged to transform India’
Monday, May 24, 2010
The government's Unique Identity Programme (UID) will have some major positive economical and social implications, with ample opportunity to leverage the technology far more ambitiously and intensively, according to global consultancy firm Deloitte. "The UID programme will provide the opportunity to leverage technology far more ambitiously and intensively and build truly inclusive, transformational infrastructure. This will improve the overall productivity of our economy," Deloitte India Principal Economist Shanto Ghosh said. According to Deloitte, the UID opens up a vast array of new possibilities for our technological future and offers a foundation on which a host of applications can be built.
Elaborating it with an example, Ghosh says the UID number of each resident can be linked to a bank account through which the government can provide direct services, such as health and education, through digital vouchers and cash benefits.
The Unique Identification Authority of India, headed by Nandan Nilekani, will issue the first set of 12-digit unique identification numbers between August, 2010, and February, 2011. Thereafter, 600 million UID numbers will be issued in the next five years. Apart from providing identity, the UID will enable better delivery of services and effective governance. The UID project is primarily aimed at ensuring inclusive growth. Citing various media reports, Ghosh said the UID programme will create 350,000 new jobs and USD 20 billion of economic output over the next five years.
On the importance of UID on the social front, Ghosh said a large section of funds earmarked for social sector projects "leak" out in the form of corruption and benefits trickling to the wrong population group. "The UID programme will plug that gap." The PDS system is considered largely ineffective because there are no checks and balances to evaluate the functioning of the programmes. This will be vastly improved under the UID, he added.
Posted by common man at 12:09 AM 0 comments
Pune district to collect fingerprints after census for UID project
Thursday, May 20, 2010
In four months from now, the Pune district will initiate the process of collecting data for the Centre’s Unique Identification Number project where every citizen above the age of 15 will have an ID card carrying a unique identification number.
Even as the ongoing census drive will conclude on June 15, the district collectorate will collate data with an agency appointed for the purpose and collect fingerprints of those registered under the census.
The drive is expected to be carried out in September. “Under the census, we have listed the house and have data of each family member of the household. This drive will entail getting the fingerprints of all the family members registered,” said Anil Pawar, resident deputy collector of Pune.
Tenders for hiring the private agency has already been floated, Pawar said, adding that the agency will collate the data and the district administration will help in providing the data collected during the census. He said almost 100 per cent work of house listing has been completed and nearly 60-70 per cent of data collection is done.
However, the Centre is yet to appoint the private agency, Pawar said. A private agency that had bid for the UID scheme said it is yet to hear of any finalisation of the project. “Many companies in the field of biometric system have applied,” said the company officer. Under the Centre’s project, all citizens will receive a special 16 digit number.
With public partnership as the key to the project, the project will look at industries, mobile companies and banks for help. The district is expected to record a 25 per cent increase of population since the last census conducted 10 years ago when the district recorded a population of 72.67 lakh. The projected population for the district is 91.42 lakh.
Posted by common man at 9:46 PM 1 comments
UIDAI will back law to protect data: Nilekani
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will support and endorse any action towards formulating umbrella legislation on protecting data, according to its chairman Nandan Nilekani.
He hoped that this would help address privacy and security concerns, apart from the safeguards being built into the UID Act itself. The draft legislation for the Act, which will make the UIDAI a statutory body, is in the final stages and will be put in the public domain for feedback and suggestions within the next few days, he added.
Mr. Nilekani was speaking after the first meeting of the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI on Tuesday, which gave in-principle approval for the collection of demographic and biometric attributes of all residents. It was also decided to collect iris data for children between 5 and 15 years. For all those above 15, biometric data would include a picture of the face, all 10 fingerprints, and iris data.
The data collection will be standardised so that all registrars – who will actually do the data collection – can use the same methods. The registrars include the Public Distribution System (PDS), the Rural Development departments which run the NREGA programme, the banks, LIC, oil marketing companies, the Registrar General of India which conducts the census, and the National Population Register.
The registrars are free to collect whatever other information they want, so long as they collect the stipulated demographic and biometric data for UIDAI. Similarly, while UID numbers per se will not be mandatory, other agencies – such as the passport office or banks – may make it mandatory to have a UID number.
“We are just a number issuing and data collecting authority…UIDAI is just the back-end,” said Mr. Nilekani.
He said partner agencies would only be allowed to confirm identity with a “yes or no” query. They would not be allowed to access all the details in the database. However, he admitted that in cases of national security, such safeguards could be bypassed and specific information could be given out.
The first UID numbers will be issued between August 2010 and February 2011, and all 600 million numbers will be issued in the next five years.
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
