Multiplication of Effort
Surabhi Agarwal
Among the poster boys of the Indian IT industry, Infosys Technologies co-founder Nandan Nilekani is certainly no stranger to outsourcing.
Small wonder then that when he was given the mandate to spearhead the ambitious unique identify (UID) project last year, he decided to keep just the strategic decision making part with the authority and decided to outsource almost every key element of the project – be it data collection or data hosting.
The idea is simple – let the experts do what they know best, which would save not just government resources but also make the process efficient and fast. Moreover, instead of starting the database building process from scratch, he decided to partner with programmes such as MGNREGA and Census, which already have or are enrolling a significant portion of Indians on their lists.
Also in the offing are tie-ups with the PDS system, tapping passport and income tax data along with banks and insurance companies. Impressive as it may sound, the idea is not bereft of its challenges.
Take for example the collection of biometric data of almost 120 crore Indians. Biometrics involves taking impression a person’s fingers, iris scan and photograph – according to the standards set by the UID. However, as the Centre is in the process of digitizing its many government to citizen services like driving license, PDS, passports etc, there are several projects underway which are collecting biometrics of citizens – most with different standards in terms what biometrics they capture – leading to a major overlap.
Consider this: The Census and the National Population Register (NPR) which will be formed as part of the latest Census exercise is one of the biggest partners of the UID project. Besides the basic demographic details, the NPR will collect biometrics too. Nilekani recently clarified that UID will act as a back-end of NPR, where the latter will collect the data and UID will process it.
However, if that is the case, then why has UID floated a tender of its own for collection of biometrics considering that both the projects target the entire population of India. Meanwhile, there are other schemes which are also experimenting with the use of biometrics in order to digitize the process.
Another tech firm, HCL has recently been awarded a project to provide smart cards to below the poverty line (BPL) families in Chandigarh with biometric information. (But how many BPL families would actually be in Chandigarh – which is India’s richest city in terms of per capita income? Well, that’s another story). And there are more such examples. The point here is not just duplication of effort, but wastage of tax-payers money.
A single biometric machine costs Rs 2.5 lakh. If each and every government department starts to procure its own set of devices, one can estimate how much it would cost the government exchequer. As an example, the NPR has recently been allocated over Rs 3,500 crore for just digitising the data base.
Moreover, the total manufacturing capacity in the world for such devices is only around 10,000 per month currently.
And here we haven’t even talked about the wastage of time of citizens. Imagine being knocked on your door every month, and asked to submit your biometrics for some service or the other or being called to some government office because they now need the impression of your all ten fingers instead of just the thumb, which was the case earlier.
Maybe, like in the case of NPR and the UID, where common biometric standards have been put in place, other government to citizens e-initiatives could tap into the common biometric database.
Meanwhile, Nilekani and his army of thinking men could start with putting in place a list of such agencies that are already on to the biometric bandwagon.
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
