UIDAI to help oil cos curb pilferage
31 Jul 2010, 0122 hrs IST,ET Bureau
NEW DELHI: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the oil ministry have decided to co-operate in issuing unique ID numbers (Aadhaar numbers) to citizens and help oil companies in checking pilferage of subsidised cooking fuel.
Oil marketing companies; Indian Oil Corp, Hindustan Petroleum Corp and Bharat Petroleum Corp will act as registrars for the UIDAI on behalf of the ministry for implementation of the project, an official in oil ministry said.
“The de-duplication process and the online authentication that the UIDAI offers will enhance the efficiency of OMCs in their delivery of services for the increasing customer base,” he said.
The government’s proposed pilot project to distribute cooking gas and kerosene (meant for the poor) through bio-metric smart card is being executed by Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka in cooperation with UIDAI, he said.
Saturday, July 31, 2010
350 - Babus battle over ID bait by ARCHIS MOHAN 11th July 2010
New Delhi, July 11: A proposal to lure poor Indians into the unique ID card net with a Rs 100 bait has set off the latest battle between babudom and the Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority of India.
The expenditure finance committee (EFC) of the finance ministry has nixed the proposal and sanctioned only about half the money the ID authority had sought.
The authority had asked for Rs 6,700 crore for Phase I of its project Aadhar, which aims to provide 12-digit unique ID numbers to 60 crore Indians over the next four years. It got Rs 3,500 crore. The authority is scheduled to roll out the first set of unique IDs from August to February.
Government sources, however, suggested that the differences were not just about money. They said India’s top bureaucrats were uncomfortable with “outsiders” — Nilekani is a technocrat from the private sector — entering the government and usurping what they saw as their fief.
It was the 13th Finance Commission’s idea, mooted in its report submitted in February, that people should be attracted to the ID project with the offer of Rs 100 to all below-poverty-line applicants.
The aim was partly to disarm conservative Indians who might have objected to officials collecting their biometric data such as facial characteristics, fingerprints and photos of the iris, especially in case of rural women.
The EFC has asked the ID authority to come back for additional funds only after it has met its target of issuing unique numbers to 10 crore people within the next 18 months. Although the EFC wants the proposal for the Rs 100 incentive scrapped, sources said a final decision was yet to be taken.
The EFC thinks people will be spurred to apply for the unique ID when they realise the number is a pre-requisite to gain benefits under the rural job guarantee scheme and the public distribution system.
The babus and the ID authority have, however, been locked in a tug-of-war for sometime. Many bureaucrats have balked at the idea of working for the Nilekani-headed authority at a time private-sector executives and Harvard scholars have queued to join up. The result is that the authority is still short of IAS officers to man key posts a year after its inception.
Repeated requests from the department of personnel and training to state chief secretaries to send IAS officers on assignment to the ID authority have brought little result.
Earlier, some bureaucrats had opposed Nilekani’s plan to include the iris scan, citing the need for costly equipment, and had relented only after a senior cabinet minister intervened.
349 - An Obituary printed in the London Times
An Obituary printed in the London Times
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.
He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:
- Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
- Why the early bird gets the worm;
- Life isn't always fair;
- and maybe it was my fault.
Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge).
His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.
Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual
harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.
Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children.
It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.
Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims.
Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.
Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.
Common Sense was preceded in death,
by his parents- Truth and Trust,
by his wife- Discretion,
by his daughter- Responsibility,
and by his son- Reason.
He is survived by his 4 stepbrothers;
I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim
Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on.
If not, join the majority and do nothing.
Join the majority and do nothing to stop this White Elephant called Aadhaar where the Corporates in the IT sector are burning money that belongs to the poor in India like Paper while millions are starving.
Friday, July 30, 2010
348 - Privacy: Numbers Game by Ram Krishnaswamy & Vickram Crishna 29th-Money Life Article- July 2010
Privacy: Numbers Game
July 29, 2010 03:21 PM |
Ram Krishnaswamy & Vickram Crishna
Money Life Article
July 29, 2010 03:21 PM |
Ram Krishnaswamy & Vickram Crishna
Money Life Article
Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI) will assign unique numbers to all people in India (‘Aadhaar’ is the brand name chosen by the for its flagship scheme), to serve as a single reference point to help establish identity. We found over 200 articles extolling the merits of the project and gathered them on the blog aadhararticles.blogspot.com. Rather than reassure, however, they raise several questions about the worth of the project. Ram Krishnaswamy & Vickram Crishna address three key questions in this article—the first in a series that will be published only in Moneylife
The Aadhaar scheme proposes to assign each Indian resident a unique 12-digit number, thus enumerating a Unique IDentity for all. India’s current population stands at around 1.2 billion. In addition, millions of foreigners are temporarily based here. UIDAI has set an initial target of issuing 600 million unique numbers within five years (by 2015) (read more at Aadhaar Articles
This seems an ambitious target, considering the scale and cost (Rs45,000 crore) of the project. Through this series of articles, we will provide the information needed to understand this massive project and its potential consequences for us as Indians and as global citizens.
Q1. Will the intended beneficiaries truly be people who live below the poverty line?
The primary purpose of Aadhaar is avowedly social welfare: dividing wealth equitably. Of course, ‘wealth’ is not really in the picture; India is trying to guarantee everyone the bare minimum needed to live healthily. Benefits in cash or kind are distributed under various schemes, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, National Rural Health Mission and Bharat Nirman.
One of the problems with such schemes is the difficulty of ensuring that their benefits accrue only to the targeted population—typically, persons living below the poverty line. Such people are easily disenfranchised by an endless cycle of verification of records, ruining the efforts made to ensure fair distribution and causing real delivery rates to falter between 6% and 15%, as estimated by the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and others.
With Aadhaar, this problem is expected to be resolved. Aadhaar is a one-time verification system to which all records will be inextricably linked (read more at aadhararticles). With UID, beneficiaries of any scheme can be verified by just checking a few critical details—for instance, name, fingerprints and, now, perhaps, iris scans—in order to quickly confirm their identity. However, largely due to the additional requirement of iris scans to reduce error rates, the per-user cost estimate has shot up from Rs31 to Rs450.
Now, here’s an interesting statement: “The UID will become the single source of identity verification” ( read more at aadhararticles). It means that once residents are enrolled, they can use the number in many places—they will be spared the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents for each service they wish to access.
However, it is pertinent to note that the services that will actually be simplified in the near term by the Aadhaar numbers include: opening a bank account, obtaining a passport, driving licence, etc. The public distribution system (PDS), NREGS and other such public-benefit services have neither budgets nor plans to integrate their systems with Aadhaar referrals.
It seems clear that, after spending a huge amount of money and putting in all this effort, the UID will, in the initial few years, primarily benefit people who access relatively sophisticated and upmarket services.
Q2. Will UID meet the needs of the poor?
If a poor person gets money that is due to him directly in his bank account, he will have no reason to plead with tyrannical local officials or grovel before his elected representatives ( read more at aadhararticles).
Sadly, banking in India barely scratches the surface: the total number of bank branches as of March 2002, the latest figures we could find on the Reserve Bank of India’s website, was just over 66,000, and less than half of these were in rural areas which account for around 70% of the population.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that each rural branch would need to service over 22,700 account-holders—clearly beyond their reach in a land where urban customers struggle to get decent and timely banking services from branches which need to cater to only around 9,000 customers each. If money is to be mandatorily disbursed directly into bank accounts of the recipients under various schemes (the process to be simplified using UID), it definitely won’t target the poorest of the poor.
One emerging solution is micro-banking, but micro-banking organisations will need to upgrade their technology considerably to deliver services, if UID referrals are to be included. Micro-banks are also not included within the broad banking framework, meaning that existing security measures ensure that they cannot access clearing-house operations and other such enablers of modern banking.
The upgrade cost is not factored into UID budgets, nor is UIDAI mandated to drive the changes that are needed in the banking system without which the UID referral is irrelevant.
Q3. How will UID contribute to the country’s economy?
This is a big-vision project ( read more at aadhar articles) through which government services can be provided, tracked and accounted for, together with enabling a multitude of private-sector products and services that rely on accurate identification of consumers. Various departments, based on their needs, will refer to the UID number. This will help remove duplicate names from their service lists. While this would help clean up lists for NREGS, senior citizen pension schemes, PDS, etc, it may also help clean up benami bank accounts, etc. Informally, the Income Tax Department is known to have projected an additional tax collection of about Rs40,000 crore annually!
These claims may hold, if the scheme were intended to act against the continuing use of unaccounted money for trading. In that case, the target community would only be the economic arrivistes—people who already have enough money to regularly feel the need to spend or acquire it by underhand means. This would include all government officers, their extended families, politicians, businesspeople, agriculturists controlling upwards of 25-50 hectares of land, and so on.
In fact, the projected gains, in terms of enhanced income-tax collection, simplifying transactions with government agencies for cash-related activities and so on, are primarily beneficial to this economically stable or upwardly mobile class.
However, the scheme is sought to be justified on the basis of deliverables to the downtrodden. It is doubtful whether Aadhaar will boost the country’s economy directly or help reduce the outgo on avoidable subsidies; or whether it will provide a combination of these benefits; or whether the true objective depends on who asks the question.
It seems far more likely that the unstated purpose of the scheme is to target the upwardly mobile class, but to do that, all Indian residents will have to be induced, by one means or another, to register themselves ‘voluntarily’.
A closer look at what appeared to be basic questions raises some worries. Next fortnight, we will look at the uncomfortable questions that arise as a result of the technology itself being insufficiently explained, at least in the media.
The Aadhaar scheme proposes to assign each Indian resident a unique 12-digit number, thus enumerating a Unique IDentity for all. India’s current population stands at around 1.2 billion. In addition, millions of foreigners are temporarily based here. UIDAI has set an initial target of issuing 600 million unique numbers within five years (by 2015) (read more at Aadhaar Articles
This seems an ambitious target, considering the scale and cost (Rs45,000 crore) of the project. Through this series of articles, we will provide the information needed to understand this massive project and its potential consequences for us as Indians and as global citizens.
Q1. Will the intended beneficiaries truly be people who live below the poverty line?
The primary purpose of Aadhaar is avowedly social welfare: dividing wealth equitably. Of course, ‘wealth’ is not really in the picture; India is trying to guarantee everyone the bare minimum needed to live healthily. Benefits in cash or kind are distributed under various schemes, such as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (NREGS), Sarva Shiksha Abhiyaan, National Rural Health Mission and Bharat Nirman.
One of the problems with such schemes is the difficulty of ensuring that their benefits accrue only to the targeted population—typically, persons living below the poverty line. Such people are easily disenfranchised by an endless cycle of verification of records, ruining the efforts made to ensure fair distribution and causing real delivery rates to falter between 6% and 15%, as estimated by the late prime minister Rajiv Gandhi and others.
With Aadhaar, this problem is expected to be resolved. Aadhaar is a one-time verification system to which all records will be inextricably linked (read more at aadhararticles). With UID, beneficiaries of any scheme can be verified by just checking a few critical details—for instance, name, fingerprints and, now, perhaps, iris scans—in order to quickly confirm their identity. However, largely due to the additional requirement of iris scans to reduce error rates, the per-user cost estimate has shot up from Rs31 to Rs450.
Now, here’s an interesting statement: “The UID will become the single source of identity verification” ( read more at aadhararticles). It means that once residents are enrolled, they can use the number in many places—they will be spared the hassle of repeatedly providing supporting identity documents for each service they wish to access.
However, it is pertinent to note that the services that will actually be simplified in the near term by the Aadhaar numbers include: opening a bank account, obtaining a passport, driving licence, etc. The public distribution system (PDS), NREGS and other such public-benefit services have neither budgets nor plans to integrate their systems with Aadhaar referrals.
It seems clear that, after spending a huge amount of money and putting in all this effort, the UID will, in the initial few years, primarily benefit people who access relatively sophisticated and upmarket services.
Q2. Will UID meet the needs of the poor?
If a poor person gets money that is due to him directly in his bank account, he will have no reason to plead with tyrannical local officials or grovel before his elected representatives ( read more at aadhararticles).
Sadly, banking in India barely scratches the surface: the total number of bank branches as of March 2002, the latest figures we could find on the Reserve Bank of India’s website, was just over 66,000, and less than half of these were in rural areas which account for around 70% of the population.
A back-of-the-envelope calculation shows that each rural branch would need to service over 22,700 account-holders—clearly beyond their reach in a land where urban customers struggle to get decent and timely banking services from branches which need to cater to only around 9,000 customers each. If money is to be mandatorily disbursed directly into bank accounts of the recipients under various schemes (the process to be simplified using UID), it definitely won’t target the poorest of the poor.
One emerging solution is micro-banking, but micro-banking organisations will need to upgrade their technology considerably to deliver services, if UID referrals are to be included. Micro-banks are also not included within the broad banking framework, meaning that existing security measures ensure that they cannot access clearing-house operations and other such enablers of modern banking.
The upgrade cost is not factored into UID budgets, nor is UIDAI mandated to drive the changes that are needed in the banking system without which the UID referral is irrelevant.
Q3. How will UID contribute to the country’s economy?
This is a big-vision project ( read more at aadhar articles) through which government services can be provided, tracked and accounted for, together with enabling a multitude of private-sector products and services that rely on accurate identification of consumers. Various departments, based on their needs, will refer to the UID number. This will help remove duplicate names from their service lists. While this would help clean up lists for NREGS, senior citizen pension schemes, PDS, etc, it may also help clean up benami bank accounts, etc. Informally, the Income Tax Department is known to have projected an additional tax collection of about Rs40,000 crore annually!
These claims may hold, if the scheme were intended to act against the continuing use of unaccounted money for trading. In that case, the target community would only be the economic arrivistes—people who already have enough money to regularly feel the need to spend or acquire it by underhand means. This would include all government officers, their extended families, politicians, businesspeople, agriculturists controlling upwards of 25-50 hectares of land, and so on.
In fact, the projected gains, in terms of enhanced income-tax collection, simplifying transactions with government agencies for cash-related activities and so on, are primarily beneficial to this economically stable or upwardly mobile class.
However, the scheme is sought to be justified on the basis of deliverables to the downtrodden. It is doubtful whether Aadhaar will boost the country’s economy directly or help reduce the outgo on avoidable subsidies; or whether it will provide a combination of these benefits; or whether the true objective depends on who asks the question.
It seems far more likely that the unstated purpose of the scheme is to target the upwardly mobile class, but to do that, all Indian residents will have to be induced, by one means or another, to register themselves ‘voluntarily’.
A closer look at what appeared to be basic questions raises some worries. Next fortnight, we will look at the uncomfortable questions that arise as a result of the technology itself being insufficiently explained, at least in the media.
347 - PetMin, UID Authority sign MoU to curb petroleum pilferage - July 30, 2010
PetMin, UID Authority sign MoU to curb petroleum pilferage
Press Trust of India / July 30, 2010, 14:01 IST
"This would help in accurately identifying users and beneficiaries of the services rendered by the three oil firms and have uniform standard and process for their verification and identification," a senior official of the ministry said.
UIDAI Chiraman Nandan Nilekani said Rs 50 will be given to the oil companies for every enrollment done.
At present, there are more than 11.5 crore LPG customers in the country and it is envisioned that by the year 2015, there would be 16 crore LPG customers.
"This partnership is something we are looking forward, which will help in de-duplication and authentication," Nilekani said, adding that the focus would be on BPL families and village communities.
The ministry said the de-duplication process and the online authentication that the UIDAI offers will enhance the efficiency of oil companies in delivering services to the increasing customer base.
"The biometric smart card-based distribution of PDS SKO (superior kerosene oil) and LPG pilot project will be executed along with the state government of Andhra Pradesh. The initial pilots would be held in the city of Hyderabad, Mysore and Tumkur. Selected blocks in the city of Pune are also proposed to be covered under the pilot," it said.
The MoU was signed by Apurva Chandra, Joint Secretary in the Oil Ministry, and K Ganga, Deputy Director General, UIDAI. Present on the occasion were Oil Minister Murli Deora, Nilekani and Minister of State for Oil Jitin Prasada, besides other senior officers.
Press Trust of India / July 30, 2010, 14:01 IST
Aiming to curb pilferage of PDS kerosene and domestic LPG, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and the Petroleum Ministry today signed an MoU to facilitate close coordination on the 'Aadhaar' project.
As per the MoU, oil marketing companies IOCL, BPCL and HPCL will act as registrars for the UIDAI on behalf of the ministry for implementation of the project.
The 12-digit unique number that the UIDAI will generate will be combined with the the smart card project of the Oil Ministry for distribution of PDS kerosene and domestic LPG through biometric identification of beneficiaries.As per the MoU, oil marketing companies IOCL, BPCL and HPCL will act as registrars for the UIDAI on behalf of the ministry for implementation of the project.
"This would help in accurately identifying users and beneficiaries of the services rendered by the three oil firms and have uniform standard and process for their verification and identification," a senior official of the ministry said.
UIDAI Chiraman Nandan Nilekani said Rs 50 will be given to the oil companies for every enrollment done.
At present, there are more than 11.5 crore LPG customers in the country and it is envisioned that by the year 2015, there would be 16 crore LPG customers.
"This partnership is something we are looking forward, which will help in de-duplication and authentication," Nilekani said, adding that the focus would be on BPL families and village communities.
The ministry said the de-duplication process and the online authentication that the UIDAI offers will enhance the efficiency of oil companies in delivering services to the increasing customer base.
"The biometric smart card-based distribution of PDS SKO (superior kerosene oil) and LPG pilot project will be executed along with the state government of Andhra Pradesh. The initial pilots would be held in the city of Hyderabad, Mysore and Tumkur. Selected blocks in the city of Pune are also proposed to be covered under the pilot," it said.
The MoU was signed by Apurva Chandra, Joint Secretary in the Oil Ministry, and K Ganga, Deputy Director General, UIDAI. Present on the occasion were Oil Minister Murli Deora, Nilekani and Minister of State for Oil Jitin Prasada, besides other senior officers.
345 - Enrolment scheme for Unique Identification numbers to start from August - V.Narayanaswamy
(UNI) The Government said the process of enrolment leading to the issue of Unique Identification number (AADHAAR) is expected to commence from August.
The first set of Unique Identification numbers will be issued between August and February, 2011, it said.
The estimated cost of Phase I and II of the UID project is Rs 3170 crore spread over five years, Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanswamy said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
He said that the mandate of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to issue unique Identification numbers to all the residents.
The UIDAI proposes to collect the demographic and biometric attributes of residents through various agencies of the Central and the State Governments and others who, is normal course of their activities, interact with the residents. These entities are described as ‘Registrars’ of the UIDAI. As the exercise for creating the National Population Register (NPR) under the Citizenship Act, 1955, by the Registrar General of India (RGI) is going on, the RGI will be an important Registrar for the purpose of collection of demographic and biometric data for the project. An Inter-Ministerial Group has been set up to integrate the processes of the NPR with the UID system.
Mr Narayanswamy said the UIDAI set up two committees, namely, the Demographic Data Standards and Verification Procedure Committee (DDSVPC) to recommend the demographic data standards and the biometric standards for collection and verification of demographic and biometric data of residents during enrolment into the UID database and authentication. The DDSVPC was set up on October 9, 2009 with N Vittal as its Chairman and submitted its report on December 9, 2009. The Biometric Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Director General, National Informatics Centre in September, 2009 and it submitted its report on December 30, 2009.
The recommendations of both the committees have been accepted by the UIDAI. ‘AADHAAR’ number will be a 12 digit random number. The number will not contain any intelligence. A set of mandatory, conditional and optional demographic data such as name, date of birth, gender, name of parents, residential address and biometric features such as photograph, all ten finger prints and iris images are together expected to establish and verify the identity of a resident. A number of documents have been prescribed by the Demographic Committee to prove identity and address.
The number will be assigned only after biometric de-duplication process of the data supplied by the registrars. The UIDAI’s response to requests to authenticate identity will be positive, negative or any other appropriate response which will not include demographic and biometric information of the resident, the Minister added.UNI
The first set of Unique Identification numbers will be issued between August and February, 2011, it said.
The estimated cost of Phase I and II of the UID project is Rs 3170 crore spread over five years, Minister of State for Planning and Parliamentary Affairs V Narayanswamy said in a written reply in the Lok Sabha.
He said that the mandate of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to issue unique Identification numbers to all the residents.
The UIDAI proposes to collect the demographic and biometric attributes of residents through various agencies of the Central and the State Governments and others who, is normal course of their activities, interact with the residents. These entities are described as ‘Registrars’ of the UIDAI. As the exercise for creating the National Population Register (NPR) under the Citizenship Act, 1955, by the Registrar General of India (RGI) is going on, the RGI will be an important Registrar for the purpose of collection of demographic and biometric data for the project. An Inter-Ministerial Group has been set up to integrate the processes of the NPR with the UID system.
Mr Narayanswamy said the UIDAI set up two committees, namely, the Demographic Data Standards and Verification Procedure Committee (DDSVPC) to recommend the demographic data standards and the biometric standards for collection and verification of demographic and biometric data of residents during enrolment into the UID database and authentication. The DDSVPC was set up on October 9, 2009 with N Vittal as its Chairman and submitted its report on December 9, 2009. The Biometric Committee was constituted under the Chairmanship of Director General, National Informatics Centre in September, 2009 and it submitted its report on December 30, 2009.
The recommendations of both the committees have been accepted by the UIDAI. ‘AADHAAR’ number will be a 12 digit random number. The number will not contain any intelligence. A set of mandatory, conditional and optional demographic data such as name, date of birth, gender, name of parents, residential address and biometric features such as photograph, all ten finger prints and iris images are together expected to establish and verify the identity of a resident. A number of documents have been prescribed by the Demographic Committee to prove identity and address.
The number will be assigned only after biometric de-duplication process of the data supplied by the registrars. The UIDAI’s response to requests to authenticate identity will be positive, negative or any other appropriate response which will not include demographic and biometric information of the resident, the Minister added.UNI
344 - Indian Technocrat gives up plum post at Infosys to do public good as ID Czar - Shashi Bellamkonda -25th June 2009
This caused a adrenaline rush when I saw the news this morning that the Indian Government has appointed Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India. according to the Wall Street journal
The authority will help implement a scheme to assign a unique identification number to every Indian. It will also own and operate the database and maintain it, the government said in a statement.
Nandan Nilekani's Wikipedia page has already been updated with the move . Nandan was in the Time 100 list of 'World's Most Influential People for 2009. He recently published a book Imagining India
I have seen him on the Jon Stewart show and a few others. I am thrilled with this news and if he can pull this off like TN Sheshan did - reforming the Election Commission which conducts one of the world's largest democratic elections- he would have done for India what politicians and bureaucrats could not do for the past 50 years. Good luck Nandan !
Nandan Nilekani's Blog: http://imaginingindia.com/blog/
Nandan Nilekani's Twitter : http://twitter.com/nandannilekani
Posted by Shashi Bellamkonda Email This
The authority will help implement a scheme to assign a unique identification number to every Indian. It will also own and operate the database and maintain it, the government said in a statement.
Nandan Nilekani's Wikipedia page has already been updated with the move . Nandan was in the Time 100 list of 'World's Most Influential People for 2009. He recently published a book Imagining India
I have seen him on the Jon Stewart show and a few others. I am thrilled with this news and if he can pull this off like TN Sheshan did - reforming the Election Commission which conducts one of the world's largest democratic elections- he would have done for India what politicians and bureaucrats could not do for the past 50 years. Good luck Nandan !
Nandan Nilekani's Blog: http://imaginingindia.com/blog/
Nandan Nilekani's Twitter : http://twitter.com/nandannilekani
Posted by Shashi Bellamkonda Email This
343 - Nandan-ji's New ID by Bachi Karkaria-29 July 2009
29 July 2009, 10:13 PM IST
In Delhi last week, I found myself at a political party. Not the kind where leaders gather at its grimy office, but the kind where they banter in the host's snazzy 'den'. That night, the principal schmoozer and schmoozee was Nandan Nilekani. At first I gaped in disbelief. Isn't Infosys as far removed from Page Three as Sushma Swaraj is from Queenie Dhody? Then I remembered that Nandan N is not quite Narayana M.
Anyone who toured his book with such panache is clearly to the manner acculturated. The outbreak of celebrity authors now rivals that of H1N1 cases, and if Tom Friedman has become the J Lo of the thinking classes, then Nandan too must be as socially sultry as Nandita. Yes Ms Das was also at that Delhi party and gave due face-time to the feted Mr Nilekani, though he was clearly outclassed by Shashi Tharoor, that global pro of the political, literary and Saint Emilion circuits.
'Nandan Rising' has been endorsed by all the Grand Anointers, from Bill Gates to Fareed Zakaria; only Oprah is missing. But Nilekani starred at that Delhi party not because of his 'Imagining India', but because of his ID-ing of India. He's the new kid on the North & South Blocks, equal to a fully-furnished mantri-ji.
In fact, he's more. The Unique Identification Authority of India is a smartphone compared to the clunky conventional ministries. It's the UPA 0.2's new status symbol. Forget the official eyewash about duplicates, fraud and illegal Bangladeshis. The real agenda is brand positioning. Ration cards are so Garibi Hatao, biometric cards are so Global Banao.
Nilekani may be to Sonia what Pitroda was to Rajiv, but he better look sharp. He is the flavour of the week but he can speedily end up as the dish of the day. At first faltering, New Delhi's piranhas will eat him alive. He has plunged into perilous waters; the assigned task is not easy. No, i'm not worried about his ability to tag India's eye-goggling numbers with a UID. With his skills he can sort and label the aam janata like a basket of totapuris. It's some of the complex khaas lot who will make our Nandan lose his glossy job and curls.
Let me explain. There has been a virtual epidemic of Very Important Identities suddenly undergoing strange mutations. Two days ago, Anil Ambani declared that Murli Deora had changed from being India's petro min and turned into Mukesh's pet min. Last week, even the PM was seen to be infected. Learning to speak for himself turned out to be as contentious as being a ventriloquist's dummy, and now he has to start using the voice of the Congress party. So what UID will Mr Nandan-ji assign to both these gentlemen, assuming that VVIPs are not exempt from biometric frisking?
Or take Mayawati. Since her duplicates are springing up like well-wisher ads, our man might mistakenly assign her UID to a statue. Didi is so one-track that Nilekani is in no danger of dealing with colliding UIDs in her case. But her political rivals in West Bengal have displayed such conflicting identities in recent times that it will definitely stump even the man from the home state of the duplicitous Deve Gowda.
Everywhere, everyone could easily be someone other than what s/he appears to be. The innocuous guy with the bomb in his tiffin-box, the corporate head honcho who smiles as he kills, the socialite mistress of the Judas airkiss. How then will the talented Mr Nilekani arrive at the authentic bio-signature of these people with such multi-tasking identities?
There is only one solution. Put the whole lot through 'Sach ka Samna'.
342 - Profiles of 100 mn Facebook users leaked online - Yahoo
Profiles of 100 mn Facebook users leaked online
Thu, Jul 29 10:21 AM
London, July 29 (IANS) The personal details of 100 million users of social networking website Facebook are now available for download after they were leaked online.
Ron Bowles, an online security consultant, used a code to scan Facebook profiles, collected data not hidden by users' privacy settings, and compiled a list, which is now available as a downloadable file, containing the URL of every 'searchable' Facebook user's profile, their name and unique ID, the BBC reported Thursday.
Bowles said he published the data to highlight privacy issues, but Facebook retorted by saying the information was already public.
'People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want,' the website said.
'In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher and already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook.'
'No private data is available or has been compromised,' Facebook said.
The list has already been downloaded by over 1,000 people on Pirate Bay, the world's biggest file-sharing website.
One user, going by the name of 'lusifer69', said the list was 'awesome and a little terrifying'.
But internet watchdog Privacy International said Facebook had been given ample warning that something like this would happen.
'Facebook should have anticipated this attack and put measures in place to prevent it,' Simon Davies, an official of Privacy International, said.
'It is inconceivable that a firm with hundreds of engineers couldn't have imagined a trawl of this magnitude and there's an argument to be heard that Facebook have acted with negligence, he said.
Facebook hit 500 million users in June this year.
Thu, Jul 29 10:21 AM
London, July 29 (IANS) The personal details of 100 million users of social networking website Facebook are now available for download after they were leaked online.
Ron Bowles, an online security consultant, used a code to scan Facebook profiles, collected data not hidden by users' privacy settings, and compiled a list, which is now available as a downloadable file, containing the URL of every 'searchable' Facebook user's profile, their name and unique ID, the BBC reported Thursday.
Bowles said he published the data to highlight privacy issues, but Facebook retorted by saying the information was already public.
'People who use Facebook own their information and have the right to share only what they want, with whom they want, and when they want,' the website said.
'In this case, information that people have agreed to make public was collected by a single researcher and already exists in Google, Bing, other search engines, as well as on Facebook.'
'No private data is available or has been compromised,' Facebook said.
The list has already been downloaded by over 1,000 people on Pirate Bay, the world's biggest file-sharing website.
One user, going by the name of 'lusifer69', said the list was 'awesome and a little terrifying'.
But internet watchdog Privacy International said Facebook had been given ample warning that something like this would happen.
'Facebook should have anticipated this attack and put measures in place to prevent it,' Simon Davies, an official of Privacy International, said.
'It is inconceivable that a firm with hundreds of engineers couldn't have imagined a trawl of this magnitude and there's an argument to be heard that Facebook have acted with negligence, he said.
Facebook hit 500 million users in June this year.
341 - BlackBerry agrees to address India's security concerns: MHA - PTI
BlackBerry agrees to address India's security concerns: MHA
PTI, Jul 29, 2010, 01.42pm IST
NEW DELHI: The government today said the makers of BlackBerry - Research in Motion (RIM) - has given an assurance to it on soon addressing its security concerns and hoped that the Canadian service provider and security agencies would be on the "same page".
"BlackBerry has assured the Ministry of Home Affairs that the issue of monitoring of the BlackBerry will be sorted out soon...I am sure we will soon be on the same page and our concerns will be addressed," Special Security (Internal Security) in the MHA Utthan Kumar Bansal told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Government has already warned the popular smartphone company that if it does not allow it to monitor emails and SMSes to address security concerns, it will have to close down operations in the country, spelling trouble for over a million BlackBerry users in India.
The government has said the RIM will have to address its security-related issues by allowing monitoring facility in India.
Bansal said the Department of Telecommunication was the nodal authority which makes the policy and it was working to address the issue raised by the MHA.
The MHA has asked the DoT to tell the company in no uncertain terms that its emails and other data services must comply with formats that can be monitored by security and intelligence agencies.
There are reports that China has got a server in that country and the MHA asked the DoT to check whether it is true.
Government also wants a BlackBerry server in India but the company has been resisting the move. Once the server is in India, it will be easier to track the messages.
The MHA maintains that the RIM has been addressing security concerns of several other countries, including the United States, where it operates and, therefore, there is no justification to not comply with the same in India.
BlackBerry says the messages are encrypted. The smartphone's server is based in Canada where the encryption level is very high and extremely difficult to crack. And any message going through a Canada server is encrypted and, therefore, cannot be accessed by intelligence agencies in India.
Senior officials of key security agencies at a recent meeting argued that the continuation of BlackBerry services in the present format poses danger to the country. The meeting was attended by representatives of the MHA, DoT, intelligence agencies and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).
PTI, Jul 29, 2010, 01.42pm IST
NEW DELHI: The government today said the makers of BlackBerry - Research in Motion (RIM) - has given an assurance to it on soon addressing its security concerns and hoped that the Canadian service provider and security agencies would be on the "same page".
"BlackBerry has assured the Ministry of Home Affairs that the issue of monitoring of the BlackBerry will be sorted out soon...I am sure we will soon be on the same page and our concerns will be addressed," Special Security (Internal Security) in the MHA Utthan Kumar Bansal told reporters on the sidelines of a function here.
Government has already warned the popular smartphone company that if it does not allow it to monitor emails and SMSes to address security concerns, it will have to close down operations in the country, spelling trouble for over a million BlackBerry users in India.
The government has said the RIM will have to address its security-related issues by allowing monitoring facility in India.
Bansal said the Department of Telecommunication was the nodal authority which makes the policy and it was working to address the issue raised by the MHA.
The MHA has asked the DoT to tell the company in no uncertain terms that its emails and other data services must comply with formats that can be monitored by security and intelligence agencies.
There are reports that China has got a server in that country and the MHA asked the DoT to check whether it is true.
Government also wants a BlackBerry server in India but the company has been resisting the move. Once the server is in India, it will be easier to track the messages.
The MHA maintains that the RIM has been addressing security concerns of several other countries, including the United States, where it operates and, therefore, there is no justification to not comply with the same in India.
BlackBerry says the messages are encrypted. The smartphone's server is based in Canada where the encryption level is very high and extremely difficult to crack. And any message going through a Canada server is encrypted and, therefore, cannot be accessed by intelligence agencies in India.
Senior officials of key security agencies at a recent meeting argued that the continuation of BlackBerry services in the present format poses danger to the country. The meeting was attended by representatives of the MHA, DoT, intelligence agencies and the National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).
340 - Law to protect whistleblowers in the offing
Law to protect whistleblowers in the offing
The Central Vigilance Commission will be made the nodal office with powers of a civil court to deal with the complaints, the draft of the Bill says
Published on 07/29/2010 - 10:10:05 AM
New Delhi: A Bill to protect the persons who make public interest disclosures is nearing finalisation, Minister of State for Public Grievances Prithviraj Chavan said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
According to official sources, in the draft being prepared under the name The Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, 2009, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) will be designated the authority to which complaints against any central government employee or central government-backed institution will be made.
The CVC will have the powers of a civil court, including powers to summon anybody, order police investigation and provide security to the whistleblower, reports IANS.
The issue of protection for whistleblowers caught the attention of the entire nation after the murder of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) engineer Satyendra Dubey who had sent a letter to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, giving an account of corruption in the construction of highways.
The Central Vigilance Commission will be made the nodal office with powers of a civil court to deal with the complaints, the draft of the Bill says
Published on 07/29/2010 - 10:10:05 AM
New Delhi: A Bill to protect the persons who make public interest disclosures is nearing finalisation, Minister of State for Public Grievances Prithviraj Chavan said in a written reply in the Rajya Sabha.
According to official sources, in the draft being prepared under the name The Public Interest Disclosure (Protection of Informers) Bill, 2009, the Central Vigilance Commission (CVC) will be designated the authority to which complaints against any central government employee or central government-backed institution will be made.
The CVC will have the powers of a civil court, including powers to summon anybody, order police investigation and provide security to the whistleblower, reports IANS.
The issue of protection for whistleblowers caught the attention of the entire nation after the murder of National Highways Authority of India (NHAI) engineer Satyendra Dubey who had sent a letter to then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, giving an account of corruption in the construction of highways.
Thursday, July 29, 2010
339 - HCL to digitise census data
HCL to digitise census data
Company bags Rs 40 cr order from Census of India
PTI | JULY 28 2010
IT firm HCL Infosystems today said it has bagged an order worth Rs 40 crore from the Ministry of Home Affairs for digitising the data generated from Census of India project for the year 2010-11.
Under the project, HCL Infosystems will collaborate with the Indian government for digitising the data collected across the country, including maintenance, indexing, scanning and storage at a central repository, HCL Infosystems said in a statement.
"HCL Infosystems has bagged the Rs 40 crore order from the Census of India, which will run across the country indexing right from state-level to the taluk and village levels, deploying specialised devices and software services," HCL Infosystems spokesperson said.
Company bags Rs 40 cr order from Census of India
PTI | JULY 28 2010
IT firm HCL Infosystems today said it has bagged an order worth Rs 40 crore from the Ministry of Home Affairs for digitising the data generated from Census of India project for the year 2010-11.
Under the project, HCL Infosystems will collaborate with the Indian government for digitising the data collected across the country, including maintenance, indexing, scanning and storage at a central repository, HCL Infosystems said in a statement.
"HCL Infosystems has bagged the Rs 40 crore order from the Census of India, which will run across the country indexing right from state-level to the taluk and village levels, deploying specialised devices and software services," HCL Infosystems spokesperson said.
338 - Shillong MoU on identity project
Shillong MoU on identity project
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Shillong, July 27: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Meghalaya government, detailing the implementation of the unique identification project in the state, at its office in New Delhi this morning.
According to the scheme, each resident of the country will get a number which can be used as a multi-purpose unique ID.
These numbers can be used as an alternative to ration cards, credit cards and job cards under the Nation Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Another feature of the unique identification is that the illegal migrants can be easily detected once the scheme is fully implemented.
An official statement said the MoU was signed between the deputy director-general of the scheme, Davinder Kumar, and Meghalaya resident commissioner Pankaj Jain in the presence of director-general of the Unique Identification Authority of India, R.S. Sharma.
The state government has set up a cabinet committee on unique identification under the chairmanship of the chief minister and another committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to oversee the implementation of the project.
After signing the MoU, Sharma said the Unique Identification Authority of India cannot realise its objective of providing every Indian resident with an Aadhaar (UID number) without working in tandem with the state governments.
Former Infosys head Nandan Nilekani was appointed the chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India to speed up implementation of the scheme after it was launched in June last year.
OUR CORRESPONDENT
Shillong, July 27: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) signed a memorandum of understanding with the Meghalaya government, detailing the implementation of the unique identification project in the state, at its office in New Delhi this morning.
According to the scheme, each resident of the country will get a number which can be used as a multi-purpose unique ID.
These numbers can be used as an alternative to ration cards, credit cards and job cards under the Nation Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme.
Another feature of the unique identification is that the illegal migrants can be easily detected once the scheme is fully implemented.
An official statement said the MoU was signed between the deputy director-general of the scheme, Davinder Kumar, and Meghalaya resident commissioner Pankaj Jain in the presence of director-general of the Unique Identification Authority of India, R.S. Sharma.
The state government has set up a cabinet committee on unique identification under the chairmanship of the chief minister and another committee under the chairmanship of the chief secretary to oversee the implementation of the project.
After signing the MoU, Sharma said the Unique Identification Authority of India cannot realise its objective of providing every Indian resident with an Aadhaar (UID number) without working in tandem with the state governments.
Former Infosys head Nandan Nilekani was appointed the chairman of Unique Identification Authority of India to speed up implementation of the scheme after it was launched in June last year.
337 - Accenture to provide biometric solution to UIDAI's Aadhaar
Accenture to provide biometric solution to UIDAI's Aadhaar
28 Jul 2010, 2103 hrs IST, AGENCIES
MUMBAI: IT major Accenture has bagged a contract from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to provide multimodal biometric identification solutions to the latter's Aadhaar program.
Aadhaar is aimed at providing a unique number to each Indian resident thus enabling an easier, more efficient and secure access to Government and commercial services.
The contract will run up to two-years or until 200- million enrollments (whichever comes first), Accenture said in a statement here today.
"Aadhaar will not only be designed to enable the Government to deliver important social welfare programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) to rural India, but also provide easier access for residents to services and resources such as health, education and welfare programs," Accenture's Management Consulting, Managing Director, Krishna Giri, said.
Accenture will build a new system to help manage identity-related de-duplication and verification requests from both public and private organisations (which deliver services ranging from social welfare programs to banking and insurance).
It will also assist UIDAI in performance benchmarking and management of data quality for continuous improvement of the biometric solution besides operate and maintain the system.
The program is being developed using leading-edge technology that will be deployed in an innovative manner designed to reach the most remote residents of India.
28 Jul 2010, 2103 hrs IST, AGENCIES
MUMBAI: IT major Accenture has bagged a contract from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to provide multimodal biometric identification solutions to the latter's Aadhaar program.
Aadhaar is aimed at providing a unique number to each Indian resident thus enabling an easier, more efficient and secure access to Government and commercial services.
The contract will run up to two-years or until 200- million enrollments (whichever comes first), Accenture said in a statement here today.
"Aadhaar will not only be designed to enable the Government to deliver important social welfare programs like the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee (MNREGA) to rural India, but also provide easier access for residents to services and resources such as health, education and welfare programs," Accenture's Management Consulting, Managing Director, Krishna Giri, said.
Accenture will build a new system to help manage identity-related de-duplication and verification requests from both public and private organisations (which deliver services ranging from social welfare programs to banking and insurance).
It will also assist UIDAI in performance benchmarking and management of data quality for continuous improvement of the biometric solution besides operate and maintain the system.
The program is being developed using leading-edge technology that will be deployed in an innovative manner designed to reach the most remote residents of India.
336 - SC resets contours of the debate by Liz Mathew & Surabhi Agarwal
SC resets contours of the debate
Apex court suggests making unique ID programme centrepiece of public distribution system’s revamp
by Liz Mathew & Surabhi Agarwal
Apex court suggests making unique ID programme centrepiece of public distribution system’s revamp
by Liz Mathew & Surabhi Agarwal
In a move that will likely accelerate the acceptance and impact of Aadhaar, the Supreme Court has recommended that the government make the unique identity (UID) programme the centrepiece of the revamp of the public distribution system (PDS).
The court has also shaped all further discourse on the country’s proposed food security legislation by setting down parameters.
The apex court’s suggestions include exclusion of people living above the poverty line (APL) from the purview of PDS and the shift to a per capita regime of providing subsidized foodgrain as opposed to the existing practice of allocations per family.
The recommendations of the court come ahead of a meeting of the National Advisory Council (NAC) on 30 August to review the role of UID in revamping PDS. Ahead of this, a sub-committee of NAC has already begun meetings with officials at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to discuss elements of the proposal that has already been put up on the Aadhaar website.
To be sure, the government has been given two weeks to respond to the recommendations of the Supreme Court. The matter has been listed for hearing on 12 August.
“The Supreme Court’s order puts a stamp of approval on the system which UIDAI has been proposing,” said a senior UIDAI official, who didn’t want to be identified.
The apex court bench comprising justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma said in its verdict on Tuesday: “The Union of India may consider computerization in consultation with the specialized agencies like the Unique Identification Authority of India or any other agencies.”
Aadhaar is the government’s ambitious programme launched under UIDAI to provide the residents of India a unique identity number.
The Supreme Court bench was dealing with a report submitted by the justice D.P. Wadhwa committee that has come down heavily on the PDS system, saying that there was “huge corruption and pilferage in the PDS all over the country”.
The Supreme Court’s suggestion to link PDS with Aadhaar came at a time when NAC, which serves as the political interface between the government and the Congress party, is locked in a debate with the government on the scope of the proposed National Food Security Act. The basic disagreement has been on the size of the allocation as well as the scope of the food security programme, particularly with respect to APL.
The court’s judgement also said that the government must “take into consideration” the recommendation of NAC.
NAC, in its 14 July meeting, had recommended universal PDS be restricted to a quarter of the blocks or administrative areas.
UIDAI has in the past approached the department of food and public distribution for a tie-up with the PDS scheme, specifically in Haryana and the Union territory of Chandigarh, though this is yet to materialize.
Haryana and Chandigarh are already working towards a biometric-based PDS system. In his letter to Alka Sirohi, secretary, department of food and public distribution, UIDAI director general R.S. Sharma has suggested that PDS should follow a biometric-based approach, which is UID-compliant. “The UIDAI can then de-duplicate the details and help eradicate bogus ration cards from the system,” added the UIDAI official cited in the first instance.
Economist and chairman of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Y.K. Alagh welcomed the apex court’s directives. “I am sure the Supreme Court’s directive will give the team working on it the incentive and energy to go ahead and continue with the work as soon as possible,” he said.
Alagh said that other government initiatives such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act—which ensures 100 days of work to a member of every rural household—and financial inclusion programmes could be helped by a similar mandate requiring a UID.
“They all need the same thing. So when you move one along, you move along the others too,” Alagh, a former Union minister, added.
The Supreme Court also suggested that the government consider providing rations according to family members, instead of on the basis of cards. “If there is one member in the family, he must be given ration accordingly and if there are five members, then they must get five times more ration. The state government can fix the maximum limit,” the ruling said.
The court’s judgement is a shot in the arm for Aadhaar, said an expert in the area of e-governance.
“The success of the UID project largely depends on the fact that it has a large user base. The project will get a great boost if even one national scheme like the PDS makes it mandatory to have a UID for all its beneficiaries,” added this person, who didn’t want to be identified.
The Wadhwa panel, set up on 12 July 2006 to examine the functioning of PDS and suggest remedial measures, had submitted its report in March.
liz.m@livemint.com
Karen Leigh also contributed to this story.
The Hunger Project is a joint effort of the Hindustan Times and Mint to track, investigate and report every aspect of the struggle to rid India of hunger.
If you have any suggestions, write to us at thehungerproject @livemint.com
The court has also shaped all further discourse on the country’s proposed food security legislation by setting down parameters.
The apex court’s suggestions include exclusion of people living above the poverty line (APL) from the purview of PDS and the shift to a per capita regime of providing subsidized foodgrain as opposed to the existing practice of allocations per family.
The recommendations of the court come ahead of a meeting of the National Advisory Council (NAC) on 30 August to review the role of UID in revamping PDS. Ahead of this, a sub-committee of NAC has already begun meetings with officials at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to discuss elements of the proposal that has already been put up on the Aadhaar website.
To be sure, the government has been given two weeks to respond to the recommendations of the Supreme Court. The matter has been listed for hearing on 12 August.
“The Supreme Court’s order puts a stamp of approval on the system which UIDAI has been proposing,” said a senior UIDAI official, who didn’t want to be identified.
The apex court bench comprising justices Dalveer Bhandari and Deepak Verma said in its verdict on Tuesday: “The Union of India may consider computerization in consultation with the specialized agencies like the Unique Identification Authority of India or any other agencies.”
Aadhaar is the government’s ambitious programme launched under UIDAI to provide the residents of India a unique identity number.
The Supreme Court bench was dealing with a report submitted by the justice D.P. Wadhwa committee that has come down heavily on the PDS system, saying that there was “huge corruption and pilferage in the PDS all over the country”.
The Supreme Court’s suggestion to link PDS with Aadhaar came at a time when NAC, which serves as the political interface between the government and the Congress party, is locked in a debate with the government on the scope of the proposed National Food Security Act. The basic disagreement has been on the size of the allocation as well as the scope of the food security programme, particularly with respect to APL.
The court’s judgement also said that the government must “take into consideration” the recommendation of NAC.
NAC, in its 14 July meeting, had recommended universal PDS be restricted to a quarter of the blocks or administrative areas.
UIDAI has in the past approached the department of food and public distribution for a tie-up with the PDS scheme, specifically in Haryana and the Union territory of Chandigarh, though this is yet to materialize.
Haryana and Chandigarh are already working towards a biometric-based PDS system. In his letter to Alka Sirohi, secretary, department of food and public distribution, UIDAI director general R.S. Sharma has suggested that PDS should follow a biometric-based approach, which is UID-compliant. “The UIDAI can then de-duplicate the details and help eradicate bogus ration cards from the system,” added the UIDAI official cited in the first instance.
Economist and chairman of the Institute of Rural Management, Anand, Y.K. Alagh welcomed the apex court’s directives. “I am sure the Supreme Court’s directive will give the team working on it the incentive and energy to go ahead and continue with the work as soon as possible,” he said.
Alagh said that other government initiatives such as the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act—which ensures 100 days of work to a member of every rural household—and financial inclusion programmes could be helped by a similar mandate requiring a UID.
“They all need the same thing. So when you move one along, you move along the others too,” Alagh, a former Union minister, added.
The Supreme Court also suggested that the government consider providing rations according to family members, instead of on the basis of cards. “If there is one member in the family, he must be given ration accordingly and if there are five members, then they must get five times more ration. The state government can fix the maximum limit,” the ruling said.
The court’s judgement is a shot in the arm for Aadhaar, said an expert in the area of e-governance.
“The success of the UID project largely depends on the fact that it has a large user base. The project will get a great boost if even one national scheme like the PDS makes it mandatory to have a UID for all its beneficiaries,” added this person, who didn’t want to be identified.
The Wadhwa panel, set up on 12 July 2006 to examine the functioning of PDS and suggest remedial measures, had submitted its report in March.
liz.m@livemint.com
Karen Leigh also contributed to this story.
The Hunger Project is a joint effort of the Hindustan Times and Mint to track, investigate and report every aspect of the struggle to rid India of hunger.
If you have any suggestions, write to us at thehungerproject @livemint.com
335 - A unique customer ID too? by Harish Bijoor
A unique customer ID too?
Harish Bijoor
(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Email: askharishbijoor@gmail.com)
Harish Bijoor
The unique identification number could have invaluable information for the marketer as well..
— Nagara Gopal
The UID could, if so utilised, shine some light on the life of the Indian consumer, making the marketer's job easier.
With the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) putting together a database for India, how do you see its use in marketing terms?
Rajan Sampath, Mumbai
Rajan, the UID is a track and trace. A track that is much more detailed than any other we have had in the past. Here, in one single format, we will have a rich source of every demographic. It can prove to be a social, economic, religious and, hopefully, even a sociographic tool of significance in the long-term.
For the marketing professional, such data if made available commercially (which I doubt it will be), can be a rich resource to add to the decennial census of India data, the IRS and such other consumer and media data being garnered in the country.
For marketers groping in the dark, the UID could be the first big torchlight throwing light on the life of the Indian consumer. Currently, this consumer is largely an aggregated statement and a mysterious and much maligned one in terms of keen-focus understanding.
Is the UIDAI a snooping tool at large in our lives?
Malavika P., Hyderabad
Malavika, we live in an era of “big brother is watching you”. This is inevitable. George Orwell told us this in his work of fiction many decades ago. This is becoming a reality today.
Only the future will tell whether this is going to be advantageous or disadvantageous to the people. And none of us have seen this future!
Overall, I do believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Sometimes, even snooping tools are good for society at large. What helps achieve the larger good must be lauded.
With 3G round the corner, how do you see the telcos reacting?
With the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) putting together a database for India, how do you see its use in marketing terms?
Rajan Sampath, Mumbai
Rajan, the UID is a track and trace. A track that is much more detailed than any other we have had in the past. Here, in one single format, we will have a rich source of every demographic. It can prove to be a social, economic, religious and, hopefully, even a sociographic tool of significance in the long-term.
For the marketing professional, such data if made available commercially (which I doubt it will be), can be a rich resource to add to the decennial census of India data, the IRS and such other consumer and media data being garnered in the country.
For marketers groping in the dark, the UID could be the first big torchlight throwing light on the life of the Indian consumer. Currently, this consumer is largely an aggregated statement and a mysterious and much maligned one in terms of keen-focus understanding.
Is the UIDAI a snooping tool at large in our lives?
Malavika P., Hyderabad
Malavika, we live in an era of “big brother is watching you”. This is inevitable. George Orwell told us this in his work of fiction many decades ago. This is becoming a reality today.
Only the future will tell whether this is going to be advantageous or disadvantageous to the people. And none of us have seen this future!
Overall, I do believe the advantages outweigh the disadvantages. Sometimes, even snooping tools are good for society at large. What helps achieve the larger good must be lauded.
With 3G round the corner, how do you see the telcos reacting?
Women giving fingerprint impressions on a digital machine at a special booth set up for the Proof of Concept phase of the UIDAI project at Patancheru in Andhra Pradesh's Medak district.
(Harish Bijoor is a business strategy specialist and CEO, Harish Bijoor Consults Inc. Email: askharishbijoor@gmail.com)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
334 - Biological changes may put UID out of bounds for kids By Harsimran Julka
Biological changes may put UID out of bounds for kidshttp://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/software/Biological-changes-may-put-UID-out-of-bounds-for-kids/articleshow/6225447.cms
28 Jul 2010, 0309 hrs IST,Harsimran Julka, ET
28 Jul 2010, 0309 hrs IST,Harsimran Julka, ET
NEW DELHI: The government’s unique identification (UID) project aims to embrace nearly 1.4 billion people, but the task of covering children, up to 15 years, who form a good part of the population is tinged with uncertainty.
333 - Chhattisgarh's food revolution Ejaz Kaiser, Hindustan Times
Chhattisgarh's food revolution
Ejaz Kaiser, Hindustan Times
Jagdalpur, July 11, 2010First Published: 22:54 IST(11/7/2010)
Since she could remember, labourer Rama Nag (34) didn't know what her ration card meant, that as one of India's nearly 400 million officially poor people, she was entitled to subsidised foodgrain. Until 2006, here in the heart of impoverished tribal India, on the edge of the sprawling forests of Bastar and the Maoist zone of Dantewada, Nag and her family of four survived on rice and whatever they could buy in the local market - while the owner of her local fair-price shop kept her card, grabbed her quota of grain and sold it for a profit of about 200 per cent.
What a difference a computer system, committed bureaucrats and - above all - a determined chief minister can make.
Today, Nag holds up her ration card. She knows she lives below the poverty line (BPL) - an income of Rs 12 or below per day in rural areas - and she knows she has a right to subsidised rice, wheat, kerosene and free salt.
"Nobody ever thought the poor will get their full ration on time without any hassles," said Nag, echoing a widespread feeling among Chhattisgarh's 15 million officially poor people.
"It's a relief, especially with rising food prices."
It's hard to keep food hidden from the poor in Chhattisgarh any longer.
"Earlier the sarpanches (village heads) wouldn't inform the people (of their BPL rights or even that they were on the BPL list," said Jagdalpur's Food Controller Vishwanath Netan.
"Now, a copy of the BPL beneficiaries is with every panchayat (village council) and their details are all easily available."
In a country with 23 million "ghost ration cards" in fictitious names and about 121 million deserving poor deprived of subsidised food (according to a 2010 report from a Supreme Court committee headed by former Justice D P Wadhwa), India's sixth poorest state in terms of per capita income, and one of its most insurgency ridden, has engineered a remarkable turnaround in all its 10,500 fair-price shops.
Idea to implementation
Chhattisgarh's great reform began with a chief ministerial idea, followed in 2004 with an administrative revamp and a two-year-long computerisation of Chhattisgarh's public distribution system (PDS).
The PDS is India's oldest, most-established welfare system, first launched by the colonial government in 1942 before going nationwide in 1956.
The political dividends were apparent when in 2008 Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister Raman Singh was re-elected.
Chhattisgarh's government first created a network of computers across the state's 146 development blocks in 18 districts, where details of every beneficiary, such as Nag, are put online.
Ejaz Kaiser, Hindustan Times
Jagdalpur, July 11, 2010First Published: 22:54 IST(11/7/2010)
Since she could remember, labourer Rama Nag (34) didn't know what her ration card meant, that as one of India's nearly 400 million officially poor people, she was entitled to subsidised foodgrain. Until 2006, here in the heart of impoverished tribal India, on the edge of the sprawling forests of Bastar and the Maoist zone of Dantewada, Nag and her family of four survived on rice and whatever they could buy in the local market - while the owner of her local fair-price shop kept her card, grabbed her quota of grain and sold it for a profit of about 200 per cent.
What a difference a computer system, committed bureaucrats and - above all - a determined chief minister can make.
Today, Nag holds up her ration card. She knows she lives below the poverty line (BPL) - an income of Rs 12 or below per day in rural areas - and she knows she has a right to subsidised rice, wheat, kerosene and free salt.
"Nobody ever thought the poor will get their full ration on time without any hassles," said Nag, echoing a widespread feeling among Chhattisgarh's 15 million officially poor people.
"It's a relief, especially with rising food prices."
It's hard to keep food hidden from the poor in Chhattisgarh any longer.
"Earlier the sarpanches (village heads) wouldn't inform the people (of their BPL rights or even that they were on the BPL list," said Jagdalpur's Food Controller Vishwanath Netan.
"Now, a copy of the BPL beneficiaries is with every panchayat (village council) and their details are all easily available."
In a country with 23 million "ghost ration cards" in fictitious names and about 121 million deserving poor deprived of subsidised food (according to a 2010 report from a Supreme Court committee headed by former Justice D P Wadhwa), India's sixth poorest state in terms of per capita income, and one of its most insurgency ridden, has engineered a remarkable turnaround in all its 10,500 fair-price shops.
Idea to implementation
Chhattisgarh's great reform began with a chief ministerial idea, followed in 2004 with an administrative revamp and a two-year-long computerisation of Chhattisgarh's public distribution system (PDS).
The PDS is India's oldest, most-established welfare system, first launched by the colonial government in 1942 before going nationwide in 1956.
The political dividends were apparent when in 2008 Chhattisgarh's Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) Chief Minister Raman Singh was re-elected.
Chhattisgarh's government first created a network of computers across the state's 146 development blocks in 18 districts, where details of every beneficiary, such as Nag, are put online.
332 - Uttarakhand to begin UID roll out from Sept
Uttarakhand to begin UID roll out from Sept
Initially the government has shortlisted database of five government departments to offer the facility
Published on 07/26/2010 - 06:53:43 AM
Dehradun: The Unique Identification number UID would be rolled out in Uttarakhand from September 2010.
In the initial phase, the government has identified five departments which have the maximum number of persons that can be covered under this scheme.
The work for this special project is on in Uttarakhand and the first UID would be issued in September. Currently the directives from the centre are being awaited, before a comprehensive plan can be chalked out, State Information Technology Department Director Nitesh Kumar Jha said.
The IT Department has been made as the nodal agency for making the UID. The making of the UID would be based on volition and it is not compulsory for everyone to avail this facility.
The state government has chosen five departments of Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS), Health Department, Public Distribution System (PDS) Education Department and Social Welfare Department. The personnel linked with these departments directly or indirectly would be provided with the UID in the first phase.
The issuing of UIDs would begin on country wide basis from August 2010. The Authority plans to issue 600 million UIDs over the next five years, through the various registrar agencies in the country.
The UID would provide a database of the people, which would come in handy for the government to formulate policies.
—iGovernment Bureau
331 - Are women excluded ?
The language of the draft National Identification Authority of India bill suggests it is for men, by men
Shyamanuja Das
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Even while the Unique ID project in India-officially called Aadhar-is being touted as the biggest governmental initiative to ensure inclusiveness, the language of the draft National Identification Authority of India bill, prepared by the Unique Identification Authority of India, suggests that it has excluded a half of India's population: women. The draft uses the pronoun “his” to refer to the aadhhar number holder.
“Every resident shall be entitled to obtain an aadhaar number on providing his demographic information and biometric information to the Authority in such manner as may be specified by regulations,” says the draft bill in the beginning of the Chapter II, where it introduces the aadhar numbers. In every place thereafter-there is at least nine such instances-where the aadhar number holder is referred using the masculine pronoun: his.
Interestingly, the draft bill also uses the same way to refer to its members and head. There are at least 20 places where an officer/member/chairperson has been referred to using masculine pronoun: his. However, the head of the body is designated chairperson, and not as chairman, making it gender neutral.
While this may be a faux pas, and many government documents are especially infamous for these, the Unique ID project, headed by ex Infosys CEO, Nandan Nilekani has been different and has acted in a far more professional manner.
“Many would argue that it is a trivial mistake and is not worth of serious discussion,” says an executive in an IT firm spearheading gender inclusiveness in the organization, “but it shows that even today, gender neutrality does not come naturally.”
The draft bill seeks to make the body, National Identification Authority of India, a statutory body. As of now, it is an office attached to the Planning Commission.
Shyamanuja Das
Wednesday, June 30, 2010
Even while the Unique ID project in India-officially called Aadhar-is being touted as the biggest governmental initiative to ensure inclusiveness, the language of the draft National Identification Authority of India bill, prepared by the Unique Identification Authority of India, suggests that it has excluded a half of India's population: women. The draft uses the pronoun “his” to refer to the aadhhar number holder.
“Every resident shall be entitled to obtain an aadhaar number on providing his demographic information and biometric information to the Authority in such manner as may be specified by regulations,” says the draft bill in the beginning of the Chapter II, where it introduces the aadhar numbers. In every place thereafter-there is at least nine such instances-where the aadhar number holder is referred using the masculine pronoun: his.
Interestingly, the draft bill also uses the same way to refer to its members and head. There are at least 20 places where an officer/member/chairperson has been referred to using masculine pronoun: his. However, the head of the body is designated chairperson, and not as chairman, making it gender neutral.
While this may be a faux pas, and many government documents are especially infamous for these, the Unique ID project, headed by ex Infosys CEO, Nandan Nilekani has been different and has acted in a far more professional manner.
“Many would argue that it is a trivial mistake and is not worth of serious discussion,” says an executive in an IT firm spearheading gender inclusiveness in the organization, “but it shows that even today, gender neutrality does not come naturally.”
The draft bill seeks to make the body, National Identification Authority of India, a statutory body. As of now, it is an office attached to the Planning Commission.
330 - UID project a waste of money, say NGOs
Bangalore Mirror Bureau
Posted On Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 05:23:17 AM
Posted On Wednesday, July 28, 2010 at 05:23:17 AM
The national unique identification project (UID), headed by business icon Nandan Nilekani, is running into opposition from NGOs, researchers and independent activists.
A campaign started against the project by Mathew Thomas, general secretary, Citizens Action Forum, Padmanabhanagar, has gained widespread support from NGOs and researchers. Its main concern is that UID benefits don’t justify the money spent on it.
Thomas said, “A cost-benefit analysis should be done before pumping in huge amounts. The current estimated cost of the project is Rs 45,000 crore. We would like to know if the benefits match it.” The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) says the project can check fake ID cards and save crores in the public distribution system. The Centre for Internet Society, Domlur, Citizens action Forum, Padmanabhanagar, and Alternative Law Forum, Infantry Road, jointly held a press conference on Monday and announced their opposition to the project. They have sent petitions to 300 MPs, asking them to raise the issue in parliament. The campaign feels UID cannot stop fake ID cards, as these details are also in the hands of corrupt officials.
Thomas said, “In this system you are giving all details to officials. Any government department can all your information, including your credit card numbers and bank account details.”
The campaigners feel linking biometrics to the project has an added disadvantage. He quoted the report published in Bangalore Mirror on July 25 about police harassing a jeweller and taking his fingerprints.
“Imagine, if they have our fingerprints, they can fix us in any case. It will be like a police state. Your right to privacy will be violated,” said Thomas.
A study conducted by the London School of Economics about a similar project in UK said it was not worth the money. “They scrapped their project,” Thomas said. Vinay Baindur, an independent researcher, said, “More time should be given to discuss and debate this problem, and concerns should be addressed.”
The group is planning to launch a countrywide campaign against the project.
Thomas said, “A cost-benefit analysis should be done before pumping in huge amounts. The current estimated cost of the project is Rs 45,000 crore. We would like to know if the benefits match it.” The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) says the project can check fake ID cards and save crores in the public distribution system. The Centre for Internet Society, Domlur, Citizens action Forum, Padmanabhanagar, and Alternative Law Forum, Infantry Road, jointly held a press conference on Monday and announced their opposition to the project. They have sent petitions to 300 MPs, asking them to raise the issue in parliament. The campaign feels UID cannot stop fake ID cards, as these details are also in the hands of corrupt officials.
Thomas said, “In this system you are giving all details to officials. Any government department can all your information, including your credit card numbers and bank account details.”
The campaigners feel linking biometrics to the project has an added disadvantage. He quoted the report published in Bangalore Mirror on July 25 about police harassing a jeweller and taking his fingerprints.
“Imagine, if they have our fingerprints, they can fix us in any case. It will be like a police state. Your right to privacy will be violated,” said Thomas.
A study conducted by the London School of Economics about a similar project in UK said it was not worth the money. “They scrapped their project,” Thomas said. Vinay Baindur, an independent researcher, said, “More time should be given to discuss and debate this problem, and concerns should be addressed.”
The group is planning to launch a countrywide campaign against the project.
329 - Philippines Supreme Court rejects ID system
http://wwPhilippines Supreme Court rejects ID systemw.privacyinternational.org/article.shtml?cmd%5B347%5D=x-347-22470125/07/1998
The Supreme Court invalidates an executive order entitled "Adoption of a National Computerized Identification Reference System."
Building from U.S. Supreme Court jurisprudence, the Philippines court questioned whether the President could authorise such an identification system by mere executive order.
Assuming, arguendo, that A.O. No. 308 need not be the subject of a law, still it cannot pass constitutional muster as an administrative legislation because facially it violates the right to privacy. ...
Unlike the dissenters, we prescind from the premise that the right to privacy is a fundamental right guaranteed by the Constitution, hence, it is the burden of government to show that A.O. No. 308 is justified by some compelling state interest and that it is narrowly drawn. ...
Given the record-keeping power of the computer, only the indifferent will fail to perceive the danger that A.O. No. 308 gives the government the power to compile a devastating dossier against unsuspecting citizens.
The majority declared the executive order as null and void. .
Document was imported and archived from the Philippines Supreme Court website.
328 - Pre-requisites for sustainable food security
Pre-requisites for sustainable food security
by M.S.Swaminathan
19th July 2010, The Hindu
by M.S.Swaminathan
19th July 2010, The Hindu
A woman cooks for her family comprising five children, living in a shanty along a drain and garbage dump, in New Delhi. File photo: Sushil Kumar Verma
The goal of food for all can be achieved only through greater and integrated attention to production, procurement, preservation and public distribution.
The President, in her address to Parliament on June 4, 2009, announced: “My Government proposes to enact a new law — the National Food Security Act — that will provide a statutory basis for a framework which assures food security for all. Every family below the poverty line in rural as well as urban areas will be entitled, by law, to 25 kg of rice or wheat per month at Rs. 3 per kg. This legislation will also be used to bring about broader systemic reform in the public distribution system.”
Since then, various arms of the government as well as civil society organisations have been working to help redeem this pledge. The National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi recently provided a broad framework to achieve the goal of food for all and forever. The NAC's suggestions include the swift initiation of programmes to insulate pregnant and nursing mothers, infants in the age group of zero to three, and other disadvantaged citizens, from hunger and malnutrition. Such special nutrition support programmes may need annually about 10 million tonnes of foodgrains. The NAC has stressed that in the design of the delivery system there should be a proper match between challenge and response, as for example, the starting of community kitchens in urban areas to ensure that the needy do not go to bed hungry. Pregnant women should get priority.
The NAC has proposed a phased programme of implementation of the goal of universal public distribution system. This will start with either one-fourth of the districts or blocks in 2011-12 and cover the whole country by 2015, on lines similar to that adopted for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP). This will provide time to develop infrastructure such as grain storage facilities and Village Knowledge Centres and the issue of Household Entitlements Passbooks. The NAC is developing inputs for the proposed Food Security Act covering legal entitlements and enabling provisions based on the principle of common but differentiated entitlements, taking into account the unmet needs of the underprivileged.
The food security legislation will be the most significant among the laws enacted by Parliament. It will mark the fulfillment of Mahatma Gandhi's call for a hunger-free India. It should lend itself to effective implementation, in letter and spirit. This will call for attention to four pre-requisites. These are food production, procurement, preservation and public distribution.
Production: India faces a formidable task on the food production front. Production should be adequate to provide balanced diet for over 1.2 billion persons. Over a billion cattle and other farm animals need feed and fodder. The recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) made in five reports submitted to the Minister of Agriculture between 2004 and 2006, and the National Policy for Farmers placed in Parliament in November 2007 need to be implemented. These provide a road map to strengthen the ecological-economic foundations for sustainable advances in productivity and production and impart an income orientation to farming, helping bridge the gap between potential and actual yields and income in farming systems. Since land and water are shrinking resources, and climate change is a real threat, the NCF has urged the spread of conservation and climate-resilient farming. A conservation-cultivation-consumption-commerce chain should be promoted in every block. This will call for technological and skill upgradation of farming practices. Methods to achieve a small farm management revolution that will result in higher productivity, profitability and stability under irrigated and rain-fed conditions are detailed.
The widening of the food basket through the inclusion of nutritious millets, the mainstreaming of nutritional considerations in the National Horticulture Mission, and the consumption of salt fortified with iron and iodine will help reduce chronic protein-energy under-nutrition and hidden hunger caused by the dietary deficiency of micronutrients such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A and Vitamin B12. A sustainable food security system can be developed only with home-grown food, not imports.
Procurement: Procurement should cover not only wheat and rice but also jowar, bajra, ragi, minor millets and pulses. When India started the High Yielding Varieties Programme in 1966, jowar, bajra and maize along with rice and wheat were included in the food basket in order to keep it wide. Community Grain Banks operated under the social oversight of Gram Sabhas will facilitate the purchase and storage of local grain. Farmers are now worried that the government may lower the minimum support price (MSP) to reduce the subsidy burden. This will kill the food security system. The MSP should be according to the NCF formula of C2 (that is, the total cost of production) plus 50 per cent. The actual procurement price should be fixed at the time of harvest, taking into account the escalation in the cost of inputs like diesel since the time the MSP was announced. Unlike in developed countries, where hardly 2 per cent to 3 per cent of the people are farmers, the majority of consumers (over 60 per cent) in India are farmers. Their income security is vital for food security.
Preservation: Safe storage of procured grain is the weakest link in the food security chain. India is yet to develop a national grid of modern grain silos. Post-harvest losses are high in foodgrains and in perishable commodities such as vegetables and fruits. A Rural Godown Scheme was initiated in 1979, but it is yet to take off. The government called off the “Save Grain” campaign some years ago, ending a relevant programme in the context of food security.
Public Distribution: The strengths and weaknesses of India's public distribution system, the world's largest, are being discussed widely. Corruption and leakages are widespread. There are States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Chhattisgarh where the PDS is being operated efficiently. The challenge is to learn from the models and convert the unique into the universal.
In the ultimate analysis, what is relevant for human health and productivity is nutrition-security at the level of each child, woman and man. India has to shift from viewing food security at the aggregate level to ensuring nutrition-security at the level of each individual. This will call for concurrent attention being paid to availability, access and absorption. Indian agriculture is in a state of crisis, both from the economic and ecological points of view. Unless attention is paid to soil health care and enhancement, water conservation and efficient use, adoption of climate resilient technologies, timely supply of needed inputs at affordable prices, credit and insurance, and producer-oriented marketing, a higher growth rate in agriculture cannot be realised.
In the area of access, the MGNREGP and the Food Security Act that seeks to ensure 35 kg of staple grain at Rs.3 a kg will help. This has to be combined with efforts to create avenues for market-driven non-farm enterprises. When China started its agricultural reform, a two-pronged strategy was adopted. It involved higher productivity and profitability of small farms and greater opportunities for non-farm employment and income through Township Village Enterprises. In India there is still a gross mismatch between production and post-harvest technologies. This results in the spoilage of foodgrains and missed opportunities for value addition and agro-processing. The use of agricultural biomass is generally wasteful and does not lead to the creation of jobs or income.
In the field of absorption of food in the body, it is important to ensure clean drinking water, sanitation and primary health care. Even in a State like Tamil Nadu where steps have been taken to ensure food availability at affordable cost, a food insecurity analysis done by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) along with the World Food Programme shows that the level of food security is far better in households with toilets. The Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission, the Total Sanitation programme and the National Rural Health Mission are all important for food security.
India's global rank in the areas of poverty and malnutrition will continue to remain unenviable, so long as the country does not enable all its citizens to have a productive and healthy life. The Food Security Act holds out the last chance to save nearly 40 per cent of India's population from the hunger trap.
(Professor M.S. Swaminathan is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, and Chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.)
Since then, various arms of the government as well as civil society organisations have been working to help redeem this pledge. The National Advisory Council (NAC) headed by Sonia Gandhi recently provided a broad framework to achieve the goal of food for all and forever. The NAC's suggestions include the swift initiation of programmes to insulate pregnant and nursing mothers, infants in the age group of zero to three, and other disadvantaged citizens, from hunger and malnutrition. Such special nutrition support programmes may need annually about 10 million tonnes of foodgrains. The NAC has stressed that in the design of the delivery system there should be a proper match between challenge and response, as for example, the starting of community kitchens in urban areas to ensure that the needy do not go to bed hungry. Pregnant women should get priority.
The NAC has proposed a phased programme of implementation of the goal of universal public distribution system. This will start with either one-fourth of the districts or blocks in 2011-12 and cover the whole country by 2015, on lines similar to that adopted for the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Programme (MGNREGP). This will provide time to develop infrastructure such as grain storage facilities and Village Knowledge Centres and the issue of Household Entitlements Passbooks. The NAC is developing inputs for the proposed Food Security Act covering legal entitlements and enabling provisions based on the principle of common but differentiated entitlements, taking into account the unmet needs of the underprivileged.
The food security legislation will be the most significant among the laws enacted by Parliament. It will mark the fulfillment of Mahatma Gandhi's call for a hunger-free India. It should lend itself to effective implementation, in letter and spirit. This will call for attention to four pre-requisites. These are food production, procurement, preservation and public distribution.
Production: India faces a formidable task on the food production front. Production should be adequate to provide balanced diet for over 1.2 billion persons. Over a billion cattle and other farm animals need feed and fodder. The recommendations of the National Commission on Farmers (NCF) made in five reports submitted to the Minister of Agriculture between 2004 and 2006, and the National Policy for Farmers placed in Parliament in November 2007 need to be implemented. These provide a road map to strengthen the ecological-economic foundations for sustainable advances in productivity and production and impart an income orientation to farming, helping bridge the gap between potential and actual yields and income in farming systems. Since land and water are shrinking resources, and climate change is a real threat, the NCF has urged the spread of conservation and climate-resilient farming. A conservation-cultivation-consumption-commerce chain should be promoted in every block. This will call for technological and skill upgradation of farming practices. Methods to achieve a small farm management revolution that will result in higher productivity, profitability and stability under irrigated and rain-fed conditions are detailed.
The widening of the food basket through the inclusion of nutritious millets, the mainstreaming of nutritional considerations in the National Horticulture Mission, and the consumption of salt fortified with iron and iodine will help reduce chronic protein-energy under-nutrition and hidden hunger caused by the dietary deficiency of micronutrients such as iron, iodine, zinc, Vitamin A and Vitamin B12. A sustainable food security system can be developed only with home-grown food, not imports.
Procurement: Procurement should cover not only wheat and rice but also jowar, bajra, ragi, minor millets and pulses. When India started the High Yielding Varieties Programme in 1966, jowar, bajra and maize along with rice and wheat were included in the food basket in order to keep it wide. Community Grain Banks operated under the social oversight of Gram Sabhas will facilitate the purchase and storage of local grain. Farmers are now worried that the government may lower the minimum support price (MSP) to reduce the subsidy burden. This will kill the food security system. The MSP should be according to the NCF formula of C2 (that is, the total cost of production) plus 50 per cent. The actual procurement price should be fixed at the time of harvest, taking into account the escalation in the cost of inputs like diesel since the time the MSP was announced. Unlike in developed countries, where hardly 2 per cent to 3 per cent of the people are farmers, the majority of consumers (over 60 per cent) in India are farmers. Their income security is vital for food security.
Preservation: Safe storage of procured grain is the weakest link in the food security chain. India is yet to develop a national grid of modern grain silos. Post-harvest losses are high in foodgrains and in perishable commodities such as vegetables and fruits. A Rural Godown Scheme was initiated in 1979, but it is yet to take off. The government called off the “Save Grain” campaign some years ago, ending a relevant programme in the context of food security.
Public Distribution: The strengths and weaknesses of India's public distribution system, the world's largest, are being discussed widely. Corruption and leakages are widespread. There are States such as Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Chhattisgarh where the PDS is being operated efficiently. The challenge is to learn from the models and convert the unique into the universal.
In the ultimate analysis, what is relevant for human health and productivity is nutrition-security at the level of each child, woman and man. India has to shift from viewing food security at the aggregate level to ensuring nutrition-security at the level of each individual. This will call for concurrent attention being paid to availability, access and absorption. Indian agriculture is in a state of crisis, both from the economic and ecological points of view. Unless attention is paid to soil health care and enhancement, water conservation and efficient use, adoption of climate resilient technologies, timely supply of needed inputs at affordable prices, credit and insurance, and producer-oriented marketing, a higher growth rate in agriculture cannot be realised.
In the area of access, the MGNREGP and the Food Security Act that seeks to ensure 35 kg of staple grain at Rs.3 a kg will help. This has to be combined with efforts to create avenues for market-driven non-farm enterprises. When China started its agricultural reform, a two-pronged strategy was adopted. It involved higher productivity and profitability of small farms and greater opportunities for non-farm employment and income through Township Village Enterprises. In India there is still a gross mismatch between production and post-harvest technologies. This results in the spoilage of foodgrains and missed opportunities for value addition and agro-processing. The use of agricultural biomass is generally wasteful and does not lead to the creation of jobs or income.
In the field of absorption of food in the body, it is important to ensure clean drinking water, sanitation and primary health care. Even in a State like Tamil Nadu where steps have been taken to ensure food availability at affordable cost, a food insecurity analysis done by the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation (MSSRF) along with the World Food Programme shows that the level of food security is far better in households with toilets. The Rajiv Gandhi Drinking Water Mission, the Total Sanitation programme and the National Rural Health Mission are all important for food security.
India's global rank in the areas of poverty and malnutrition will continue to remain unenviable, so long as the country does not enable all its citizens to have a productive and healthy life. The Food Security Act holds out the last chance to save nearly 40 per cent of India's population from the hunger trap.
(Professor M.S. Swaminathan is a Member of Parliament, Rajya Sabha, and Chairman of the M.S. Swaminathan Research Foundation.)
327 - L-1 Identity Solutions Selected as Biometric Service Provider for India's Unique Identification Number Program
L-1 Identity Solutions Selected as Biometric Service Provider for India's Unique Identification Number Program
ABIS 7 Software to De-Duplicate Identities of Indian Residents
July 27, 2010, 11:22 a.m
STAMFORD, Conn., Jul 27, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
L-1 Identity Solutions (ID 8.51, -0.10, -1.16%) , a leading provider of identity solutions and services, today announced it received a notification of award as one of the Biometric Service Providers (BSPs) to India's Unique Identification Number (UID) program, or AADHAAR. The notice was received after a thorough competitive process involving multiple bidders.
The UID program seeks to gather basic demographic and biometric (iris and finger) information from residents in India to establish the uniqueness of that individual in order to issue them a twelve digit identification number that will serve as verification of identity anywhere in the country. The UID can be used for access to goods and services, such as food, education, telecom, medical care, banking and financial services. This is particularly critical as much of the poor and underserved population of India lack identification documents and the UID may become the first form of identification these individuals receive.
L-1 was one of three providers notified of an award, which is expected to include a two-year prime contract in favor of L-1 from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as part of the first stage of the program. With it, L-1 intends to use the ABIS 7 multi-biometric platform to perform a one-to-many search of new enrollments against those already in the database to ensure that the identity does not already exist under another name or alias, eliminating identity fraud and preserving the integrity of various entitlement programs. A total of 200 million identities are expected to be de-duplicated by a combination of the three BSPs in the first stage of the program. The specific allocation of transactions among providers will be determined based on the throughput performance of each system. Each BSP will receive Rs 2.75 per de-duplicated identity for the service. Upon expiration of the two year contract, which is in the final process of negotiation, it is expected that L-1 and the other two BSPs will exclusively compete for the de-duplication of the remaining one billion identities included in this voluntary program.
L-1's consortium members on the UID program are 4G Identity Solutions, which is providing L-1 with critical services, and Hewlett-Packard India Sales Pvt. Ltd., which is providing L-1 with middleware and hardware. Funding for the hardware required as part of the de-duplication process is provided by the Indian government and is in addition to the Rs 2.75 per enrollment transaction.
Separately, L-1 is marketing its Mobile Eyes iris cameras and Agile 10-fingerprint slap devices for use in the enrollment process. The devices will be available for purchase by authorized Registrars and Enrollment Agencies throughout the period of the enrollment process, which is expected to continue over the next five years.
Robert V. LaPenta, Chairman, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions said, "With UID, one of the most heavily populated countries in the world is signaling that it is embracing biometrics as a means to deliver enhanced services to its citizens. As such, this is a truly revolutionary identity infrastructure program that will serve as the foundation for all day-to-day interactions of Indians and will impact all other aspects of society including banking, healthcare and more. Our selection reflects our position as a world leader in multi-modal hardware and software technology and represents a tremendous opportunity for L-1 in that it ensures we will be a key player in what is expected to be the world's largest identity market over the next five years, leveraging our ABIS 7 software, Mobile Eyes iris cameras and Agile fingerprint capture devices."
About L-1 Identity Solutions
L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. (ID 8.51, -0.10, -1.16%) protects and secures personal identities and assets. Its divisions include Biometrics / Enterprise Access and Secure Credentialing solutions, as well as Enrollment and Government Consulting services. With the trust and confidence in individual identities provided by L-1, international governments, federal and state agencies, law enforcement and commercial businesses can better guard the public against global terrorism, crime and identity theft fostered by fraudulent identity. L-1 Identity Solutions has more than 2,200 employees worldwide and is headquartered in Stamford, CT. For more information, visit www.L1ID.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and reflect the Company's current views based on management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently available. Forward-looking statements concerning future plans or results are necessarily only estimates, and actual results could differ materially from expectations. Certain factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, among other things, the unpredictable nature of working in rapidly evolving emerging international markets, such as India, the ability of the Company to successfully finalize, execute and perform on the subject contract, and general economic and political conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in the Securities and Exchange Commission filings of L-1 Identity Solutions, including its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. L-1 Identity Solutions expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
ID:V
SOURCE: L-1 Identity Solutions
L-1 Identity Solutions
Doni Fordyce, 203-504-1109
dfordyce@L1ID.com
ABIS 7 Software to De-Duplicate Identities of Indian Residents
July 27, 2010, 11:22 a.m
STAMFORD, Conn., Jul 27, 2010 (BUSINESS WIRE) --
L-1 Identity Solutions (ID 8.51, -0.10, -1.16%) , a leading provider of identity solutions and services, today announced it received a notification of award as one of the Biometric Service Providers (BSPs) to India's Unique Identification Number (UID) program, or AADHAAR. The notice was received after a thorough competitive process involving multiple bidders.
The UID program seeks to gather basic demographic and biometric (iris and finger) information from residents in India to establish the uniqueness of that individual in order to issue them a twelve digit identification number that will serve as verification of identity anywhere in the country. The UID can be used for access to goods and services, such as food, education, telecom, medical care, banking and financial services. This is particularly critical as much of the poor and underserved population of India lack identification documents and the UID may become the first form of identification these individuals receive.
L-1 was one of three providers notified of an award, which is expected to include a two-year prime contract in favor of L-1 from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) as part of the first stage of the program. With it, L-1 intends to use the ABIS 7 multi-biometric platform to perform a one-to-many search of new enrollments against those already in the database to ensure that the identity does not already exist under another name or alias, eliminating identity fraud and preserving the integrity of various entitlement programs. A total of 200 million identities are expected to be de-duplicated by a combination of the three BSPs in the first stage of the program. The specific allocation of transactions among providers will be determined based on the throughput performance of each system. Each BSP will receive Rs 2.75 per de-duplicated identity for the service. Upon expiration of the two year contract, which is in the final process of negotiation, it is expected that L-1 and the other two BSPs will exclusively compete for the de-duplication of the remaining one billion identities included in this voluntary program.
L-1's consortium members on the UID program are 4G Identity Solutions, which is providing L-1 with critical services, and Hewlett-Packard India Sales Pvt. Ltd., which is providing L-1 with middleware and hardware. Funding for the hardware required as part of the de-duplication process is provided by the Indian government and is in addition to the Rs 2.75 per enrollment transaction.
Separately, L-1 is marketing its Mobile Eyes iris cameras and Agile 10-fingerprint slap devices for use in the enrollment process. The devices will be available for purchase by authorized Registrars and Enrollment Agencies throughout the period of the enrollment process, which is expected to continue over the next five years.
Robert V. LaPenta, Chairman, President and CEO of L-1 Identity Solutions said, "With UID, one of the most heavily populated countries in the world is signaling that it is embracing biometrics as a means to deliver enhanced services to its citizens. As such, this is a truly revolutionary identity infrastructure program that will serve as the foundation for all day-to-day interactions of Indians and will impact all other aspects of society including banking, healthcare and more. Our selection reflects our position as a world leader in multi-modal hardware and software technology and represents a tremendous opportunity for L-1 in that it ensures we will be a key player in what is expected to be the world's largest identity market over the next five years, leveraging our ABIS 7 software, Mobile Eyes iris cameras and Agile fingerprint capture devices."
About L-1 Identity Solutions
L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. (ID 8.51, -0.10, -1.16%) protects and secures personal identities and assets. Its divisions include Biometrics / Enterprise Access and Secure Credentialing solutions, as well as Enrollment and Government Consulting services. With the trust and confidence in individual identities provided by L-1, international governments, federal and state agencies, law enforcement and commercial businesses can better guard the public against global terrorism, crime and identity theft fostered by fraudulent identity. L-1 Identity Solutions has more than 2,200 employees worldwide and is headquartered in Stamford, CT. For more information, visit www.L1ID.com.
Forward Looking Statements
This news release contains forward-looking statements that involve risks and uncertainties. Forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995 and reflect the Company's current views based on management's beliefs and assumptions and information currently available. Forward-looking statements concerning future plans or results are necessarily only estimates, and actual results could differ materially from expectations. Certain factors that could cause or contribute to such differences include, among other things, the unpredictable nature of working in rapidly evolving emerging international markets, such as India, the ability of the Company to successfully finalize, execute and perform on the subject contract, and general economic and political conditions. Additional risks and uncertainties are described in the Securities and Exchange Commission filings of L-1 Identity Solutions, including its Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2009 and the Company's Form 10-Q for the quarter ended March 31, 2010. L-1 Identity Solutions expressly disclaims any intention or obligation to update any forward-looking statements.
ID:V
SOURCE: L-1 Identity Solutions
L-1 Identity Solutions
Doni Fordyce, 203-504-1109
dfordyce@L1ID.com
326 - Stop subsidised grain to APL families: SC to govt
Stop subsidised grain to APL families: SC to govt
Indu Bhan
Posted: Wednesday, Jul 28, 2010 at 2234 hrs IST
New Delhi: Expressing concern over tonnes of foodgrain rotting in the open, the Supreme Court on Tuesday asked the Centre to consider disbanding subsidised grains distributed to Above Poverty Line (APL) families and instead restrict the facility only to Below Poverty Line (BPL) populace.
A bench headed by Justice Dalveer Bhandari observed that if the government “cannot store the foodgrain, then give it to people to eat.” It also said the government may also consider providing ration and other items according to members of the family, instead of a card basis. If there is one member in the family, he must be given ration accordingly and if there are five members, then they must get five times more. The state government can fix the maximum limit.
“In a country where admittedly people are starving, it is a crime to waste even a single grain,” the Bench said, adding that the submissions given by the government indicate that there is wastage of food in many places.
The judges also suggested that the government may consider constructing adequate warehouses or food storage facilities on a long-term basis. On a short-term basis, they can also consider hiring warehouses or putting up waterproof tents to save the grain. But all-out efforts must be made to ensure that not a single grain is wasted, it said.
The court said the whole public distribution system (PDS) should be computerised to avoid pilferage and corruption and the system should be linked to Unique Identification Authority (UID) of India and fair price shops should be operated by government bodies instead of private agencies to check corruption and pilferage in the existing system.
The apex court also said if the existing subsidy is withdrawn from APL families, there would be enough foodgrains for the BPL category. The Bench granted six weeks time to Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran to respond to the suggestions so that it could pass appropriate orders. The observations came on a PIL filed in 2001 by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) alleging rampant corruption and mismanagement of PDS.
A bench headed by Justice Dalveer Bhandari observed that if the government “cannot store the foodgrain, then give it to people to eat.” It also said the government may also consider providing ration and other items according to members of the family, instead of a card basis. If there is one member in the family, he must be given ration accordingly and if there are five members, then they must get five times more. The state government can fix the maximum limit.
“In a country where admittedly people are starving, it is a crime to waste even a single grain,” the Bench said, adding that the submissions given by the government indicate that there is wastage of food in many places.
The judges also suggested that the government may consider constructing adequate warehouses or food storage facilities on a long-term basis. On a short-term basis, they can also consider hiring warehouses or putting up waterproof tents to save the grain. But all-out efforts must be made to ensure that not a single grain is wasted, it said.
The court said the whole public distribution system (PDS) should be computerised to avoid pilferage and corruption and the system should be linked to Unique Identification Authority (UID) of India and fair price shops should be operated by government bodies instead of private agencies to check corruption and pilferage in the existing system.
The apex court also said if the existing subsidy is withdrawn from APL families, there would be enough foodgrains for the BPL category. The Bench granted six weeks time to Additional Solicitor General Mohan Parasaran to respond to the suggestions so that it could pass appropriate orders. The observations came on a PIL filed in 2001 by Peoples Union for Civil Liberties (PUCL) alleging rampant corruption and mismanagement of PDS.
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