THIRUVANANTHAPURAM, August 27, 2011
SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT
‘Violates provisions of Citizenship Act'
Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has asked the government to drop the ‘Aadhaar' project.
Noting that fingerprints and other biometric information of citizens were being collected under the project, Mr. Achuthanandan said in a statement here on Friday that ‘Aadhaar' violated provisions of the Citizenship Act of 1955 and Citizenship Rules of 2003, neither of which permitted collection of biometric information of Indian citizens.
The State government, which was pushing ahead with the project in Kerala, appeared little concerned about the serious concerns being expressed the world over about the implications of the UID project for citizen's right to privacy and security.
Even students were not being spared in the State. The Director of Public Instruction (DPI) had issued a circular seeking collection of personal data of students. In order to hide the fact that this was being done as part of ‘Aadhaar,' the information was being collected under a scheme called ‘Sampoorna,' he said.
Accusing the Central government of having decided to go ahead with the ‘Aadhaar' project spending huge sums of money to suit the interests of the commercial lobby, Mr. Achuthanandan said there was widespread fear that the Centre would use the project to abdicate its social welfare commitments and implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) at the national level and the public distribution system in the State.
The Opposition Leader said the Central government's decision to go ahead with the ‘Aadhaar' project even before a discussion on the National Identification Authority Bill now before the Parliamentary Standing Committee indicated that it proposed to bypass the Parliament and the laws of the land.
In Kerala too, the ‘Aadhaar' project was being implemented without any discussion on its legal or social implications, Mr. Achuthanandan said.
Leader of the Opposition V.S. Achuthanandan has asked the government to drop the ‘Aadhaar' project.
Noting that fingerprints and other biometric information of citizens were being collected under the project, Mr. Achuthanandan said in a statement here on Friday that ‘Aadhaar' violated provisions of the Citizenship Act of 1955 and Citizenship Rules of 2003, neither of which permitted collection of biometric information of Indian citizens.
The State government, which was pushing ahead with the project in Kerala, appeared little concerned about the serious concerns being expressed the world over about the implications of the UID project for citizen's right to privacy and security.
Even students were not being spared in the State. The Director of Public Instruction (DPI) had issued a circular seeking collection of personal data of students. In order to hide the fact that this was being done as part of ‘Aadhaar,' the information was being collected under a scheme called ‘Sampoorna,' he said.
Accusing the Central government of having decided to go ahead with the ‘Aadhaar' project spending huge sums of money to suit the interests of the commercial lobby, Mr. Achuthanandan said there was widespread fear that the Centre would use the project to abdicate its social welfare commitments and implementation of the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGS) at the national level and the public distribution system in the State.
The Opposition Leader said the Central government's decision to go ahead with the ‘Aadhaar' project even before a discussion on the National Identification Authority Bill now before the Parliamentary Standing Committee indicated that it proposed to bypass the Parliament and the laws of the land.
In Kerala too, the ‘Aadhaar' project was being implemented without any discussion on its legal or social implications, Mr. Achuthanandan said.