Mahendra K Singh, TNN | Jan 24, 2012, 12.46AM IST
NEW DELHI: The tussle within the government over the unique identity number (UID) project is likely to be settled, with the Union Cabinet expected to give the nod to the UID Authority of India (UIDAI) to go ahead with providing numerical ids to all residents.
The decision is likely to be a vindication for IT czar Nandan Nilekani, who heads the Authority, as the Cabinet is expected to extend the UID mandate for enrollment by recording bio-metric details beyond 20 crore residents. On Monday, Union home minister P Chidambaram denied differences in government and suggested NPR cards could also incorporate Aadhar numbers.
This will mean the home ministry may have to cede its claim to being the sole repository of bio-metric data under the National Population Register (NPR) scheme. However, government is also keen to state unambiguously that a UID will not be treated as a proof of citizenship.
Uncertainty had plagued the UID project after Registrar General of India (RGI) under the home ministry backtracked from its earlier stand and refused to accept data collected by the Authority.
With the mandate of UIDAI to collect bio-metric details is ending as Cabinet had approved enrollment of 20 crore people by March, the debate spilled over into the public domain with Chidambaram taking exception to what he called ``inspired" reports which painted him as stubborn and stumbling block in the way of the implementation of an ambitious scheme to check pilferage of subsidies.
The debate also saw the home ministry questioning the verification norms for UID as residences were not verified by house visits as in the case of Census officials, and it argued for the need to protect the "integrity" of data.
Nilekani had the powerful backing of the Planning Commission and, more importantly, the Congress general secretary Rahul Gandhi.
In its proposal, the Planning Commission has pitched UID's case for continuing the enrollment beyond 20 crore residents, arguing that the project aimed at ensuring benefits of welfare programmes reaches to the poor, which was entirely different from the home ministry's NPR's national security aspects.
An official said both the schemes with different objectives can go on side by side as there are already many identity related projects like Election Commission voter's card and PAN Card.
The view was echoed by Plan panel's deputy chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia in Thiruvananthapuram. " If there is a small overlap (with NPR) that would not matter. There are many government programmes which do similar things and we don't apply the principle that you should not have any overlap," he told reporters.
"We regard the Aadhar project as a very important national project that will enable much greater efficiency in the operation of a large number of government schemes", he added.
However, sources said that the finance ministry is opposed to the idea of continuing both UID and NPR schemes, arguing that duplication will mean heavy costs. The finance ministry wants the Authority and the RGI to make minor changes in their process of collecting the data to ensure both the schemes can work simultaneously.
The contentious issues that are expected to be debated in the Cabinet are duplication of work of NPR and UID, expenses, and enrollment of citizens for Aadhar numbers.
The Authority dispelled fears that the biometric technology being used for the Aadhaar project is flawed, asserting that its system is reliable and can achieve the task of providing unique ID cards to the entire population.
"It has been affirmed that UIDAI's biometric capability for enrolments is ready to handle high throughput (10 lakh aadhars per day), accuracy (99.965% on duplication detection) and scale (database can be of 1.2 billion people)," UIDAI said.
Based on the analysis, the UIDAI confirms that the enrollment system has proven to be reliable, accurate and scalable to meet the nation's need of providing Aadhar numbers to the entire population.
Why this Blog ? News articles in the Wide World of Web, quite often disappear with time, when they are relocated as archives with a different url. Archives in this blog serve as a library for those who are interested in doing Research on Aadhaar Related Topics. Articles are published with details of original publication date and the url.
In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.
On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.
In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.
In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.
In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.
"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi
Ram Krishnaswamy
Sydney, Australia.
Aadhaar
The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018
When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy
First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi
In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi
“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi
“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.
Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.
Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.
Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha
“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh
But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP
“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.
August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution
"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"
“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden
In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.
Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.
Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.
UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy
1) Denial
2) Issue fiats and point finger
3) Shoot messenger
4) Bury head in sand.
God Save India
