DATA AND STATE
There cannot be too much of a good thing. Thus, some amount of duplication between two projects should not lead to complaints and the raising of eyebrows. The government decided that both the unique identification project and the national population register would continue with their work. There could be a duplication of about 5 to 6 per cent, according to one estimate.
But as the home minister, P.C. Chidambaram, commented, given the size and the population of India this is not a very high figure. What is important to remember is that the two projects are very different in their origins and aims.
The NPR, a brainchild of the Bharatiya Janata Party government, emerged from the context of the attack on Parliament. Thus the primary concern of this database is security. It is a record of the citizens of India which by definition enables security agencies to seek out those who are not citizens. The UID is welfare driven. It identifies those who are residents so that the benefits of welfare schemes reach the poor; it prevents impersonation and leakages. In its conception it is transparent and not too concerned with security.
The UID and the NPR will now run their parallel courses. This is not entirely unknown in other parts of the world. Up to all this is good news.
The bad news is that the UID project has not been accorded statutory status. This must have come as a great disappointment to Nandan Nilekani, who has provided exemplary leadership to the UID scheme and its implementation. The lack of statutory status diminishes the legitimacy of the UID since it means that it will continue to do its work on the basis of executive authority. In the mini turf war that nearly torpedoed the UID project, Mr Chidambaram may well have scored a palpable hit. Notwithstanding this and the home minister’s security-based objections, some wider problems regarding the project continue to remain unaddressed and therefore unresolved.
These problems have been raised before but need to be reiterated. The UID and the NPR both expand the powers of the State to look into and, if necessary, control the lives of individuals who are residents/citizens of India. They erode an individual’s autonomy. Such concerns cannot be brushed aside in a liberal democracy. Mr Nilekani should inform the people about how he proposes to safeguard the privacy of individuals.