2668 - Government, Healthcare & Citizen ID Market Worth in Excess of $86 Billion over the Next Five Years, Says ABI Research

           July 17, 2012 11:27 AM Eastern Daylight Time 

Government, Healthcare & Citizen ID Market Worth in Excess of $86 Billion over the Next Five Years, Says ABI Research

LONDON--(BUSINESS WIRE)--With an extensive value chain, the government, healthcare, and citizen ID market will reach a cumulative end user market value in excess of $86 million between 2012 and 2017. The bulk of revenues generated will be from the deployment of national ID cards and e-passports with cumulative shipments of 209 million units in 2011, forecasted to increase to 489 million in 2017.

“Smart Cards in Government and Healthcare Citizen ID”

NXP continued its dominance of IC supply into the market, claiming top spot with 43% share for another successive year. The wider use of contactless interfaces in higher-end credentials will only further benefit NXP in future market gains. The top four smart card vendors were Gemalto, Oberthur, Morpho, and Eastcompeace. Bundesdruckerei, in 8th position, demonstrated the greatest market share gain with an overall increase of 3.3% when compared to 2010.The ramping up in Germany’s contactless ID deployment certainly aided Bundesdruckerei with its end of year 2011 results.
Research analyst Phil Sealy comments; “Contactless is the new “must have” technology in the ID space. Contactless projects have already shown success, deploying within national ID projects in Germany, Egypt, and most notably, China.” Sealy adds, “The trend to adopt a contactless interface will continue throughout the forecast period. We expect to see strong and continued adoption of dual interface ICs primarily utilized in national ID cards. From 2012 onwards, France, Brazil, Poland, and Russia are all expected to adopt contactless technology into their national ID programs. Contactless shipment penetration is expected to increase from 49% in 2011 to 61% in 2017”.
Practice Director John Devlin adds; “The next phase in India’s Aadhaar project could be a real game changer and is one which all the major smart card and IC vendors are looking at. Potentially the project could form the basis for a whole range of services deploying in both an online and offline manner, across both government and commercial sectors providing additional revenue streams for those involved”.
ABI Research’s report, “Smart Cards in Government and Healthcare Citizen ID,” addresses the barriers and drivers of planning and deploying infrastructure and the issuance of citizen-deployed documents and provides analysis of the most likely future market changes and developments.
These findings are part of ABI Research’s Government & Healthcare ID Technologies (http://www.abiresearch.com/products/service/government_and_healthcare_id_technologies) Research Service which includes additional Competitive Analyses, Vendor Matrices, Market Data, and Insights.
ABI Research provides in-depth analysis and quantitative forecasting of trends in global connectivity and other emerging technologies. From offices in North America, Europe and Asia, ABI Research’s worldwide team of experts advises thousands of decision makers through 40+ research and advisory services. Est. 1990. For more information visit www.abiresearch.com, or call +1.516.624.2500.

Contacts

ABI Research
Christine Gallen, +44.203.326.0142
pr@abiresearch.com

2667 - UID: Soldiering on - Express Computer on Line

   UID: Soldiering on

Published on Wednesday, 18 July 2012 14:13

Having gone past phase one, barring a few hiccups, the UID project looks set to achieve its target of giving half of India a unique identification number by 2014. By Harshal Kallyanpur

UID has by far been one of the most significant technology projects undertaken by the Government of India. Designed to give a unique identification number to every citizen in the country, the project would eliminate the need for every citizen to provide a lot of different proof of identification documents in order to get their work done.

The main purpose of the project was to ensure that each and every citizen, regardless of his socio-economic status, could partake of public services from the government. At the same time, UID will also enable an Indian citizen to provide a single proof of identity while availing of different public and private citizen facing services.

The government initiated the project back in September 2010. During the last two years, the UID project has seen enrollments occur across the country with people in many regions, proactively coming forward to get themselves registered for a unique identification number.

It you are a citizen of Mumbai or Bangalore, it is quite likely that you would have heard of the enrollment process at a nearby government-designated enrollment center, such as the municipal corporation office. Enrollment centers have also included banks and post offices. The first phase saw citizens being enrolled across regions such as Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka and Delhi.

According to RS Sharma, Director General & Mission Director, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), having enrolled over 20 crore residents ahead of schedule, the UIDAI has now been given the mandate of enrolling 40 crore additional residents by September 2013.
"The second phase of enrollments have commenced in states such as Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh and will shortly commence in other states as well," informed Sharma.

Having completed the first phase and, at the onset of the second phase, as of April 2012, the UID project had seen close to 17 crore 'Aadhaar' IDs being generated. In its second phase, the project has already seen 6.5 lakh enrollments in Chandigarh, 5.8 lakh in Haryana, 36.2 lakh in Himachal Pradesh and a strong 96.63 lakh enrollments in Punjab.


Data collection: the key challenge

The success of the UID project lies in the accurate collection of information about citizens. However, this has often proved to be the bane of the UIDAI. 

While it may have had the back-end processes in place, the actual data collection, at the grassroots level, has been subjected to a lot of scrutiny and criticism due to its seemingly inefficient execution.

In most cases citizens, especially those belonging to the backward sections of society have been largely unaware or uneducated about the process. This has led to errors and malpractices in data collection, or at the registrar level where people are assigned to collect the information.

For instance, there have been reports suggesting that information has been captured incorrectly during enrollment. In other cases, while a citizen has got an Aadhaar card and it displays his personal information correctly, the photograph on the card is someone else's.

There have also been news reports claiming that local politicians have been caught posing as registrars to issue fake UID cards. This situation is compounded by the fact that there would be many citizens who are unaware of the right approach to getting registered for Aadhaar. There have also been claims that anyone can get registered for a UID number by using fake credentials or documents. Some fear that this can lead to illegal immigrants sneaking into the country and getting enrolled in the UID system, a system that is meant solely for the citizens of India.

Therefore, the greatest challenge for the UIDAI is to ensure that data gets captured accurately. This might require them to take a fresh look at some of the existing processes and redesign the same.


Personal information storage
According to Vijay Mhaskar, Vice President, Information Management Group, Symantec India, the government is aiming to cover at least 600 million citizens by 2014. This essentially translates to 600 million photographs, 1.2 billion iris scans, six billion fingerprints and a colossal 600 million addresses.

The UID project mandates the aggregation of data from thousands of delivery centers, branch offices and partners into a central database. Given the magnitude of the project, it translates into an explosion in the volume of information residing in a central database. Managing data volumes this large while ensuring data privacy and information security, will be the primary challenge for the project.

Biswajeet Mahapatra, Research Director at Gartner was of the view that there were still apprehensions around how data was being stored in a database as large as that required for the UID project and how this data would be used, who would be able to access it etc.

He added that the data would be used for authenticating a person for a variety of applications including financial transactions, land records and other confidential information. Having a single point of access to such sensitive information is definitely a cause of concern.

There is uncertainty about who will shoulder the responsibility in the case of data theft or misuse, hacking or any other form of malicious attack carried out on this database. There is also uncertainty about how the current cyber-crime laws would apply to this system and if they can be beefed up in order to protect this data.

The relatively lower levels of regulation and lack of stringent regulations around personal information in India was held up by Mahapatra as an example of how things could go wrong. He gave the example of random telemarketers calling up people to sell products or services. In many cases, they obtain a person's complete personal information from a database that, in many cases, could be leaked by someone from a competing organization.
With data confidentiality laws being readily exploited, security around personal information getting captured as a part of the UID project remained a concern, felt Mahapatra. "With the UID project storing information about every Indian citizen, including senior government officials and key personalities, an attack on this data could have repercussions at a national level."

Mhaskar mirrored this view, "Unlike in the case of other enterprises, the breach of data in government organizations can have direct repercussions on the lives of citizens as opposed to solely affecting the bottomline. This drives home the point that cyber security needs to be heightened in such projects."

He added that identities were quite valuable and that the potential to misuse them was rather high. It is vital that UIDs are protected and made accessible only to authorized individuals. Even those individuals should not have unfettered access as there has to be accountability at all levels.

Putting the right security measures in place involves first defining policies around who can access confidential information. For instance, data gets collected at various centers throughout the country. To prevent it from falling into the wrong hands or getting leaked, security approaches, such as encrypting data before transporting it, are required.

In this case, all of this information pertains to the sensitive and confidential data of citizens. This entails a need for security measures that ensure that this data is easily recoverable and accessible as and when needed.

Comprehensive retention and archival policies are required, especially since this project involves long-term retention of data for a period of a century. In addition, UIDAI would also need high-availability and disaster recovery capabilities with automatic failover in the event of a disaster.
"As the volume of digital data grows rapidly, it will create a gap between the digital data being created and the amount of available storage. We need to consider how and where to store data, keeping in mind hardware costs, management overheads, etc," said Mhaskar.

Moreover, the same data (such as residential addresses) is stored under different names by multiple people leading to data duplication. It becomes necessary to have mechanisms that ensure that data is captured and stored after being deduplicated without any loss in the integrity of the data.
Mahapatra was quick to add, "The entire process of data collection itself has overrun its budget. Ensuring such high levels of security for the data centers hosting this data will result in an additional financial burden."


Improving enrollment efficiencies
The UIDAI has taken steps to optimize the enrollment process. However, it would continue to have multiple registrars as this, according to Sharma, offered the most efficient and effective way of completing Aadhaar enrollments in the shortest possible time. It also offered scalability in enrollment, as well as choice to the residents.

"Registrars have been strongly advised to use only UIDAI empaneled enrollment agencies. A critical condition prescribed by the UIDAI is the prohibition of sub-contracting of enrollment work. This must be adhered to by all enrollment agencies," he added.

Registrars will now have to ensure the presence of verifiers who, in turn, will verify enrollment forms in accordance with the defined procedure and process. There will also be periodic performance checks to ensure that processes are followed.

Accessibility to enrollment centers could also be an issue. UIDAI will run a special campaign to identify and cover the marginalized poor as well as people with disabilities.

Registrars will also be required to establish long term/permanent enrollment stations, which would also act as centers for information updation in the medium to long term. They would also need to develop location-specific enrollment plans and review the Pin Code database in order to ensure error-free enrollments.
"The focus will be on ensuring a high quality of data. Each demographic error will attract a penalty of Rs 150. Process violations, such as capturing biometrics of the wrong person, will lead to a penalty of Rs 500 for every error," informed Sharma.


Technology to the rescue
For ensuring accuracy in the second phase, the UIDAI is deploying new client software that will look at addressing issues that came up during the first phase.
Sharma explained that the quality of fingerprints varied considerably for citizens engaged in manual labor. In order to ensure the inclusion of these citizens in Aadhaar-enabled service delivery or Aadhaar-enabled payment delivery, it is important to identify the best finger(s) and take the prints of those thereby improving authentication accuracy.

"An API has been developed to facilitate Best Finger Detection (BFD). The best finger for a resident is the one that, when selected for authentication, provides the highest chance of successful authentication for that resident," said Sharma.

According to Sharma, UIDAI worked with many software, hardware and services vendors for various aspects of the Aadhaar system. The system is said to be built on the principles of vendor neutrality and works with a heterogeneous collection of best-in-class products that are based upon open standards. UIDAI also works with experts in various areas such as biometrics, security, etc and constantly engages and provide vendors with a platform for sharing technology and strategy inputs with the UIDAI team.

Open learning and knowledge sharing sessions conducted over the last couple of years in the areas of next generation data center technology, biometrics, security, software architecture, etc with experts who had shared their views and experiences with the UIDAI team had further helped them in choosing the right kind of technology partner.

For instance, on the hardware side, BioScan10 from BioEnable Technologies, one of various fingerprint scanners that has been certified and adopted by the UIDAI, has seen wide acceptance across enrollment centers in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar. Its ability to capture fingerprints faster with the user not requiring to exert excessive pressure for fingerprints to be captured, is said to be one of the key reasons for its popularity.

The project is currently largely in the enrollment stage. The UIDAI is working towards making its processes more efficient so that it can quickly reach the desired objective of creating a complete database that identifies every citizen in the country. The government, on the other hand, has been working towards making the Aadhaar number a de facto mechanism for many public facing services. In particular, it has aimed to bring the underprivileged into the net of these services. Vendors too have taken note of this and are working on projects that would leverage UID numbers. SAP, for instance, is working with a few device vendors to create a capability wherein, by leveraging the Aadhaar platform, money transfer can be carried out for individuals who lack a bank account.

2666 - ‘Aadhaar’ is Reaching India’s Poor, but at What Price? - World Bank

 ‘Aadhaar’ is Reaching India’s Poor, but at What Price?

Submitted by Johanna Martinsson on Tue, 07/17/2012 - 10:46

Since the Unique Identification Authority of India embarked on its unique identification project (UIDAI) in 2010, an estimated 200 million people have voluntarily enrolled.  As discussed in a previous blog, the UIDAI aims to administer some 1.2 billion unique identification numbers by the end of this decade.  The 12-digit online number, also referred to as Aadhaar (“foundation” in Hindi), is issued upon completion of demographic and biometric information by the enrollees. The number will give millions of Indian residents, previously excluded from the formal economy, the opportunity to access a range of benefits and services, such as banking, mobile, education, and healthcare.  The UIDAI specifically aims to extend social and financial services to the poor, remove corrupt practices plaguing existing welfare databases, eliminate duplicate and fake identities, and hold government officials accountable.


According to a recent study, the UIDAI is on the right track in "bringing entirely new segments of the population into the mainstream economy". The data shows that more than 56% of the enrollees did not previously carry a formal identification, “and 87% of those households have an annual income below $2,000 a year”. The study, led by Professor Arun Sundararajan of NYU Stern and Professor Ravi Bapna of the University of Minnesota’s Carlson School of Management, with support from the Indian School of Business, is an ongoing multi-year national survey carried out by India’s National Council for Applied Economic Research and will measure socioeconomic impact over the next decade.  The professors predict that if enrollments continue in its current pace, 300 million citizens will be enrolled by the end of this year. They believe that progress so far “is an extremely important first step towards tackling India’s persistent socioeconomic inequalities and bringing the country’s recent progress to the masses.”

While the UIDAI has made great progress in enrolling residents, challenges persist. The legislation that would have enforced the Aadhaar on all Indian residents was rejected by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance in December, 2011.  It was rejected due to a number of reasons, including: lack of clarity, security of data, enrollment of illegal immigrants, identity theft, duplication of efforts in collecting biometric information, lack of coordination among government agencies, and difference of opinion on Aadhaar within the government  (for the full report, click here).  While the Committee asked for a “new fresh” legislation, the UIDAI has continued implementing Aadahaar.  It’s not clear what the status of a new bill is and what steps the UIDAI is taking in addressing some of the issues raised by the Committee. However, they have worked with the National Population Register to minimize duplication in collecting data.

The UIDAI has sparked a lot of controversy in the public space from various groups.  This has not stopped the project’s leader, Mr. Nandan Nilecani, who is determined to make a change and to better the lives of the poor.  His perseverance must be admired. The project’s communication strategy (“Aahdaar – Communicating to a billion”) has clearly been effective considering the high enrolment rate in a very short period of time and the fact that it’s reaching intended segments of the population.   However, one can’t help but speculate whether some of the challenges and concerns raised by opposing groups could have been minimized had the UIDAI conducted a sound analysis of the political economy and stakeholders before implementation. In a recent interview by Fareed Zakaria, Mr. Nilecani addressed dealing with political obstacles. As opposed to the private sector, in which Nilecani used to work, he recognizes that there are far many more stakeholder groups to respond to in the public space, and the amount of time it takes to craft a strategy that reflects everyone’s views.  Also, while opposition to any change is a fact, Nilecani is focused on building alliances with those supporting the change. For example, the UIDAI has signed a Memo of Understanding (MoU) with a number of states, banks, and other partners. However, for Nilecani the greatest allies are the people themselves, as they see their lives improving with access to financial and social services.

The UID is a fascinating story, and one to watch in the years to come. There will certainly be many lessons to learn from this program and the outcome could be monumental.


Picture credit: benoit.crouzet

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2665 - For the UIDAI, not a sedate summer - Business Standard

For the UIDAI, not a sedate summer 
 Devjyot Ghoshal / New Delhi Jul 17, 2012, 00:59 IST


It is a manifestation of the Indian summer — the electricity goes out momentarily at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) head office just before an interview with the director general and mission director, Ram Sewak Sharma.

Despite glitches, mostly more consequential than power outages, Sharma reveals that it has been a busy few months for the UIDAI, after it reached the mandated number of 200 million enrolments by March 2012.

Instead of the perception that the scheme has lost some momentum, according to Sharma, the UIDAI has taken time to learn from the past year of enrolments and applications, while preparing for a massive outreach that will not only see 400 million more Indians becoming part of the Aadhaar programme over the next 18 months, but also a rollout of UID-based payments in 50 districts across the country.

NEW ROAD MAP Some other features of the refreshed enrolment strategy

Establishment of long-term enrolment stations Registrars to draw up detailed enrolment plans and review Pincode database Payment of timely & adequate wages to operators and supervisors, so that local labour laws are not violated On-the-job training for operators and supervisors UID generation for operators/supervisors/introducers within 5 days

* A beneficiary undertakes an UID-enabled payment in Jharkhand's Tarup village in March.

But the focus of the UIDAI’s recent efforts has been to improve its enrolment mechanism, which has meant a re-examination of both its devices and processes, and it has started at the very heart of this technology-driven exercise — the software, which has been upgraded from version 1.3.4 to version 2.1.

“We have added new features in the software that captures the data. For example, we now have the provision of GPS, which will capture the location from where the data is being captured,” says Sharma. “A lot of these systems and process have been put in place, which ensure better accountability and traceability of the enrolment process, and quality."

There is a mandatory sync cycle, too, which ensures that the information held in a mobile biometric device is synced with the UIDAI’s Central Identities Data Repository every 10 days, Sharma adds, because they found that the average delay in uploading the packet by the enrolment agencies was 40 days.
“That is huge, and it makes it difficult to get an Aadhaar card in 60 days, especially since it will also take 20 days for the letter to reach the recipient,” he explains, “So now, you (the enrolment agencies) have to sync, have to tell me (UIDAI, how many enrolment have happened) or software will freeze if you don’t upload the (data) packets.”

Yet, there are many among the millions enrolled by the UIDAI who can’t fully utilise Aadhaar, primarily due to mistakes made during enrolment, which is why demographic and procedural errors will now invite penalties up to Rs 500.

Moreover, the presence of verifiers, usually serving or retired government employees, will be sought during enrolment to further bolster the process.
The summer has also allowed the UIDAI to fix one of its biggest procedural flaws — the postal delay in the UID numbers reaching the beneficiaries. The agreement between the Authority and India Post to print and post the numbers wasn’t working because the latter just didn’t have enough printing capacity, particularly when Aadhaar enrolments where as much as one million per day.

So, India Post was tasked with only dispatching the numbers and instead, three private printers were brought in. Only now is the backlog finally clearing out, senior UIDAI officials attest.
“In some sense, we have had time to refresh our strategy. We have been able to fine-tune our systems, absorb the learning. We have already done 20 crore (200 million, enrolments) and we will do 40 crore as well. In 18 months, we’ll achieve the target. There’s no doubt on that part,” Sharma says.

But Sharma has no illusions about the next 18 months being an easy ride, as the UIDAI slowly shifts its focus from enrolments to actual applications of the platforms, like Public Distribution System (PDS) and Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA) payments.

“Applications are an complicated issue. You have banks as a partner, beneficiaries, the databases, the departments, and you have to re-engineer the application because you have go from a manual or semi-automatic system to a completely electronic payment system. So, that’s a huge paradigm shift and obviously, the success of that will depend on the state government initiatives,” he adds.

The bigger concern, though, across the UIDAI’s brass is that of political resistance to the scheme, as the applications are rolled out across the country, thereby eliminating ghost beneficiaries and subsidy payment leakages. Even an entire summer of planning may not be enough to deal with that.

2664 - Natgrid Project Of India: The Do Or Die Stage

 Natgrid Project Of India: The Do Or Die Stage

The National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid) Project of India is one of the most ambitious Projects of India. It has been passing through rough weathers in the past. The good news is that the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) has approved an Rs 1,100-crore allocation for the NATGRID and has also granted an extension to it. The CCS has also allowed NATGRID to acquire certain technological items mentioned in the Detailed Project Report (DPR).

The bad news is that till now we have no Accountability and Transparency about the NATGRID Project. Another major lacuna of NATGRID Project is that it is beyond the reach of Parliamentary Oversight in India. Similar problems are also plaguing the National Counter Terrorism Centre of India.

Recently the Department of Telecommunication (DOT) refused to allow the Home Ministry of India to intercept private communications disregarding individual Privacy under the pretext of National Security. Civil Liberties Issues have been raised from time to time in India vis-à-vis National Security Projects like NATGRID. They cannot be ignored in India any more.

I hope these “Shortcomings” of the NATGRID Project and NCTC would be removed very soon and NATGRID Project and NCTC would be a valuable tool for strengthening National Security of India. I also hope that Indian Government would maintain a “Balance” between National Security and Privacy Protection requirements in India while implementing Projects like NATGRID.

Now coming back to the recent new lease of life that has been given to NATGRID by CCS. The funds granted to NATGRID would be utilised for procuring equipment, technology and for building a data centre. We need to have High Security Infrastructure and Secured Communication Lines, opined NATGRID Chief Raghu Raman.

I also believe that this “Technological Upgradation” is a must for NATGRID Project to successfully complete the next stage. However, this is not an easy task especially keeping in mind the Red Tape that is hindering the successful implementation of NATGRID Project of India.  

2663 - UIDAI contracts - TAHAZ Word Press

            UIDAI contracts

July 6, 2012 at 10:07 am | Posted in The Market | Comments Off
Why UIDAI has not given any data with respect to money?
How much public money did UIDAI give to each contract?
What is the duration of contract?
What was the process?
Why a particular firm was selected? On that grounds?
What is the time frame of completing the contracts?
What are the consequences if contracts are not completed on time?
http://uidai.gov.in/contracts-awarded-link.html

Contracts Awarded

S.No.	Agency	Description	Order Date
1	HCL Infosystems	Design, development, maintenance and support of Intranet and Knowledge Management portal	07-07-2011
2	M/s HP India Sales Pvt Ltd	Aadhaar Document Management service	07-06-2011
3	M/s Wipro Ltd.	Deployment of 7 Project Managers	02-05-2011
4	M/s MAC Associates	Renovation/Remodelling of 9th Floor, UIDAI office, Delhi	28-04-2011
5	M/S. Wipro Ltd	Supply, Installation, Commissioning for Hardware & Software for Data Centre at Bengaluru & NCR	29-03-2011
6	National Informatics Centre Services Inc.	Purchase of 68 Blade Servers	08-03-2011
7	M/S. Wipro Ltd	Deployment of 32 Resource Personnel and Monitoring Tools	03-02-2011
8	Sagem Morpho Security Pvt. Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices	02-02-2011
9	Totem International Ltd	Purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices	02-02-2011
10	Linkwell Telesystems Pvt. Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices	02-02-2011
11	Sai Infosystem (India) Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices	02-02-2011
12	Geodesic Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices	02-02-2011
13	HCL Infosystems Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices	02-02-2011
14	I D Solutions	Purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices	02-02-2011
15	NISG	Order for preparation of DPR for setting up of UBCC	31-01-2011
16	STQC	Hiring of Agency for Security Audit of IT infrastructure at UIDAI	21-01-2011
17	Telsima Communication Pvt.Ltd	Hiring of space for UBCC at Bengaluru	27-01-2011
18	Wipro Limited	Hiring of Data Centre Space (2000 sqft) & Facilities for UIDAI at Delhi/NCR	23-12-2010
19	Aircel, Bharti Airtel Ltd, BSNL, RailTel Corporation of India Ltd, Reliance Communications, Tata Communications	Piped Data Connectivity	29-11-2010
20	HCL Infosystems Ltd.	Disk Array Enclosures, SATA Disk Drives and Upgrade Pair 4G FC Ports	29-11-2010
21	National Informatics Centre Services Inc.	Video Conferencing for UIDAI HQ & ROs	03-08-2010
22	Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Mahindra Satyam)	Implementation of Biometric Solution for UIDAI	30-07-2010
23	L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company	Implementation of Biometric Solution for UIDAI	30-07-2010
24	Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd.	Implementation of Biometric Solution for UIDAI	30-7-2010
25	Percept H. Pvt. Ltd. (Media)	Advertising Agency for designing Creative Content	01-07-2010
26	Bharti Airtel Ltd.	Hiring & Data Center Space (2000 sq ft.) & facilities for UIDAI at Bangalore	25-06-2010
27	Intelenet Global Services	Setting up and Operating Contact Centers for the UIDAI	15-6-2010
28	Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.	Re-Design, Development, Maintenance and Support of UIDAI Web Portal	11-06-2010
29	National Informatics Centre Services Inc.	Purchase of Storage Systems for Data Centre	05-05-2010
30	Mindtree Ltd.	Application Software Development, Maintenance and Support Agency for UIDAI	27-04-2010
31	National Informatics Centre Services Inc.	Purchase of Hardware for Data Centre	07-04-2010
32	National Informatics Centre Services Inco	Purchase of Blade Servers and Hardware for Data Centre	05-04-2010
33	Tata Consultancy Services Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Devices	10-03-2010
34	HCL Infosystems Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Devices	10-03-2010
35	Ernst & Young	Consultancy Services to UIDAI for Setting up of Central ID Data Repository (CIDR) and Selection of Managed Service Provider (MSP)	26-02-2010
36	4G Identity Solution Pvt. Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Devices	24-02-2010
37	e-Smart Systems Pvt. Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Devices	22-02-2010
38	Base Systems Pvt. Ltd.	Purchase of Biometric Devices	22-02-2010

2662 - A police state? Cell surveillance becomes pervasive in the US - Deccan Herald

A police state? Cell surveillance becomes pervasive in the US

Eric Lichtblau, July 10, 2012, NYT:

In the first public accounting of its kind, cellphone carriers in the US have reported that they responded to a startling 1.3 million demands for subscriber data last year from law enforcement agencies seeking text messages, caller locations and other information in the course of investigations.

The cellphone carriers’ reports, which come in response to a congressional inquiry, document an explosion in cellphone surveillance in the last five years, with the companies turning over records thousands of times a day in response to police emergencies, court orders, law enforcement subpoenas and other requests.

The reports also reveal a sometimes uneasy partnership with law enforcement agencies, with the carriers frequently rejecting demands that they considered legally questionable or unjustified. At least one carrier even referred some inappropriate requests to the FBI.

The information represents the first time data collected nationally on the frequency of cell surveillance by law enforcement. The volume of the requests reported by the carriers – which most likely involve several million subscribers – even surprised some officials who have closely followed the growth of cell surveillance.

“I never expected it to be this massive,” said Rep. Edward J Markey, D-Mass., who requested the data from nine carriers, including AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile and Verizon, in response to an article in April in The New York Times on law enforcement’s expanded use of cell tracking. Markey, who is the co-chairman of the Bipartisan Congressional Privacy Caucus, made the carriers’ responses available to The Times.

While the cell companies did not break down the types of law enforcement agencies collecting the data, they made clear that the widened cell surveillance cut across various levels of government – from run-of-the-mill street crimes handled by local police departments to financial crimes and intelligence investigations at the state and federal levels.

AT&T alone now responds to an average of more than 700 requests a day, with about 230 of them regarded as emergencies that do not require the normal court orders and subpoena. That is roughly triple the number it fielded in 2007, the company said.

Law enforcement requests of all kinds have been rising among the other carriers as well, with annual increases of between 12 per cent and 16 per cent in the last five years.

Sprint, which did not break down its figures in as much detail as other carriers, led all companies last year in reporting what amounted to at least 1,500 data requests on average a day.

With the rapid expansion of cell surveillance have come rising concerns – including among the carriers – about what legal safeguards are in place to balance law enforcement agencies’ needs for quick information against the privacy rights of consumers.

Security matters
Legal conflicts between those competing needs have flared before, but usually on national security matters. In 2006, phone companies that cooperated in the Bush administration’s secret programme of eavesdropping on suspicious international communications without court warrants were sued, and ultimately were given immunity by Congress with the backing of the courts.

Under federal law, the carriers said they generally required a search warrant, a court order or a formal subpoena to release information about a subscriber. But in cases that law enforcement officials deem an emergency, a less formal request is often enough.

Moreover, rapid technological changes in cellphones have blurred the lines on what is legally required to get data – particularly the use of GPS systems to identify the location of cellphones.

As cell surveillance becomes a seemingly routine part of police work, Markey said in an interview that he worried that ‘digital dragnets’ threatened to compromise the privacy of many customers. “There’s a real danger we’ve already crossed the line,” he said.

With the rising prevalence of cellphones, officials at all levels of law enforcement say cell tracking represents a powerful tool to find suspects, follow leads, identify associates and cull information on a wide range of crimes.

“At every crime scene, there’s some type of mobile device,” said Peter Modafferi, chief of detectives for the Rockland County district attorney’s office in New York, who also works on investigative policies and operations with the International Association of Chiefs of Police. The need for the police to exploit that technology “has grown tremendously, and it’s absolutely vital,” he said in an interview.

Because of incomplete record-keeping, the total number of law enforcement requests last year was almost certainly much higher than the 1.3 million, the carriers reported to Markey. Also, the total number of people whose customer information was turned over could be several times higher than the number of requests because a single request often involves multiple callers.

For instance, when a police agency asks for a cell tower ‘dump’ for data on subscribers who were near a tower during a certain period of time, it may get back hundreds or even thousands of names. To handle the demands, most cell carriers reported employing large teams of in-house lawyers, data technicians, phone ‘cloning specialists’ and others around the clock to take requests from law enforcement agencies, review the legality and provide the data.

Law enforcement officials say the GPS technology built into many phones has proved particularly critical in responding to kidnappings, attempted suicides, shootings, cases of missing people and other emergencies. But Sprint and other carriers called on Congress to set clearer legal standards for turning over location data, particularly to resolve contradictions in the law.

2661 - United Kingdom of surveillance - The Hindu

United Kingdom of surveillance

 July 12, 2012

Despite strongly opposing a similar measure when the then Labour government introduced it in 2009, the Conservatives and Liberals who rule Britain today have now proposed their snooper’s charter. The Communications Data Bill has provoked fierce criticism across the political spectrum. Under it, the intelligence services and police will have access, without warrants, to all text messages, phone calls, emails, and internet connections. Internet users, visitors to social networking sites, and telephone users will all be subject to interception or supervision, or both, any or all of the time. Officials will be able to seek court injunctions against British internet and telephone companies which fail to comply, and the government has gone even further than Labour by planning to pay overseas-based firms like Facebook and Twitter to hand over information on web and mobile phone use.

The Bill, however, is riddled with problems. Even an official impact assessment states that significant risks to privacy are involved. Secondly, it has not been clarified what additional threat needs to be addressed, not least because the Regulation of Investigatory Powers Act 2000 already gives the police and other bodies vast powers; they have made over 550,000 interception requests a year. 

The 2000 Act, furthermore, is so comprehensive that the courts have had to stop municipal bodies from engaging in total surveillance. Thirdly, British ministers now routinely evade parliamentary scrutiny by using delegated powers to make legislation of primary importance, and can create even more repressive powers after the law is on the statute books. Judicial review is also time-barred, and the British judiciary is usually reluctant to oppose the executive when the latter cites national security. In addition, the proposed law only calls for voluntary cooperation by non-U.K. firms, but the £6 billion the new policy could cost the cash-strapped U.K. government dwarfs the sums respectively spent even by China and Qadhafi’s Libya on IT surveillance. Above all, the law could be useless, as those determined to evade detection could use proxy servers or fake IDs. The British upper chamber, the House of Lords, severely criticised such measures in 2009, but without a major parliamentary rebellion the plan will become law. There could be few better examples of the increasing grip of the security services on the executive. The presumption that all human beings are potentially suspect is tantamount to governance by a doctrine of Original Sin.

2660 - UID-based system can make 15% one-time, 10% recurring savings in PDS: Sumit Bose - Business Standard

UID-based system can make 15% one-time, 10% recurring savings in PDS: Sumit BoseIn Q&A with Business Standard, Expenditure Secretary says pilot projects in 50 districts will be implemented by year-end 
 Santosh Tiwari / New Delhi Jul 13, 2012, 16:02 IST


The Budget has estimated the oil subsidy bill in 2012-13 at Rs 43,580 crore, compared with Rs 68,481 crore in 2011-12, while the food subsidy for running the public distribution system (PDS) is pegged at Rs 75,000 crore this fiscal as against Rs 72,823 crore in 2011-12 and fertiliser subsidy bill has been kept at Rs 60,974 crore, compared with Rs 67,199 crore last year.The government is now banking critically on the Unique Identification Number (UID) based subsidy disbursal mechanism for better targeting and savings for attaining fiscal consolidation. Expenditure secretary Sumit Bose, who is leading the government effort for implementing UID-based pilot projects in 50 districts as proposed in the budget, outlined the progress in this regard in an interview with Santosh Tiwari and said that current experience indicated that in PDS alone, a one-time 15 per cent and incremental 10 per cent savings could result through this mode. Edited excerpts:


What is the progress on implementation of pilot projects?
These are 50 districts where we would take up reforms based on UID. We have taken this up with the chief secretaries of the concerned states. The idea is to give freedom to the states to pick up schemes that they want to be covered under UID-based reform so that the interests of the centre and the states could be aligned. Like in food, many states are coughing up subsidies over and above what the centre is providing and it is in their interest to get it covered under the scheme. It also creates a sense of empowerment among the beneficiaries. We have seen this happening in Ranga Reddy district of Andhra Pradesh. Madhya Pradesh has been doing PDS reform based on coupons but now they are about to launch UID-based system now. UID has a great power of de-duplication and ensuring that the duplicates are weeded out and based on what we have seen in Hoshangabad district of Madhya Pradesh and Ranga Reddy district pilots, there is a huge potential for savings – 15 per cent one-time and even on a recurring basis.

How is it happening at the ground level?

What happens otherwise, all these fair price shops tend to show a zero balance at the end of the month. When they are linked to UID, at the end of each day, even if they are not online, all the sales related data are transmitted to the headquarters. So, their stocks are monitored and at the end of the month, they are not able to show zero stock balance. Then, there is another 10 per cent recurring savings so this has a great potential. These are early days though as I am talking on the basis of few pilots.

How have you selected the fifty districts for pilots?
They have been selected on the basis of penetration and twenty of these are the districts where Aadhaar coverage is already 80-85 per cent or more. In others, it will obviously pick up now. The system can also be used in other areas of government spending sucha s distribution of scholarships and social security pension. Maharashtra government for example has grant-in-aid schools, they did a little campaign earlier this year without UID base and they found substantially high duplicate enrolments because of which their payouts was rising. They have now mandated that from next fiscal the state will give grant-in-aid only if all children have a UID number and they expect the savings to the tune of Rs 2,000 crore on that account. So, based on what Maharashtra has done, we are looking at the application under Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan under Right to Education so that the possibility of duplication could be weeded out.

What is the time-frame for implementation of the 50 pilot projects?
This has to be done in close co-operation with states. It is all in the districts so we are pushing it through the committee with representatives from concerned ministries and the states and I expect that by the end of this year, it would be rolled out in these 50 districts.

By the end of calendar year?
Yes. It’s not that every program would roll-out in every district. That’s not the idea also. We are trying to see, where, which is the most important program for the state as well as for us. For central government, for example, PDS is one and then on Kerosene which has been tried out in Alwar, where the beneficiaries have been transferred cash into their account and then Kerosene moves to the fair price shop at the market rate, without any subsidy. Beneficiary has to come and purchase the Kerosene at the market rate, which is without the subsidy. So, in advance, they have been given the cash. In Hyderabad also, we are going to roll this out as a pilot. It’s very encouraging. In Alwar, the savings are immense.

So, any projections on savings?
For fair price shop, I mentioned earlier 15 per cent in one go and 10 per cent recurring. For other areas, savings would be different. For pension, education, it is going to be different and hard to estimate but Maharashtra for example has estimated Rs 2000 crore in education. So flavor of each district has to be different but the movement is clear. Its towards better service delivery also, it’s not just a question of savings only. You are going to the shop and you are getting your due and you are not told there is no stock.

Subsidy reduction is the main purpose though. Isn’t it?
And better delivery. This is equally important. Certainly, rationalization of subsidy is also important but in all these cases, you are ensuring better delivery. Take the case of Kerosene, it hardly reaches the actual beneficiary at present. There is so much scope for diversion the way Kerosene moves at the subsidized rate and the difference with the market rate. When it moves at market rate, chance for diversion isn’t there. Beneficiary goes and pays cash and gets it. It’s equally important for better, targeted delivery as well as certainly to the extent that all this will cut down subsidy. These 50 pilot projects are crucial because once you roll out, pilot projects in fifty districts, extending it to 100 and then 200 districts would be much easier.
 

2659 - Sh. Sarbjeet Roy vs Planning Commission on 18 November, 2009 - Indian Kanoon

Sh. Sarbjeet Roy vs Planning Commission on 18 November, 2009

CENTRAL INFORMATION COMMISSION
Appeal No. CIC/ MA/C/2009/0000366/SS dated 5.03.2008 Right to Information Act 2005 - Section 19

Name of the Appellant : Sh. Sarbjeet Roy
Name of the Public Authority : Planning Commission
UIDAI, Planning Commission

Background
Sh. Sarbjit Roy filed a complaint via email before the Commission alleging that UIDAI, constituted by the notification of the Govt. of India , hence being a public authority has not implemented the RTI Act, 2005 and he requested the Commission to give appropriate directions to the UIDAI to implement the RTI Act in its true spirit. The Commission issued notices to the CPIO, Planning Commission and DG-UIDAI to appear before the Commission.
2. In pursuance of the notice of the Commission Shri Raj kumar, Deputy Adviser and Shri Naseem Ahmad, APIO appeared before the Commission on behalf of the Planning Commission. None appeared on behalf of the UIDAI.
3. During the hearing the complainant submits that UIDAI is a public authority under the RTI Act, 2005 as it has been constituted by a notification of the Planning Commission and it is substantially financed by the Government. He therefore requests the Commission to declare the UIDAI as a public authority and accordingly implement the provisions of RTI Act, 2005 in true spirit. In response to complainant's submissions, Shri R. S. Sharma, Director-General and Mission Director, UIDAI submits through his letter dated 16.11.2009 that the UIDAI is in the process of positioning staff and office accommodation. The UIDAI Cell shall comply with the Section 4 of the RTI Act once it becomes operational. He further submits that at present only two officers and one Sr, PPS are working in the Authority. He also submits that the CPIO, Planning Commission has been supplying information relating to the UIDAI to the applicants seeking information under the RTI Act and that the UIDAI has also requested the Planning Commission to designate an officer to work as CPIO for the UIDAI .
4. In response to the submission of the Public Authority, the complainant submits that the UIDAI has become operational as is clear from the statements made by authorities of the UIDAI before the media.
5. The matter was heard on 18.11.2009.
6. The appellant was present for the hearing.
7. Sh. Raj Kumar, Dy. Adviser and Sh. Naseem Ahmad, APIO represented the Planning Commission.
Decision
8. After hearing the parties and after considering the facts and circumstances of the case and also on consideration of the genuine problems of a new organisation i.e. the UIDAI, the Secretary, Planning Commission and Director General and Mission Director, UIDAI, are hereby directed to designate CPIO/AA to implement the provisions of the RTI Act, in regard to UIDAI, within two weeks. Respondents are also directed to implement Section 4 of the RTI Act, 2005, for matters related to the UIDAI
9. The complaint is disposed of subject to the above directions.
10. Decision announced on conclusion of the hearing. Notice of decision be given free of cost to the parties.
(Sushma Singh)
Information Commissioner
18.11.2009
Authenticated true copy:
(Prem singh Sagar)
US &Assistant Registrar
18.11.2009
Copy t o:
1. The Secretary, Planning Commission, Youjna Bhawan, New Delhi
2. Sh. Sher Singh, CPIO , Planning Commission, Yojna Bhawan, New Delhi
3. Sh. Ram Sweak Sharma, Director General, UIDAI, Yojna Bhawan, New Delhi.
4. Sh. Sarbjit Roy, B-59, Defence Colony, Delhi.

2658 - mass-surveillance, digitiized discrimination, slave trade & biometric information based NPR & UID/Aadhaar by Gopal Krishna

From: Gopal Krishna <krishna1715@gmail.com>

Date: Thu, Jul 12, 2012 at 9:05 PM

Subject: personal information as commodity, mass-surveillance, biometric information based NPR & UID

To: presidentofindia@rb.nic.in

Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)

To

Hon’ble President of India

Government of India

President's Secretariat

Rashtrapati Bhavan

New Delhi-4

Date 12/7/2012

Subject –mass-surveillance, digitiized discrimination, slave trade & biometric information based NPR & UID/Aadhaar

Madam,

With reference to my letter dated 12/6/2012, when almost the entire political class of the country is debating the TIME Cover Story "The Underachiever:India needs a reboot, Is Prime Minister Manmohan Singh upto the job?"  (July 16, 2012 issue), I wish to draw your attention towards how under patronage from the Prime Minister "a small group of entrepreneurs within the government have set out to identify to every one of their 1.2 billion residents by using biometric technologies, such as iris scans and fingerprints" to prepare National Population Register (NPR) and Centralized Identities Data Register (CIDR) of UID/Aadhaar. 

I submit that surveillance is a “shameful act” of supervising and imposing discipline on a subject through a hierarchized system of policing. (Michel Foucault, 'Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison', New York, 1977).

I this seminal work Michel Foucault examines the systems of social power through the lens of the 18th century philosopher Jeremy Bentham, the originator of the now iconic Panopticon. This Panopticon was/is a design for a prison in which the inmate’s cells are arranged in a circular fashion around a central guard tower. The architectural configuration allows for a single guard’s gaze to view all inmates, but prevents those inmates from knowing exactly when they are being watched.

It has been observed that “The major effect of the Panopticon: to induce in the inmate a state of conscious and permanent visibility that assures the automatic functioning of power.”

I submit that this design as a “generalized model of functioning and a way of defining power relations in terms of the everyday lives of men.” In the initiatives like NPR and CIDR the subject is seen but he/she does not see. He/she is the object of information, but never a subject in communication.

I submit that Foucault’s Panoptic model is quite valid for NPR and CIDR becasue these databases are meant to ensure real time tracking and profiling of citizens and turns them into subjects and in a slave like situation.

I submit that tumultuous colonial history of the technologies associated with surveillance reveal that the origins of surveillance happened during free trade of slaves.

I wish to draw your attention towards the book 'Soft Cage: Surveillance in America From Slavery to the War onTerror' by Christian Parenti (New York: Basic Books, 2003) that reveasl that slaves had to possess a "pass" to move about at their master’s will. This pass was an embryonic form of the modern unique identity cards (UIDs) that first surfaced in 1642 Virginia law and targeted poor white indentured Irish servants attempting to flee their work obligations.

It may be noted that Black people negotiating the roads at night were required to produce either written passes from their masters or “freed papers,” proof of their emancipation, otherwise they faced the whip or worse consequences.

I wish to inform you that in 1783 South Carolina authorities adopted a new technology for monitoring slaves. This new mode of identification was the brass or tin slave “tag” required by urban slaves that wished to hire themselves out for their masters as wage laborers. This badge was stamped with the slave’s occupation, the date, and a number to record payment of the slave tax each year. Similar badges existed for free Blacks as well; each prefabricated, metal, and cross referenced to city records, artifacts far more difficult to forge than written passes and “freed” papers. These badges served both as a form of collecting revenue and also as a system of political control of African American people as a class. Any negro found working aboard their vessel without a badge was liable to be put in jail.

I wish to inform you that slaves who escaped were sought to be identified with elaborate wanted posters and ads using increasingly standardized descriptions for identification. These descriptions constituted a sort of biometric identification after the individual had already gone missing, including height, complexion, demeanor, intelligence, age, sometimes even describing the teeth of the slave. The wanted posters and adswith biometric identification was applied only after the fact of escape of slaves.

I submit that NPR and CIDR treats Indian citizens worse than slaves. We are being identfied prior to any act of ommission and commission.  It is a case of a deepening of everyday surveillance.

I submit that these identification exercises are co-terminus with the emergence of the Police State. It was in 1845 that the in New York the first full-time armed police force was created to deal with the consequence of indiscrminate urbanization and industrilization wherein they needed to to discover and tag new criminals, not simply those “known to the community.” Villagers were known to each other and to the community.

I submit that both NPR and CIDR are similar to what was done under the Britain’s Habitual Criminals Act of 1869 required police to keep an “Alphabetical Registry” and cross-referenced “Distinctive Marks Registry. The first held names, and the latter descriptions of scars, tattoos, birthmarks, balding, pockmarks, and other distinguishing features. This registry of marks was systematically disaggregated into nine eneral categories pertaining to regions of the body. Therefore there were files for the head and face; throat and neck; chest; belly and groin; back and loins; arms; hands and fingers; thighs and legs; feet and ankles.

It may be noted that in the late 1850’s Francis Galton, father of infamous discipline of eugenics conducted experiments that yielded a system of classification and identifying human papillary ridges of the fingertips.

I submit that the idea of using dactyloscopy, or fingerprinting, for criminal identification surfaced in a letter to the publication Nature, from a Henry Faulds, a British physician which was deployed by colonial masters in India after First War of India's Indpendence in 1857. In 1910, housepainter Thomas Jennings, an African American man was sentenced to death by US Supreme Court for robbing and killing a white woman in a first criminal convictions based on fingerprints.

I wish to draw your attention towards an article 'Take these men off death row' by Prabha Sridevan, a former Judge of the Madras High Court (The Hindu, July 6, 2012) wherein she underlines the case of mistaken identity" revealed through  an extraordinary investigation by Professor James Liebman and his team at Columbia Law School led to the revelation that due to a series of mistakes from investigation to trial, Texas executed Carlos De Luna for a crime committed by Carlos Hernandez. This underlines how an innocent man was sent to his death on 8 December 1989, courtesy of the state of Texas. The Carlos case was one of mistaken identity.

I submit that the biometric information based identification exercise of NPR and CIDR is highly fallible. The concerned agencies are implementing it under the influence of transnational companies like Safarn Group and Accenture. The role of corporate funding to the ruling political parties in facilitating the decision regarding NPR and CIDR merits parliamentary probe.    

I submit that unlike the earlier attempts the Database of Union Ministry of Home Affairs and Planning Commission that registers the names and distinctive marks builds on the biometric information of the human body that was used for tracking the misdeeds of the criminals and for identifying prisoners. This is an act of political record keeping. It is an act of using human body as data. 

I submit that the proposed convergence of biometric information with financial and personal data such as residence, employment, and medical history heralds the beginning of the demolition of one of the most important firewalls in the structure of privacy.

I submit that this mandatory ID (under NPR and CIDR) in every context acts not as a “unique personal identifier”. This identifier is to everyday surveillance as the discovery of longitude was to navigation. 

I submit that George Orwell's 1984 has taught us that an all-knowing corrupt government is a terrifying situation. In recent times the wide spread use of biometrics is attributed to its endorsement by George Bush on May 14, 2002 for use in the US government. The same is being aped blindly in India without legislative mandate as has been pointed out by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance in its report dated December 13, 2011 to the Parliament.   

I submit that the lure of biometric technology companies reminds one of Mary Howitt's children's poem, "The Spider and the Fly". In this poem, the spider cunningly tempts and eventually persuades the fly to come into his parlour. At first the fly is hesitant; knowing that all who enter never return. Before long, however, the fly's curiosity and vanity get the better of him and he enters the parlour. 

I submit that like the fly, citizens and States are slowly being lured into an intricate web of deception. The poem ends with the spider warning alert citizens to think before acting:

"And now dear little children, who may this story read, To idle, silly flattering words, I pray you ne'er give heed: Unto an evil counsellor, close heart and ear and eye, And take a lesson from this tale, of the Spider and the Fly."

I submit that if a technology defines a situation as real, it is real in its consequences.  The personal information is a growing commodity. Our personal information is a valued resource. According to the Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic, "once a biometric identifier is compromised, it stays compromised".

I submit that steps have also been initiated for DNA Bank and Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). These steps have grave consequences for privacy for present and future generations. In a paper 'Perceptions of Privacy and the Consequences of Apathy' (published in Dalhousie Journal of Interdisciplinary Management – Volume 4 – Spring 2009 3), Sir Ken Macdonald, the Director of Public Prosecutions in Great Britain is quoted as warning that the penalties of adopting a "Big Brother surveillance state could lead to serious consequences and suggests that "we should take very great care to imagine the world we are creating before we build it. We might end up living with something we cannot bear". It is like the fly that is lured into the spider's web, there may be no turning back.

In the light of such a backdrop, I urge you to advise the Union Government to desist from pursuing biometric information based databases.

I also wish to take the opportunity to seek an appointment for a citizens’ delegation to meet you to share relevant documents and insights in this regard before your tenure comes to an end.

Thanking You  

Yours faithfully

Gopal Krishna

Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)

A 124/6, Ist Floor

Katwaria Sarai

New Delhi-16

Mb:9818089660

E-mail-krishna1715@gmail.com 

Cc

Cabinet Secretary, Government of India  

Secretary to the President of India

Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Cabinet Committee on Security, Government of India  

Chief Minister, Government of Bihar

Chief Minister, Government of Tripura

Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh

Chief Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu

Chief Minister, Government of Punjab

Chief Minister, Government of Goa

Chief Minister, Government of West Bengal

Chief Minister, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Chief Minister, Government of Odisha

Chief Minister, Government of Jharkhand

Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India

Comptroller & Auditor General of India

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law & Justice

Chairman, Public Accounts Committee

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Agriculture

Hon’ble Members of Parliament

Lt Governor, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi

Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Bihar

Chief Secretary, Government of Chattisgarh

Chief Secretary, Government of Goa

Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat

Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana,

Chief Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Jammu and Kashmir

Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand

Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka

Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala

Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra

Chief Secretary, Government of Orissa

Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab

Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan

Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu

Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand

Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal

Chief Secretary, Government of Puducherry

Chief Secretary, Government of Arunachal Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Assam

Chief Secretary, Government of Manipur

Chief Secretary, Government of Meghalaya

Chief Secretary, Government of Mizoram

Chief Secretary, Government of Nagaland

Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim

Chief Secretary, Government of Tripura

Chief Secretary, Government of Andaman and Nicobar (UT)

Administrator, Government of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (UT)

Administrator, Government of Daman and Diu (UT)

Administrator, Government of Lakshadweep (UT)

@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@

On Tue, Jun 12, 2012 at 3:56 PM, Gopal Krishna <krishna1715@gmail.com> wrote:

Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)

 To

 Hon’ble President of India

 Government of India

 President's Secretariat

 Rashtrapati Bhavan

 New Delhi-4

 Date 12/6/2012

Subject –Black projects like Unique Identity (UID)/Aadhaar & White Paper on Black Money

Madam,

This is to draw your attention towards Union Finance Ministry’s 108 page White Paper on Black Money and the role assigned to a black biometric data based Unique Identity (UID)-Aadhaar project, which has been rejected by the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance on December 13, 2011 in its report submitted to Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha. The (UID)-Aadhaar project is mentioned at three places in the White Paper.

 I submit that besides PSC on Finance, countries like UK, Australia, Philippines and China have abandoned UID-Aadhaar like projects respecting people’s democratic mandate. These projects had also relied on ‘inherently fallible’ biometric technologies.

 I submit that there are two public interest litigations pending in the High Courts in Chennai and Mumbai and a civil suit in Karnataka against this project. From the very outset consistent citizens’ campaign has been seeking its abandonment.

 I submit that this is with reference to Planning Commission’s ‘voluntary’ database of Indian residents based on biometric data which is linked to country's first ever ‘compulsory’ National Population Register (NPR), a biometric data based comprehensive identity database of ‘usual residents of the country’ to be maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India, Union Ministry of Home Affairs and the 15th National Census.  

 I submit that the UID project is a questionable imitation of initiatives launched by International Financial Institutions (IFIs) like World Bank Group, North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO), a 28-nation military alliance and Business Enterprise Architecture of USA’s Department of Defense which was designed to assist the transformation.

I submit that not only are all the ideas, initiatives, proposals but also the words, phrases and punctuations being used by proponents of UID-Aadhaar like projects is borrowed from IFIs, NATO and USA’ Department of Defense.

 I submit that the idea of UID/Aadhaar Number proposed by UIDAI is a replication of Pakistan's National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) that was established in March 2000 to provide integrated homeland security solutions in Pakistan. The program replaced the paper based Personal Identity System of Pakistan that had been in use since 1971.This year is also quite important. NADRA violated fundamental human rights in Pakistan. UIDAI violates fundamental human rights in India.

 In such a backdrop, it is indeed quite disturbing that Shri Ajit Kumar Seth, Cabinet Secretary, Government of India, Admiral Nirmal Varma, Chief of Naval Staff, Shri Bhupinder Singh Hooda, Chief Minister Haryana and Dalai Lama have already enrolled for UID/Aadhaar Number without the passage of the NIAI Bill. I submit that Union Ministry of Defence should be asked to examine the implications of such initiatives as well. 

I submit that in the preface to the White Paper at page 3, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister writes, “The steps taken in recent years for simplifying and placing the administrative procedures concerning taxation, trade and tariffs and social transfers on UID based electronic interface, free of discretion and bureaucratic delays, are vital building blocks of the approach for tackling corruption and black money in our country.” The fact is step of social transfers on UID based interface is without any legislative mandate. It is a step with black motives. It is not surprising that this biometric-based identification system for preventing leakages, duplication and corruption remains constantly mired in controversies.

 I submit that in his 2009-10 Budget Speech, Shri Mukherjee said, “The UIDAI will set up an online data base with identity and biometric details of Indian residents and provide enrolment and verification services across the country.” May I ask whether or not “online data base” of residents of India (inclusive of citizens) safeguard the sovereignty of the Republic?   

I submit that under the chapter, ‘Creating an appropriate legislative framework’ the White Paper elaborates on the role of the Unique Identity (UID)-Aadhaar project. The relevant text of the White Paper at page 49 reads: “As announced by the Finance Minister in his Budget speech, enrolments into the Aadhaar system have crossed 20 crore and the Aadhaar numbers generated up to date 14 crore. Adequate funds have been allocated for completing another 40 crore enrolments starting from 1 April 2012. The Aadhaar platform will facilitate payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MG-NREGA); old age, widow and disability pensions; and scholarships to be made directly into beneficiary accounts in selected areas. This initiative will cut down corruption and the generation of black money in India.” It is ironical that Unique Identity (UID)-Aadhaar project is mentioned under the title ‘Creating an appropriate legislative framework’ because its Centralized Identities Data Register (CIDR) is being prepared outside any ‘appropriate legislative framework’. 

 I submit that the biometric data based ‘20 crore enrollments’ and 14 crore Aadhaar numbers generated so far are illegal. It is in contempt of Parliament. These figures do not appear to be reliable because there are several inconsistencies.

I submit that the idea of UID-Aadhaar is against our constitution. Shri Nandan Manohar Nilekani in his book Imagining India has argued that national ID system would be a big step for land markets to facilitate right to property and undoing of abolition of right to property in 1978 in order to bring down poverty!.

 I submit that the Government, the Parliament and the citizens must not be misled by unelected cabinet minister ranked officials who say, “Technology has no history and no bias, it treats everyone the same way.”

I submit that our collective colonial experience and the history of technologies have revealed that it is the owners of such technologies who are true beneficiaries especially when it is used for social control and surveillance. I submit that the project is aimed at creating a perfect common land and water market among other things.

 I submit that there is a compelling need to urgently assess the claims and risks of blindly trusting biometric, surveillance and identification technology companies who have made UID appear politically persuasive for the gullible ruling parties by cleverly intertwining it with the crying need for governance.

 I submit that at page 75-76 the White Paper says, “While efforts such as UID and direct transfer of subsidies will stop leakages in some sectors, in other sectors the problem will have to be addressed differently” under the title ‘Strategies for Curbing Generation of Black Money through Illegal or Criminal Activities.’ I submit that whether or not biometric, surveillance, identification and security technology companies are involved in amassing Black Money as part of Black Economy-through electoral finance and other unrecorded means- is yet to be conclusively established.

 I submit that under the Recommendations of the Committee Headed by Chairman, Central Board for Direct Taxes (CBDT) on Black Money, at page 84 it reiterates: “The steps taken in recent years for simplifying and placing the administrative procedures concerning taxation, trade and tariffs and social transfers on UID based electronic interface, free of discretion and bureaucratic delays, are vital building blocks of the approach for tackling corruption and black money in our country.”

I submit that the Union Finance Ministry should be dissuaded from relying on illegal biometric profiling of citizens which is being done under UID-Aadhaar project. In fact, there is a need to set up a high powered independent commission to examine the impact of high-risk biometric, surveillance, identification and security technologies and threats to civil liberties and country’s security and sovereignty.

I submit that it has reliably been learnt that officials from companies like Infosys Technologies have been giving leadership training to leaders of the ruling parties. This may have impacted decision making with regard to UID-Aadhaar. It is noteworthy that the original vision document for Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) prepared by Wipro Technologies Ltd in 2006 is missing. This merits probe.   

I submit that recent news reports of efforts to put Union Finance Minister and Union Defence Minister under surveillance by unidentified agencies reveal that there is paucity of capacity to monitor or regulate these technologies. If this is the plight of the ministers and technologically challenged political class, the threat for citizens can easily be understood.    

 I submit that Union Government must be persuaded to review its capacity to regulate an emerging identification technology regime that is undermining democracy and sovereignty.

I submit that unfolding of World Bank Group’s  eTransform Initiative  with support from global partners such as Gemalto, IBM, L-1 Identity Solutions, Microsoft and Pfizer and two national governments of France and South Korea since April 2010 for implementing its Tranformational Government project to converge private sector, public sector and citizens sector.

 I submit that the US biometric, identification and security technology company, L-1 Identity Solutions which was given contact by UIDAI on July 30, 2010 has been purchased by French company Safran Group whose subsidiary too had been awarded a contract on July 30, 2010 after national security clearance from US Senate Committee. This company is also in the business of biometric, identification and security technologies with French government having major investment in it. This company is in long term agreement with China as well. 

 I submit that it has come to light that Shri Nilekani who heads Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in the rank of a Cabinet Minister was given ID Limelight Award at the ID WORLD International Congress in Italy. The key sponsors of Congress include Morpho (Safran group), a French multinational corporation specializing in ID credentials solutions incorporating biometrics application in passports, visas, ID documents, health and social benefits, elections, etc. Its subsidiary, Sagem Morpho Security Pvt. Ltd has been awarded contract for the purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices on February 2, 2011 by the UIDAI.  Earlier, on July 30, 2010, in a joint press release, it was announced that “the Mahindra Satyam and Morpho led consortium has been selected as one of the key partners to implement and deliver the Aadhaar program by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India).” This means that at least two contracts have been awarded to the French conglomerate led consortium.  May I ask whether it is a coincidence that Morpho (Safran group) sponsored the award to Chairman, UIDAI and the former got a contract from the latter?

 I submit that Shri Nilekani was given the award at the ID WORLD International Congress in 2010 held in Milan during November 16-18, 2010. One of the two Platinum Sponsors was Morpho (Safran group), a French high-technology company with three core businesses: Aerospace, Defense and Security.  Coincidentally, this Global Summit on Automatic Identification in 2009 had awarded Shri Tariq Malik, Deputy Chairman of Islamabad based National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) too for implementing UID project in Pakistan.

I submit that Shri Nilekani was given the award "For being the force behind a transformational project ID project in India...and "to provide identification cards for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various programs and schemes of the Government."  There is a conflict of interest and it appears to be an act done in lieu of the contract.  

 I submit that UIDAI awarded contracts to three companies namely, Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Mahindra Satyam), as part of a “Morpho led consortium”, L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company and Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd of USA for the “Implementation of Biometric Solution for UIDAI” on July 30, 2010. L-1 Identity Solutions, Inc. is in the business of protecting and securing personal identities and assets. It claims that with the confidence in individual identities provided by L-1 to 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. It is germane to note that L-1’s Intelligence Services Businesses were sold to BAE Systems, Inc. (the U.S. affiliate of BAE Systems plc).  

I wish to inform that on September 20, 2010, L-1 Identity Solutions announced that it has entered into an agreement to be acquired by Safran in a merger transaction. As a result both Morpho led consortium and L-1 Identity Solutions who were awarded contracts are under Safran group company. Safran is a leading international high-technology group with three core businesses: Aerospace (propulsion and equipment), Defence and Security.  The transaction was subject to review by the U.S. Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States (CFIUS), an inter-agency committee of the United States Government that reviews the national security implications of foreign investments in U.S. companies or operations among other conditions. CFIUS notified on July 19, 2011 that “there are no unresolved national security concerns with respect to the transaction”.

 I wish you to advice the Union Cabinet and the Parliament to scrutinize the roles of these companies which are involved in UID-Aadhaar like projects.   

 I submit that manifest short term and long term foreign interest in the UID-Aadhaar project is aimed at creating ‘solutions architecture’ through linguistic corruption in the form of proposed National Information Utilities (NIUs) by Union Finance Ministry’s Technology Advisory Group on Unique projects. These NIUs are envisaged as private companies with public purpose and with profit making as the motive but not profit maximizing. The construction of this sentence betrays the ulterior motives of vested interests.  It appears that words indeed have meaning, which the masters give to it a classic case of nominalism, a tendency of the ruling elite to decide on the meaning of a word.

Let me take the opportunity to also submit that the new Chief Election Commissioner, Shri V.S. Sampath may be advised to rescind the dangerous proposal of Shri S.Y. Quraishi, his predecessor to Union Ministry of Home Affairs asking it “to merge the Election ID cards with UID”. 

 I submit that such an exercise would mean rewriting and engineering the electoral ecosystem with the unconstitutional and illegal use of biometric technology in a context where electoral finance has become source of corruption and black money in the country. This would lead to linking of UID, Election ID and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) which is not as innocent and as politically neutral as it has been made out to be. It is noteworthy that all EVMs have a UID as well. This proposal makes a mockery of the recommendations of the Parliamentary Committee on Finance on UID Bill. It is noteworthy that Land Titling Bill, 2011 makes a provision for linking land titles to UIDs of Indian residents/citizens.

 I submit that in UID/Aadhaar Enrolment Form, Column 9 reads: "I have no objection to the UIDAI sharing information provided by me to the UIDAI with agencies engaged in delivery of welfare services". In front of this column, there is a "Yes" and "No" option.

 I submit that irrespective of what option residents of India exercise (which is being ticked automatically by the enroler in any case as of now), the fact is this information being collected for creating Centralized Identity Data Register (CIDR) and National Population Register (column 7) are being handed over to biometric technology companies like Satyam Computer Services/Sagem Morpho, L1 Identities Solutions and Accenture Services of all shades who have already been awarded contracts.  

I wish to draw your urgent attention towards the reply of Shri Davinder Kumar, Deputy Director UIDAI who will have residents/ citizens of India believe that the three transnational biometric technology companies working with foreign intelligence agencies namely:1) Mahindra Satyam Computer Services/Sagem Morpho, 2) L1 Identities Solutions and 3) Accenture Services who were awarded contracts by UIDAI that “There are no means to verify whether the said companies are of US origin or not” in a reply to Right to Information (RTI) application dated 21st July, 2011. This is quite a stark act of omission and commission that is likely to put residents/citizens of India under surveillance using delivery of public services as fish bait for ever.

 I submit that Planning Commission and Shri Nilekani should be asked to verify whether they know the country of origin of the award and the country of origin of their sponsors who were awarded contract by UIDAI prior to taking the award. Had Shri Nilekani known about their country of origin, would he have taken the award? Now that the information has become public knowledge what is it that the Planning Commission and UIDAI intend to do about it?

 I wish to inform UIDAI officials the “means to verify” the country of the origin of three companies in questions. The first company Morpho’s website is http://www.morpho.com/qui-sommes-nous/implantations-internationales/morpho-en-inde/?lang=en The information at the website of Morpho http://www.morpho.com/evenements-et-actualites-348/presse/mahindra-satyam-and-morpho-selected-to-deliver-india-s-next-generation-unique-identification-number-program?lang=en and Safran www.safran-group.com reveals its partnership with Mahindra Satyam.

The second company, L1 Identities Solutions is headquartered in Stamford, Connecticut, U.S website and its press releases at http://ir.l1id.com/releases.cfm?header=news reveal that the company received $24.5 Million in Purchase Orders in the Initial Phase of India's Unique Identification Number Program for Certified Agile TP(TM) Fingerprint Slap Devices and Mobile-Eyes(TM) Iris Cameras. http://ir.l1id.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=509971). I submit that as a consequence of Safran’s purchase of L-1 Identity Solutions, the de-duplication contracts of UIDAI’s CIDR which was given to two companies on July 30, 2010, both contracts are with one company now.

 I submit that Union Government and Parliament do not appear to have taken into account the uncertain corporate world of acquisitions and mergers. It seems to be part of unfolding of a surveillance movement based on global ID card. Commenting on the merger of the two biometric technology companies, Mark Lerner, the author of the book “Your Body is Your ID” says, “Safran is a French company, 30% owned by the French government”. Safran has a 40 year partnership with China in the aerospace and the security sectors too.


I submit that the third company, Accenture, a US company headquartered in Dublin, Republic of Ireland. It won US Department of Homeland Security’s contract for five years to design and implement the United States Visitor and Immigrant Status Indicator Technology (US-VISIT) program based on biometric technology for checking identities of foreigners visiting USA.  The contract includes five base years plus five option years mandated by U.S. Congress for Smart Border Alliance project.  It is one of the main privatized gatekeepers of US borders.

I also wish to draw your immediate attention towards the attached Aadhaar Enrolment Form. There are ten columns in the Form seeking information. Column 7 refers to Union Home Ministry’s National Population Register and 9 which is linked to Centralized Identity Data Register (CIDR) of UID/Aadhaar, which is to be supervised by yet to be born NIAI. It is a strange case of the child- the UID/Aadhaar- having become more than 4 years old but the legislature, the parent is yet to take charge. It is evident that UIDAI is displaying manifest contempt towards Parliament. Residents of India are being enrolled for UID-Aadhaar without the passage of the required legislation.

 I wish to draw your attention towards the fact that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) too has expressed grave concerns discrimination, protection of information and identity theft in its written submission. It is reported in NHRC newsletter, August 2011 at page no. 7 and 8.

 I submit that it appeared quite clear as to how a stage-managed opinion poll of The Times of India showed that 41 % of Indians oppose Aadhaar/UID Number and the rest support it. Does The Economic Times realize that legislators and citizens can see through the half page advertisement that UIDAI gave to The Times of India on page no. 21 on October 8, 2011 of New Delhi edition and a quid pro quo involved?  If one looks at even the biased opinion poll that was influenced by the advertisement from the UIDAI, it is clear that at least 41 % of India's population is opposed to UID/Aadhaar. When publications and news channels get dictated by advertisements then truth in general and legislative truth in particular has become a casualty.

 I also wish to bring a book SpyChips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre to your notice. The authors forewarn us of how we are being made to "imagine a world of no privacy. Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought. What's more, they can be tracked and monitored remotely". It has been contended that Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) will impact our civilization in a deeper way than printing press, industrial revolution, light bulb, Internet and personal computers. The introduction of RFID marks the beginning of a world where everything and every place gets imbedded with RFID or spying micro chips.

 I submit that RFID and UID projects appear to be doing almost exactly the same thing which the predecessors of Adolf Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.

 I submit that RFID tags, part of biometric data mentioned in the NIAI Bill is world-readable. It poses a risk to both personal location, privacy, national and military security of the country. India's corporate media seems quite indulgent towards the emergence of a technology-based social control regime due to "Paid News" phenomena, it is for you and the legislature to bring them under control by revealing the true nature of biometric data based RFID and related identification exercises like UID.

 I submit that unmindful of the erosion of federal structure of the State Governments have been misled into signing MoUs with the UIDAI. For instance, Smaarftech Technologies, a company that provides e-governance solutions was assigned to do the job in Bihar for carrying out the Proof of Concept study. The iris recognition device that is being used by them comes from Florida-based Crossmatch Technologies, and is used by agencies like NASA and the Department of Homeland Security in the US. State governments have not been informed about its implications and they have not applied their legal imagination to fathom the threats from UID-Aadhaar related proposals.

 I submit that on March 16, 2011 MoU was signed between Planning Commission’s UIDAI led by Shri Nandan Manohar Nilekani and Union Home Ministry’s Registrar General of National Population Register (NPR), Dr C Chandramouli for convergence of their respective data. It may be noted that Dr Chandramouli is also the ex-officio Census Commissioner of India. As a consequence a deliberate but a major lapse has occurred which needs to be urgently rectified. Under law the census data is confidential which cannot be given even to the courts but data collected for NPR is not confidential.

 I wish to inform that "The Census process involves visiting each and every household and gathering particulars by asking questions and filling up Census Forms. The information collected about individuals is kept absolutely confidential. In fact this information is not accessible even to Courts of law."Reference: http://censusindia.gov.in/2011-FAQ/FAQ-Public.html But UID and NPR have violated the promised confidentiality. A careful reading of even the FAQ reveals it. This means that data of UIDAI, NPR and Census is being converged without any legal mandate. Thus, it was not surprising that the National Identification Authority of India (NIDAI) Bill, 2010 that has been rejected by PSC, made a provision in it to seek the rubber stamp of the Parliament for all the acts of omission and commission (as per Section 57 of the Bill) by UIDAI since January 28, 2009 when it was set up as per a notification of Planning Commission.

 I submit that these acts of convergence will undermine the constitutional rights and change the meaning of democracy as we know it. It is an act of changing both the form and content of democracy and democratic rights in a new technology based regime where technologies and technology companies are beyond regulation because they are bigger than the government and legislatures.

I submit that the old maxim, 'If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear' has been given a very public burial. Database State, a report from the United Kingdom states, 'In October 2007, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs lost two discs containing a copy of the entire child benefit database. Suddenly issues of privacy and data security were on the front page of most newspapers and leading the TV news bulletins. The millions of people affected by this data loss, who may have thought they had nothing to hide, were shown that they do have much to fear from the failures of the database state.'  No one knows for sure whether it was lost or sold.

I submit that there is a history of attempts by the old and new colonial and imperial powers to number human beings, create a database and put present and future generations under constant surveillance. 

 In view of the above, I urge you to advise the Union Government to desist from pursuing biometric data based UID-Aadhaar like projects. I also wish to take the opportunity to seek an appointment for a citizens’ delegation to meet you to share relevant documents in this regard.

 Thanking You  

Yours faithfully

 Gopal Krishna

Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)

A 124/6, Ist Floor

Katwaria Sarai

New Delhi-16

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Cc

Cabinet Secretary, Government of India  

Secretary to the President of India

Dr Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister, Cabinet Committee on Security, Government of India  

Chief Minister, Government of Bihar

Chief Minister, Government of Tripura

Chief Minister, Government of Uttar Pradesh

Chief Minister, Government of Tamil Nadu

Chief Minister, Government of Punjab

Chief Minister, Government of Goa

Chief Minister, Government of Wesr Bengal

Chief Minister, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Chief Minister, Government of Odisha

Chief Minister, Government of Jharkhand

Chief Election Commissioner, Election Commission of India

Comptroller & Auditor General of India

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Home Affairs

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Personnel, Public Grievances, Law & Justice

Chairman, Public Accounts Committee

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on Defence

Chairman, Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs

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Hon’ble Members of Parliament

Lt Governor, Government of National Capital Territory of Delhi

Chief Secretary, Government of Andhra Pradesh

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Chief Secretary, Government of Chattisgarh

Chief Secretary, Government of Goa

Chief Secretary, Government of Gujarat

Chief Secretary, Government of Haryana,

Chief Secretary, Government of Himachal Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Jammu and Kashmir

Chief Secretary, Government of Jharkhand

Chief Secretary, Government of Karnataka

Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala

Chief Secretary, Government of Madhya Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Maharashtra

Chief Secretary, Government of Orissa

Chief Secretary, Government of Punjab

Chief Secretary, Government of Rajasthan

Chief Secretary, Government of Tamil Nadu

Chief Secretary, Government of Uttar Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Uttarakhand

Chief Secretary, Government of West Bengal

Chief Secretary, Government of Puducherry

Chief Secretary, Government of Arunachal Pradesh

Chief Secretary, Government of Assam

Chief Secretary, Government of Manipur

Chief Secretary, Government of Meghalaya

Chief Secretary, Government of Mizoram

Chief Secretary, Government of Nagaland

Chief Secretary, Government of Sikkim

Chief Secretary, Government of Tripura

Chief Secretary, Government of Andaman and Nicobar (UT)

Administrator, Government of Dadra and Nagar Haveli (UT)

Administrator, Government of Daman and Diu (UT)

Administrator, Government of Lakshadweep (UT)

Gopal Krishna

ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA)

New Delhi 

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Surveillance State is unfolding using National Population Register (NPR) for Multi-purpose Identity Card (MNIC), Unique Identification /Aadhaar Number, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), DNA Profiling, National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), National Information Utility, Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations, Electronic Services Delivery Law, amendments in Information Technology Act, Land Titling Bill etc in line with the policy of North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). None of the above programmes and subordinate legislations have legislative mandate.