AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 3359 - Aadhaar project data collection: An interview with Mindtree's CEO

In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.

On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.

In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.

In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.

In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.

"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi

Ram Krishnaswamy

Sydney, Australia.

Aadhaar

The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018

When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.

Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.

Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh

But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.

August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden

In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.

Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.

Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.

UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy

1) Denial

2) Issue fiats and point finger

3) Shoot messenger

4) Bury head in sand.

God Save India

Sunday, June 2, 2013

3359 - Aadhaar project data collection: An interview with Mindtree's CEO

Aadhaar project data collection: An interview with Mindtree's CEO

Dinesh Dhiman

Krishnakumar Natarajan, CEO at service provider Mindtree, recently updated SearchDataCenterIN on the challenges the company faced with its recent work on the Aadhaar (UID) project, the Indian government's plan to issue all of its citizens biometric ID cards.

In 2010, Mindtree won the contract to create and supply the application that collects and stores the personal details and biometric data of more than a billion Indians as part of the Aadhaar project. Each data center stores an estimated 5 MB of data about each person registered, which adds 4 TB of new data every day during peak enrollment periods.

Mindtree provided the following for the application it developed for the Aadhaar project:

Solution architecture
Design, development and testing
Build and release management
Participation in pilots and proof of concepts
Integration with partner systems, such as call centers, India post and banks
Application maintenance, support and help desk services

The company delivered an enrollment client, an enrollment server, an authentication module, a fraud detection module, an administration module, an analytics and reporting module and an information portal.

Mindtree completed its part of the project in January and so far about 350 million people have registered using the Mindtree application.

How has Mindtree contributed to the UID project?

Mindtree was the application, architecture and development partner for the UID project and we have completed all our application work for the program. We have transitioned support to the vendor who supports running as well as smooth operations of the application, currently HCL Infosystems.

What are the main challenges you have faced while working on the UID project?

The project was extremely complex from the architecture viewpoint. UID had on its rolls several experts brought in on an engagement basis. The experience and knowledge of those professionals helped us to architect a solution that was scalable and addressed the complexity involved in biometric iris scans as well as ensuring non-duplication of data. Beyond the applications architecture, there were local challenges while it was rolled out across the country.

How did Mindtree approach the UID project, which is aimed at radically transforming the way government executes its duties?

You are right that the UID project is aimed at transforming the way the government executes its duties. At Mindtree we are very clear that we are engaged in the project more to bring in expertise which we had. Also since this was an application of such a scale and magnitude, we were flexible and met the expectation of the customers and that consequently led to the huge success of the project.

Did you have run-ins with the infamous Indian red tape?

Although a lot is talked about the famous Indian red tape, I think there are many pockets of excellence within the Indian government. And in the UID organization we found a world class team that was passionate in implementing the solution and hence we did not run into any of the 'red tape' as perceived by others.

Did the fact that project leader Nandan Nilekani came from Infosys help with the IT challenge?

Mr. Nandan Nilekani is a great visionary and it was his vision to try and create a solution that will improve service delivery to citizens and make it substantively different. His background working in a software company did help his ability to influence his stakeholders in a manner in which they accepted the solution far more easily.

Is the experience acquired with the project going to help Mindtree in future?

Clearly the experience which we have gained in UID will help Mindtree in the future. Today the UID application is one of the largest data bases across the world and having been engaged with the project of this scale the experience gained will help us do complex work for our customers.