5733 - A privacy law must be passed to protect Indians' data - Business Standard

A privacy law must be passed to protect Indians' data

Business Standard Editorial Comment  |  New Delhi  July 26, 2014 Last Updated at 20:40 IST

The rapid growth of India's cyber-population has also led to the escalation of cybercrime. The widespread lack of awareness about data privacy enables online criminals - and so does the lack of comprehensive Indian data-related legislation. The financial intelligence firm, Ultrascan, recently estimated that Indians "donated" over $870 million online in 2013 to scamsters in Advance Fee Frauds of the sort conceptualised by Nigerian con men. In an operation under AFF, thousands of emails are sent out offering large sums. To receive the promised reward, recipients must submit personal details (name, address, bank account number, scans of identity documents, Income Tax Permanent Account Numbers, and so on) and pay a processing fee. The gullible pay - and lose the fees, of course. More dangerously, the data may be used to empty out the victim's bank account and misuse credit cards for purchases, etc. In the most extreme cases, the victim's identity can be stolen and misused, including by terrorists.

Indian surfers seem to be among the world's most gullible when it comes to offering personal data. This trait is confirmed by another survey by the American data storage services provider, EMC Corporation. The global EMC Privacy Index compares the attitudes of consumers. It judges how willing they are to trade personal data for gain, or convenience. In the 2014 survey of 15,000 persons across 15 nations, Indians ranked at the top in terms of being willing to trade data for convenience. Huge amounts of personal data about each Indian are stored online, and such data are growing exponentially. As citizens, Indians offer data, including biometrics for a wide range of government services such as passports, Aadhaar cards, driving licences, registrations of real estate transactions, court affidavits, etc. In accessing medical and financial services, they offer data-sets to other service providers, including many private sector organisations. They collect and offer yet more data in social media activities, in online transactions, and in conducting businesses and professional activities. In addition, national security agencies actively collect data via clandestine surveillance programmes, such as the US Prism, or the Indian NETRA. All those data are stored in databases, government-owned or private, with varying levels of security. Data may sometimes be openly sold. Individuals may also be storing data in devices like laptops, tablets and mobile phones, which are all vulnerable to hacking and theft.

The casual attitude of the average Indian citizen to data privacy is mirrored by a lack of legislation. There is no specific privacy law, although the A P Shah Commission submitted draft guidelines for privacy legislation in 2012. There is no law specific to DNA collection norms. While the IT Rules 2011 identifies some digital data as "sensitive and personal", coverage is patchy. Location data, for example, are not considered private. There are no clear guidelines for safe collection, storage, use, sale and transfer of sensitive data - and, naturally, there are no penalties prescribed for unsafe data-handling processes. It is also not clear what data are admissible as evidence, especially if such data are clandestinely gathered. Nor are there specific safeguards against data forgery, or manipulation.

This is unacceptable, given the possibility of widespread, egregious misuse of an increasingly broad range of digital data. The law must catch up with the technology as soon as possible. The legislation of comprehensive laws and guidelines about data should be a top priority. Ideally, a privacy law to protect personal liberty should also be on the agenda.

5732 - Listening devices found in Gadkari residence

Listening devices found in Gadkari residence

Probe revealed that the bugs were ‘planted by a foreign agency. The sophisticated listening devices found are used only by western intelligence operatives.’

NAVTAN KUMAR  New Delhi | 26Th Jul 2014

In a startling incident, high power listening devices were found in the bedroom of Nitin Gadkari at his 13 Teen Murti Lane residence in New Delhi. The discovery was "accidental" and a debugging exercise was immediately ordered. According to highly placed sources, more devices were consequently discovered at the residence of the senior BJP leader who is also the Union Minister for Road Transport & Highways. Gadkari has apparently informed Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) chief Mohan Bhagwat about the incident. Initial investigations have revealed that the bugs were "planted in the house by a foreign agency since the sophisticated listening devices found are used only by western intelligence operatives, particularly the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the National Security Agency (NSA)".  It may be recalled that Edward Snowden's revelations carried by Washington Post on 30 June stated that top BJP leaders were under surveillance by a premier US spy agency. It could not be ascertained who besides Gadkari were the other BJP leaders who had been spied upon. Operations may now be going on to check whether, or not, other prominent BJP leaders too were under surveillance by this external agency. The BJP-led NDA government lodged a strong protest with the US State Department following the publication of the news in the Washington Post. Nitin Gadkari could not be contacted for his comments despite repeated attempts. There was no response to a text message sent to him on his cell phone. However, his executive secretary Vaibhav Dange said he was not aware of any such incident. When asked for Mr Gadkari's comment, he said, "I have no information about it." It may be mentioned that Gadkari has since 2011 been among the most important leaders of the BJP. His proximity to the RSS leadership is well known. After the Modi government was sworn in, he, Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh are amongst the principal advisers of the Prime Minister. Highly placed sources said the listening devices were of exceptionally high quality, such as not generally used in India. The Indian agencies which debugged the house have indicated the role of a foreign hand. The incident comes in the wake of recent revelations that US' top spy agency, National Security Agency, was authorised by a US court in 2010 to carry out surveillance on the BJP along with five other political organisations across the world, including Egypt's Muslim Brotherhood and Pakistan People's Party.  The NSA had sought permission to carry out surveillance, according to a document provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden, which was made public by the Washington Post recently. Snowden leaked thousands of classified documents to the media, uncovering the existence of numerous global surveillance programmes, many of them run by the NSA, which triggered worldwide outrage. This is not the first such case of surveillance of senior politicians in recent times. In June 2011, there were reports that offices of the Ministry of Finance were bugged. President Pranab Mukherjee was heading the ministry at that time. About a year later, there was a report that the then Defence Minister A.K. Antony's office had been bugged. While the details were not made public, the incidents were seen as a part of internal Congress politics, unlike in the present case, where the role of a foreign agency is suspected.

5731 - Rs 50k crore a year: reason Modi backed Aadhaar - Governance Now

Rs 50k crore a year: reason Modi backed Aadhaar

The decision to continue with the Aadhaar scheme shows how Narendra Modi intends to run his government: pragmatism, instead of ideology

PRATAP VIKRAM SINGH | JULY 26, 2014

Ashish Asthana

July 5 was the day of reckoning for the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI). Its director-general and mission director Vijay Madan was to make a presentation before Narendra Modi, as part of the ongoing series of briefings all departments and secretaries were making before the new prime minister. If Madan and his team were a little nervous, that would have been understandable.

The BJP, now the ruling party, has been highly critical of the ambitious though controversial project – the biggest of its kind in the world by far – to collect biometrics of all residents of India and grant them a unique ID number. Modi himself had raised questions about it (even though Gujarat under his leadership had been doing well in implementing and making best use of Aadhaar). Addressing an election rally in Bangalore on April 8, Modi told the gathering: “I asked several questions on the Aadhaar project. I asked them (the UPA government) questions relating to illegal migrants and national security. They did not have any answer.” He chose to make this point in Bangalore, because it was from this city that the face of Aadhaar, Nandan Nilekani, was contesting elections on a Congress ticket, after quitting the UIDAI that he had helped set up.

Ahead of the crucial July 5 meet, media reports were not predicting a bright future for the project, and were quoting sources who believed Aadhaar would be merged with the national population register (NPR, a home ministry initiative to provide ID cards to all citizens), doing away with a functional overlap that has been one of the many controversies dragging the UID.

But Madan and his team were in for a surprise. As the meeting got under way, Modi lost no time in coming straight to business. When the UID team spoke of the potential savings from plugging subsidy leakages, Modi asked them to give a precise estimate.

The defining idea of Aadhaar is that subsidies and welfare funds – in the form of cheaper ration and cooking gas, pensions and scholarships and so on – often go in the pockets of people for whom they were not intended. Such ‘ghost’ beneficiaries can be weeded out of the official lists or databases if every genuine beneficiary’s identity was well established, which was what Aadhaar does by collecting everybody’s fingerprints and eye scans.

Before Madan could reply to Modi’s query, a prime minister’s office (PMO) official informed him that making all subsidy or welfare related payments only through the fail-proof Aadhaar mode can save “up to '50,000 crore a year”, says a senior official who is in the know. '50,000 crore would come to a good 9.4 percent of India’s fiscal deficit (currently estimated at '5,31,177 crore). Given the fact that the humongous and ever widening fiscal deficit, an indicator of the government’s spending beyond its means, is Modi’s topmost challenge and the first hurdle to his promised “Achchhe Din”, he did not have to think twice before giving his vote of confidence to the project.

Soon, the word was out that the Modi government was once again proving media pundits wrong and pumping in '2,000 crore for Aadhaar for the remaining part of the current fiscal (a development first reported on the Governance Now website ahead of the meet).

The funding was formalised in the union budget presented a week later. The budget document notes, “A sum of '2,039.64 crore has been provided for 2014-15 to execute the task of implementing unique identification as entrusted to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).”

The amount will be used to create infrastructure to enrol 30 crore people. The authority has so far enrolled 70 crore people, and issued the 12-digit unique IDs to 65 crore of them. Thus, the UIDAI targets to achieve the 1 billion mark by the end of the fiscal – a worldwide milestone.

Not only that, once Modi decided to take up this ambitious project under his wings, he also decided to push for the long-pending bill to give the legal backing to the UIDAI.

At the end of the meeting, which was also attended by cabinet ministers Arun Jaitley and Rajnath Singh and minister of state for planning Rao Inderjit Singh, it was clear that the ambitious project of the UPA will not only survive but could also flourish in a way that it could not under the previous leadership.

Relieved UIDAI officials later said they had been not much worried as only a foolhardy government could ignore the Aadhaar benefits and jettison '4,000 crore that has already gone into it.

Nilekani too would have reacted the same way. Earlier this year, the then UIDAI chairman had termed as baseless the apprehensions about the future of Aadhaar in case BJP came to power. “In Gujarat we haven’t faced any objection from the government to the enrolment drive. It is being implemented without any hassle in the state,” Nilekani had told Governance Now in an informal interaction.

The decision, taken without any fanfare, also shows how Modi intends to run the government: pragmatism instead of ideology, continuity instead of ruptures. It also shows Modi is not averse to welfare-centric programmes that defined the government led by Sonia Gandhi’s Congress. He does not see welfare and growth as mutually exclusive but more as complementary to each other.

Subsidy Sudoku
Fine-tuning the subsidies, directing them only to those in the need, is the raison d’etre of Aadhaar. Take the case of the subsidy for LPG, or cooking gas. There are 14 crore LPG consumers and the government spends roughly '40,000 crore in subsidy annually to make the cylinder affordable enough. Though meant for domestic users, a large number of cylinders used to be diverted to commercial users, thus increasing the subsidy burden. Since January 1 last year, the government has been trying to curtail the misuse through the much-hyped direct benefit transfer (DBT) – though the efforts leave much to be desired. No wonder it turned out to be, for the Congress, a game changer that wasn’t.

Aadhaar: the story so far

• A unique identification scheme was first discussed in 2006; later the department of IT gave administrative approval for the scheme ‘Unique ID for BPL Families’
• UIDAI was set up in 2009 under the planning commission through an executive order
• Nandan Nilekani left Infosys in 2009 to join UIDAI as its chairman following request from PM Manmohan Singh
• The bill to grant UIDAI statutory status tabled in 2010; sent to the standing committee on finance which severely criticised the concept, stating that it  doesn’t have a clear purpose
• First Aadhaar number issued to Ranjana of Tembhli village in Nandurbar district of Maharashtra on September 29, 2010
• Government gives enrollment target of 60 crore by end of 2014; UIDAI completes task seven months in advance
• Direct benefit transfer (DBT) launched in 20 districts on January 1, 2013, DBT-L (for cooking gas) launched in June 2013
• In January 2014, Aadhaar delinked from disbursal of LPG subsidy
• Nilekani resigns in March to contest Lok Sabha elections
• PM Modi gives his nod, '2039 crore allocated for the rest of fiscal

If LPG cylinders are distributed only on the basis of unique ID of the beneficiary, it would result in 10-12 percent savings for the exchequer, that is, about '4,000 crore a year. That was the estimate S Sundareshan, mission director, DBT, mentioned in a press conference October last year. When the component of DBT dealing with LPG (called DBT-L) was expanded from 100 districts to 281 districts in January-February, petroleum ministry officials estimated that the savings could be '12,000 crore.

“Even after taking all costs into account and making modest assumptions of leakages of about 7-12 percent of the value of transfer subsidy, we find that Aadhaar project would yield an internal rate of return in real terms of 52.85 percent to the government,” noted the national institute of public finance and policy (NIPFP) in a cost-benefit analysis study of the project in 2012. “We find that substantial benefits would accrue to the government by integrating Aadhaar with schemes such as PDS, MNREGS, fertiliser and LPG subsidies, as well as housing, education and health programmes,” said the NIPFP study.

Citizens or residents?
One of the many controversies associated with Aadhaar is that the UID is being issued to the “normal residents” of the country, and not the citizens – even if the identity card gives the impression of citizenship. This subtle distinction becomes crucial in case of illegal migrants – the bone of contention between home ministry and UIDAI even in the UPA times, not to mention the BJP’s opposition to it.

When contacted, UIDAI deputy director general AP Singh reiterated the position the organisation took in a case before the supreme court and said, “The UIDAI, as a matter of policy, is not issuing Aadhaar to illegal immigrants. Not even a single case of illegal immigrants getting Aadhaar has been brought to our notice so far.” In fact, the UIDAI sees merit in capturing biometric data of illegal immigrants. “It will make tracking (illegal migrants) easy. If a court approves and the home ministry gives the authority a negative list, a system can be put in place wherein if an immigrant tries to authenticate itself at any terminal an automatic alert can be sent to security agencies,” Singh said.

Meanwhile, the home ministry has also reviewed the NPR, the initiative started in 2007 to create a national register of Indian citizens and giving a citizen ID card only to the genuine Indian citizens. During the budget session, home minister Rajnath Singh told the Lok Sabha that the registrar general of India (RGI) and UIDAI will together ascertain the total population and the number of India citizens among them through “mutual coordination”. “Who is an infiltrator and who is not an Indian citizen...to identify them we are devising a foolproof way. Concerned over this, the PM had called a meeting in which officials preparing the NPR and UIDAI were called,” he said. “Whoever is an Indian citizen, we will issue them a national identity card,” he added.

The contours of this “mutual coordination” are yet to be defined.The national register of Indian citizens (NRIC) will be created by verifying the citizenship status of every resident. The home ministry is in the process of finalising a concrete plan for undertaking the mammoth exercise. Under the new strategy the ministry is expected to expand the parameters to be used to establish citizenship, according to media reports.

Legal backing
The UIDAI, as of now, lacks statutory backing. It was set up in 2009 under the planning commission, through an executive order. A bill to make it a statutory body was introduced in 2010, but the parliamentary standing committee on finance, headed by former finance minister Yashwant Sinha of BJP, severely criticised the concept. The Manmohan Singh cabinet revised and approved a new version in October 2013. Here is the irony: the government that conceived it, called it a game-changer and banked on it to win the third term had no guts to back it up. The revised bill could not be introduced after the election season began late last year.

Modi has not only given Aadhaar a reprieve, he is bringing in the long-pending bill too. AP Singh said that the preamble of the revised version explicitly states that Aadhaar will be used for service delivery – a fact not mentioned in the initial version of the bill. The rest of the bill has not been changed much. In fact, the standing committee had not objected to any specific provision of the bill either. Its observations were generic in nature, Singh said.  
The authority is currently reviewing the bill before sending it to the law ministry and the cabinet secretariat for vetting. It will then go for inter-ministerial consultations. The reworked bill, after incorporating feedback from other ministries, will be sent to the cabinet for final approval. The law ministry will do the final vetting before introducing it in parliament.

Modi’s backing, meanwhile, does not necessarily mean some of the questions over Aadhaar his own party had raised need not be answered. Indeed, there are several problem areas, several wrinkles that need to  be ironed out (see box). The bottom-line, though, is clear: Aadhaar has got a solid foundation.

5730 - Modi sarkar breaks with UPA policy, ends up scoring self-goal at WTO - First Post

Modi sarkar breaks with UPA policy, ends up scoring self-goal at WTO

by MK Venu  Jul 26, 2014 13:40 IST

The Modi government is facing diplomatic embarrassment because of its latest negotiating stand at the WTO which boxes India into a corner with countries like Venezuela, Cuba and Argentina even as some hitherto strong and empathetic partners such as China, Brazil, South Africa and Indonesia have distanced themselves from India by agreeing to move ahead with the new trade facilitation agreement signed at the Bali ministerial meeting last December.

India has ended up creating confusion because it had also agreed to be part of the global trade facilitation agreement (common customs governance mechanism) at Bali on the explicit condition that the developed countries will not interfere with India's massive food procurement programme until a permanent solution was found to some unfair provisions within the WTO in regard to allowing higher minimum support price to farmers.

The patently unfair provision in WTO puts a permanent cap on the procurement price the government can give farmers for its food security programme. India had argued that there can't be a permanent cap on procurement price as annual inflation must be adequately reflected in the higher procurement price. If annual inflation is factored in adequately, then India's procurement price is justified and well within WTO bounds.

India had made this argument in Bali and even had the sympathy and support of the larger grouping of G-33 nations. Based on this argument the West, led by the United States, agreed to find a permanent solution to this problem in the next four years before the next WTO ministerial meeting. This was discussed by the UPA government in Parliament in the presence of opposition members like Arun Jaitley. The BJP agreed to the formulation that we can go ahead and sign the trade facilitation agreement if India is allowed to continue with its food procurement programme till a permanent solution is found by the next ministerial meeting on how price paid to farmers for procurement is fairly determined.

However, the NDA government is seeking to bring about a substantive change in that position by arguing India will sign the trade facilitation agreement only if a permanent solution to food procurement is institutionally initiated simultaneously. Since this is a somewhat new formulation, India's erstwhile friends among the big developing economies like China, Indonesia and Africa have moved away from us.

PM Narendra Modi in this file photo. AFP

The commerce minister Nirmala Sitharam had some unpleasant exchanges with the G-20 Chiarman in Australia last week who was summarising the collective position of various countries on the trade facilitation agreement. The Commerce Minister is believed to have briefed Modi on the matter after her return. Simultaneously India's ambassador at the WTO secretariat in Geneva has also taken the stand that trade facilitation agreement must be notified simultaneously with the announcement of an institutionalised framework to solve the procurement price issue.

Basically, the Modi government now seems to indicate that India can't wait for four years till the next ministerial meeting and wants some concrete assurance now.

This change of stand compared to what the UPA had proposed last December has somewhat isolated India globally. But BJP can sharpen its domestic political rhetoric saying it was acting in the interest of the farmers.

Actually, Modi's explicit promise to Indian farmers in public meetings that the government would ensure a 50 percent profit margin to them over their total costs could be one reason why India is hardening its position at the WTO. The Sangh Parivar could also have intervened to ask Modi not to make any commitment at the WTO at this moment.

Interestingly, Pakistan also had a massive food procurement programme but it pays cash subsidy to farmers. Cash payment is allowed under the WTO rules because it doesn't interfere with the market price mechanism. The NDA can also use cash transfer as a possible bargaining lever at a later stage. This could be another reason why Modi has reiterated his commitment to cash transfer as a form of paying subsidy.

The author is Executive Editor at the Amar Ujala Publications Group

5729 - GOVERNMENT: NDA U-TURNS Goody, Goody Days - Outlook India

GOVERNMENT: NDA U-TURNS

Goody, Goody Days

Pre-poll noise dies off, the BJP U-turns to follow up UPA policies

ARINDAM MUKHERJEE

In early 2011, when Aadhaar was being launched in the states, then Gujarat CM Narendra Modi had refused to let the identification system roll out in his state. Gujarat had its own citizens’ documentation system, he had said. Over the next two years, the BJP spared no effort to play down the UPA government’s pet project, and never shied of taking digs at its frontman Nan­dan Nilekani. Aadhaar was an exe­rcise in futility, it had then said, and if it came to power, it would give preference to the “more logical and robust” National Pop­ulation Register (NPR).

Two months into the national government, in a clear departure from that vocal rebuff, the BJP-led government has given a clear indication that Aadhaar will continue. Why, it is even giving the project more funds. Surprised? Actually, there are numerous issues (see graphic) where Narendra Modi’s government has reneged from the party’s old stand and election-time promises. 

The long list of U-turns includes issues like the N-liability bill, opening up the insurance sector, unearthing black money in Swiss banks and removing subsidy on diesel.

Indeed, that’s why many wryly say the NDA government thus far continues to follow the policies of its predecessor, the UPA government. “There is absolutely no difference between the BJP and the Congress as far as major policy is concerned,” says CPI(M) leader Nilotpal Basu. The most blatant of the U-turns has been that on the much- debated Henderson Brooks report on the India-China war of 1962. Parts of it had been recently posted online by Australian journalist Neville Maxwell, access to which was blocked by the UPA. As late as in March, then LoP in the Rajya Sabha Arun Jaitley had strongly argued on his blog that the report be declassified. But rec­ently, Jaitley, now defence and finance minister, stated in Parliament that the Brooks report was a top secret docu­m­ent and disclosure of any information from it would not be in the national interest. His earlier blog post sudde­nly can’t be accessed.

Even on the black money issue, the gove­rnm­ent’s present position is a major deviation from its earlier stand. After being extremely vocal about fishing out Indians with money stashed away in Swiss bank accounts, it is now saying that there is no list of Indians with money there and has exhorted the departments concer­ned to look for black money within India instead.

“UID is no longer a local initiative. It has global           interests.  The WB puts UID rider on developing country projects now.” Usha Ramanathan, Legal Expert 

Obviously, this volte-face has irked many, especially after the strong posit­ion the BJP took on these issues. Whe­ther this was because of political com­pulsions or due to a vacuous line on policy within government is being deb­ated by exp­erts. “When in opposition, you take an ext­r­eme position without thinking about the INS and outs of an issue,” says Arun Kumar, professor of economics at Jawaharlal Nehru Univ­e­rsity, and an expert on the black economy. “This is what the BJP did—it took a position and used the public dissatisfaction against the government to their advantage,” he adds. Obviously the policy status quo from a party that came to power on a promise of total change, and achhe din, has not gone down too well with the electorate, especially moves like increasing railway fares and conti­n­uing with the monthly diesel price increase policy, both perceived as anti-common man.

What has surprised many experts is that this comes despite the NDA’s  huge mandate which can ensure a fast passage of any legislation they int­roduce. Says economist Narendar Pani, “What is surprising is the government has gone with UPA polices even when there is no compulsion to do so.” This proves, he says, that “the bulk of what they were saying was election campaign compulsions. They may not have been opp­osed to the issues at all”.

Take, for instance, the BJP’s stated posit­ion against any further opening up of the insurance sector to foreign direct investment. Even late last year, they had reasser­ted this but the government has increased the FDI limit from 26 to 49 per cent, a move the UPA had been talking about. Or the BJP’s stated stand against FDI in multi-brand retail and its promise to reverse the UPA policy when in power. That too hasn’t happened.

Obviously, the Congress and the UPA are pleased. Says former UPA minister Manish Tewari, “It only goes on to substantiate the fact that they were only int­erested in riding the rhetorical horse, fully knowing what the UPA did was in national interest.”

The government’s defence obviously would be that it has been in power for just two months and that much of its policies and promises are yet to be fulfilled. That may be so. After 10 years in opposition, the party may be still sea­rc­hing for the right talent pool. But there’s no denying a tinge of disappointment that the BJP’s actions belie the huge mandate it got. For now, it looks like more old wine in a new bottle.

***

Why The BJP Government Looks Like UPA-3

GST/VAT

• Then: BJP states opposed GST on issues like revenue-sharing on petroleum and liquor; ditto for VAT
• Now: Has set a fresh, urgent deadline for GST implementation. Also supporting VAT now.

Black money

• Then: Clamoured for making public the list of people who had stashed money in Swiss banks
• Now: Says there is no such list of people with Swiss bank accounts. To look for black money within India now.

Opening up Insurance

• Then: Even as late as August 2013, the BJP opposed further opening up of insurance
• Now: Has approved increase in FDI in insurance from 26% to 49%

Aadhaar

• Then: Opposed and said it was a futile exercise. Said it should be merged with NPR.
• Now: Has allowed Aadhaar to continue, is giving it more funds. Will link it to new services.

Henderson Brooks Report

• Then: Rajya Sabha LoP Arun Jaitley made a strong pitch for declassifiying the report on the 1962 India-China war
• Now: Defence minister Jaitley says the report’s release or disclosure would not be in national interest

Diesel Subsidy

• Then: Opposed the monthly increase in diesel prices on the grounds that it will impact Railways, farmers
• Now: Has continued the policy set by the UPA government

Nuclear Liability Bill

• Then: Was instrumental in pushing a very high liability for N-suppliers, which nixed all progress in N-projects
• Now: Liability ‘cap’ expected to see renegotiations during Modi’s US visit in Sept. N-suppliers want a lower cap.

FDI in Multi-Brand Retail

• Then: Strongly opposed it and said that when in power, they will reverse policy
• Now: Quiet on policy reversal though asserting its opposition. Has further opened up single brand retail.

5728 - Suspicions raised on ‘diversion’ of subsidised LPG cylinders - The Hindu

MYSORE, July 27, 2014

Updated: July 27, 2014 12:17 IST

Suspicions raised on ‘diversion’ of subsidised LPG cylinders

SHANKAR BENNUR

‘Commercial cylinder sales dropped after halt of DBT scheme’

Has the suspension of the Aadhaar-linked Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme for domestic LPG in Mysore district led to ‘diversion’ of subsidised LPG cylinders?

The reason for this suspicion is the decline in the sale of commercial (non-subsidised) LPG cylinders.

‘25 p.c. drop’

Deputy Director of Food and Civil Supplies K. Rameshwarappa told The Hindu here on Saturday that LPG dealers had told him that they noticed at least a 25 per cent drop in the sale of non-subsidised cylinders after the DBT scheme for domestic LPG cylinders was suspended.

“This has raised doubt on whether the subsidised domestic cylinders were being diverted for commercial purposes. The seizure of about seven domestic LPG cylinders from an illegal refilling unit here serves as an indication,” Mr. Rameshwarappa said.

He said LPG dealers had realised there was a drastic reduction in the sale of commercial cylinders, especially after the DBT scheme was halted.

Mr. Rameshwarappa said steps had been taken to identify consumers who were ‘diverting’ their cylinders for purposes other than domestic use. “If found guilty, criminal proceedings will be launched against such consumers,” he warned.

Following suspicion of “diversion” of domestic LPG cylinders, the department has told dealers to take proper measures.

Diversion of cylinders, if it was occurring, must be checked, the official had said at the meeting with LPG dealers.

‘Take measures’

Mr. Rameshwarappa said distributors had been asked to keep track of the supply by mentioning the serial number of the consumer on the bill along with entries in the “blue book” or domestic gas consumer card, which is with the consumer, at the time of delivery.

The delivery details must be properly entered at the time of delivery.

In addition, the distributor must ensure the return of the same cylinder supplied to the consumer for refill. In case the cylinder was being misused, it would be known when it was returned for refill, he said.

The Deputy Director said that autorickshaw drivers and hoteliers had been warned against using illegal LPG cylinders or buying refilled cylinders from those running illegal LPG refilling units.

5727 - Aadhaar still rife with security flaws - TNN

Aadhaar still rife with security flaws

Bharti Jain, TNN | Jul 27, 2014, 03.11AM IST

UIDAI in 2012 had found that the enrolment device could be taken outside its defined territory, including foreign land, to enroll people and send data to UIDAI for processing.

NEW DELHI: In what could point to serious security loopholes in Aadhar project, an internal risk assessment by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in 2012 had found that the enrolment device could be taken outside its defined territory, including foreign land, to enroll people and send data to UIDAI for processing.

The anomaly led a UIDAI committee, set up in the wake of the government's January 2012 direction to the authority to make its enrolment process more robust, to recommend installation of a GPS device in all enrolment devices. This would ensure that enrolment happened only within the geographical boundary of India and also in the states allocated to UIDAI. The cost of such device was covered in the revised cost estimates approved by the cabinet committee on UIDAI. However, the GPS feature was never implemented.

Modi govt to give legal backing to Aadhaar

According to experts, non-enablement of GPS feature in the Aadhar enrolment device poses a security risk as it is possible to enroll people in non-Aadhar states as well as foreign territory if the operator of the enrolment agency connives with someone. Since UIDAI allows enrolment of a person anywhere in the country by any enrolment agency, even if a few agencies get "compromised", a large number of ineligible people can get entry into the UIDAI database, thereby gaining access to banking services and DBT facility.

Though TOI repeatedly contacted UIDAI officials for their version, they were not forthcoming with a response.

The UIDAI's risk assessment exercise, assisted by HCL, also recommended other security upgrades such as scanning of proof of identity and proof of address documents furnished by the Aadhar applicant at enrolment, and uploading them as part of the enrolment packet. This way the enrolment data could be matched with scanned documents during a subsequent quality check. Scanning, however, would mean a delay of few minutes per enrolment, besides additional costs and manpower. Though UIDAI got the estimated extra cost on scanning approved by the CC-UIDAI, even this feature was never activated.

Even the offline system that UIDAI settled for to collect proof or identity/address documents, followed by their scanning by a vendor-document management service (DMS), has been far from perfect. Not only was the DMS late in picking up documents from the enrolment agencies, but it was found in some cases that the agencies never collected the documents. There were also instances of documents not matching details of the Aadhar applicant, or being torn.

Experts cautioned such weaknesses could be exploited by the enrolment agencies to enroll residents without any document, including for a monetary consideration. The risk assessment team had warned that with the connivance of the operator, it is possible that biometrics of a foreign national are captured to generate Aadhaar number to a local resident to give him two Aadhar numbers and also capture mixed biometrics of more than one person for a single enrolment.

Also found prone to misuse was a software that allows biometric exception cases. Primarily meant for the physically challenged, it enables such persons to be enrolled without fingerprints or iris scan. It has come to the UIDAI's notice that a few unscrupulous operators have misused this feature to enroll able-bodied people without biometric data. This led UIDAI to intensify back-end checks, which led to large-scale rejection of enrolment packets.

Incidentally, the UIDAI has earlier rejected a home ministry suggestion for a security audit of Aadhar enrolment system.

Though UIDAI used to get demographic data verified manually by operators, this was discontinued in order to speed up Aadhar generation for DBT purposes. Even the feature of having government supervisors posted at each enrolment station was eased over time. First, the government supervisor was replaced by the enrolment agency's own supervisor, and then, one operator was allowed to become supervisor for another, defeating the purpose of having a supervisor.

5726 - Letter to PMO by Anupam Saraph

Letter to PMO by 

Anupam Saraph‎PMO India July 8 at 4:32pm · Pune, India ·

There is conflicting news in the media about your policy on the UID and NPR. I also trust you have received all previous mails sent to you on the matter.

I am writing to you again, to bring to your urgent attention the governance disaster, risk to the national security and failure of the rule of law that will happen if the UPA's flagship program, the UID, were not scrapped.

The UID is not a proof of identity. It is not even a proof of address. Worse it is not even a proof of existence: it does not prove that the person with a UID is a real person.

The UID is merely a random number assigned to unverified and unaudited data submitted by third parties paid per record. It provides no way to verify if the 12-digit number is one issued by the UIDAI, or even who submitted the biometric and demographic data. Worse, there is no way to tell if this number belongs to a real individual, or to the individual who submits the number, or is even a number generated through a diligent process, or by an authentic enroller, registrar, or the UIDAI. What is unbelievable is the identity solution cannot authenticate its own genuineness, the genuineness of its enrollers, registrars or of the UIDAI itself.

You will agree that the use of such unauditable, unverifiable and unauthentic-able number to authenticate identity, to serve as the basis for governance, to be used to deliver benefits, rights and entitlements, to be used to open bank accounts and transfer money, to create citizen registers or electoral rolls will seriously compromise governance, national security and the rule of law.

The former Chairperson of UIDAI sat on various committees that forced the use and linkage of UID by different departments. By linking the UID to the NPR and other government databases it is jeopardizing the fidelity of these databases, the delivery of rights, entitlements and services to the citizens, the credibility and outreach of governance and national security. It is creating undetectable back-doors to cause identity theft, embezzlement, money laundering, destruction of financial institutions, destruction of citizen registers (NPR, and Electoral Rolls) and massive failures of delivery of rights and entitlements to citizens.

What then should the government's policy on the UID and NPR be?

# Scrap the UID and destroy its database as was done by the UK govt.
# Delink NPR and other databases from UID.
# Internally connect the birth, marriage, address registration and death records without requiring any form, id numbers or id from citizens to create a NPR.
# Establish an audit cell with CAG to audit NPR.
# No citizen should need to submit to government any document issued by the government itself.
# No one to be denied any service, entitlement or right for want of Id; Id of person benefiting from service, entitlement or right to be given recognition for auditability and future transactions.
# Undertake annual audits of delivery of service, entitlement or right and seek the creation of a register of the excluded to ensure no one will be excluded from rights.

I urge you, to arrest further losses to the country before its governability, security and integrity is compromised, to stop enrollments for UID, freeze the database and use of UID and appoint an commission of enquiry to work out a plan to destroy the UID database and use of UID as was done by the UK government when David Cameroon took over as the Prime Minister. In the interest of governance, the Cabinet Secretary, the Home Ministry, the RBI, the ECI and the Registrar General of India need to be urgently asked to stop the use of the UID and delink all their data from UID.

I am happy to provide you with more information as well as help design alternate ways to clean government databases without inconveniencing a single citizen.

Sincerely,

Anupam Saraph

5725 - My Call Detail Records and A Citizen’s Right to Privacy By Shri Arun Jaitley

My Call Detail Records and

A Citizen’s Right to Privacy

By Shri Arun Jaitley
Leader of Opposition (Rajya Sabha)

In the past few months I have been closely monitoring a series of news reports which deal with surveillance of my mobile phones. An effort has been made to get access to my call detail records. On two occasions senior officers of the Delhi Police have met me to keep me informed of the progress of the case.

The Facts

On three occasions the Delhi Police has officially asked for the call detail records of the mobile phone which I regularly use. These details have been asked for by the South District, the Central District and the Crime Branch of Delhi Police. The reason for officially seeking the call detail records are both curious and ridiculous. On two occasions for two different periods the Call Detail Records were sought ostensibly on the ground that they were required for a verification in relation to the crime of multiple murders which had been committed in a farmhouse in Delhi. On the third occasion a Head Constable of Delhi Police sought the details and successfully obtained them on the ground that he was returning from the Saket Courts, an anonymous source advised him to check up the call detail records of my telephone number since the same may provide some evidence in relation to a fake currency racket. Obviously, both the pretexts were palpably false. Even for the wildest of imagination there would not be any evidence available in my phone details in relation to these offences. I hardly have any familiarity with the persons involved in these crimes or in relation to the subject matter of the offence.

In another incident the Delhi Police unearthed an effort to a constable of the Police acting at the behest of a private detective agency to get the Call Detail Records of some of the phones which are used by persons around me. Two phones in my name are used by two drivers whom I alternatively use and the third one is used by my son. When I am in my car or at a meeting, I do receive calls on my driver’s numbers. The Delhi Police claims that this attempt was foiled by a vigilant employee of the Service Provider who suspected foul play in these transactions.

The details of these calls being observed through official and illegal channels were for the periods November-December,2012 and January 2013. It was junior officers of the police including the officials at the level of Head Constable and Constables who could get access to these Call Detail Records.

It is obvious that somebody during this period was desperately trying to look for some evidence in my call details. The combined effort has covered the phones which I regularly use and some phones of persons who accompany me which I may incidentally use. Regrettably the Delhi Police believes that each of these efforts are unconnected and there is no pattern in the fact that an attempt was being made both successfully and unsuccessfully to monitor the persons with whom I am in touch with during the critical period. I find it difficult to accept this explanation of the Delhi Police that it is unable to find out the master-mind behind this operation and it is merely co-incidental that so many activities were taking place at the same time to get at my Call details.

The Delhi Police would have me believe that these were unconnected developments. The inability of the Delhi Police to find out the master-mind behind this operation does not mean that there is no master-mind. Either the investigation is extremely incompetent to discover the identity of the master-mind or the Delhi Police finds it embarrassing to name the master-mind. My guess is still wide open. This could be an out-sourced operation to a Government agency or a private rogue operation.

The Effect

My object in raising this issue is not to play a victimhood card. I raise this issue because some larger questions of public interest are involved.

Firstly, every citizen in India has a right to privacy. His right to pirivacy is an inherent aspect of his personal liberty. Interference in the right to privacy is an interference in his personal liberty by a process which is not fair, just or reasonable. A person’s Call Detail Records can throw up details of several transactions. In the case of an average citizen it can reflect on his relationships. In the case of a professional or a business person it can reflect on his financial transactions. In the case of a journalist it can reveal the identity of his sources. In the case of a politician it can reveal the identity of the person with whom he has regular access. Every person has ‘a right to be left alone’. In a liberal society there is no place for those who peep into the private affairs of individuals. No one has a right to know who another communicates with him. The nature of communication, the identity of persons being communicated with and frequency of communications would be a serious breach of privacy. If Constables and Head Constables of police officially (even though on false pretexts ) or unofficially can get access to Call Detail Records of an individual (in this case Leader of Opposition in one of the Houses of Parliament) the personal liberty of an individual would be in peril.

In the case of a Member of Parliament, this raises an additional issue. A Member of Parliament like a media person receives information from various sources. It is in public interest that the identity of the sources is to be concealed. Most scams are exposed by insiders. If identity of sources are revealed there is a danger of the sources drying up and public interest suffering. A Member of Parliament has several undefined privileges. Nobody has a right to know who communicates with him. If those who communicate with him are exposed nobody would be willing to provide information to a Member of Parliament. This will be detrimental to public interest. If the privileged phone records of the Leader of Opposition can be accessed so easily, one shudders to think as to what would happen to an ordinary citizen.

This incident throws up another legitimate fear. We are now entering the era of the Adhaar number. The Government has recently made the existence of the Adhaar number as a condition precedent for undertaking several activities; from registering marriages to execution of property documents. Will those who encroach upon the affairs of others be able to get access to bank accounts and other important details by breaking into the system? If this ever becomes possible the consequences would be far messier.

5724 - Violation of Indian laws by US agencies unacceptable: Prasad - Hindu BusinessLine

Violation of Indian laws by US agencies unacceptable: Prasad

NEW DELHI, JULY 25:  

The Government will not accept breach of any Indian law relating to privacy of people by US agencies under their surveillance programmes and the same has been conveyed to US government, Parliament was informed today.

“Government has expressed concern over reported US monitoring of internet traffic from India.

“The violation of any of Indian law relating to privacy of information or ordinary Indian citizen by such programmes is unacceptable,” Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in written reply to Rajya Sabha.

The Minister was replying to a question on government awareness about snooping by “US agencies through Google or such US based internet channels”

Whistleblower Edward Snowden has said that US government agency National Security Agency monitors all kind of information globally with the help of US based companies such as Google, Facebook, Microsoft and others.

All the companies have denied the allegations.

Prasad said that taking note of disclosure by foreign media reports in June 2013 about US agencies’ extensive electronic surveillance programmes to collect internet and telephony data, India government has expressed concerns over reported US monitoring of internet traffic from India.

“It would be a matter of concern for government if intrusive data capture has been deployed against Indian citizens or government infrastructure. Government has clearly conveyed these concerns to the US government,” Prasad said.

The Minister said that government is enhancing capacity to protect data and information flows by building better cyber and telephony infrastructure.

“Government is promoting Indian players in the IT field to develop and offer internet services by having their servers located in India...Already Rediff and Indiatimes have set up servers and accessories in the country to provide e—mail and other services to Indian citizens,” Prasad said.

In a separate reply to a question on cyber attacks on India, the Minister said that there has been increase in cyber security incidents.

“During the years 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2014 (till May), a total number of 21,699, 27,605, 28,481 and 9,174 Indian websites were hacked by various hacker groups spread worldwide,” he said.

(This article was published on July 25, 2014)

5723 - No proposal to integrate UID & NPR: Govt - Deccan Herald

No proposal to integrate UID & NPR: Govt

New Delhi, Jul 25, 2014, (PTI)

Government is not considering any proposal to integrate the UID (Aadhaar) project with National Population Register (NPR), Parliament was informed today.

"There is no such proposal under consideration of the government at this stage," Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, when asked whether it proposes to integrate UID with NPR.

On giving statutory status to Aadhaar, Singh said: "A notice for introduction of the bill (for the purpose) alongwith official amendments was moved in the Parliament during Winter Session, 2013. However the same could not be taken up for consideration."

The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2010 and was thereafter referred to the Standing Committee on Finance.

The UPA government had to suspend Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfers in view of reservations over certain issues.

Giving indications that the new government will continue Aadhaar enrolments, Rs 2,039.64 crore has been provided in the budget for the Aadhaar for the current fiscal, as against Rs 1,550 crore released in 2013-14.

As per latest information available, as many as 73.71 crore Aadhaar enrolments have been done till mid-July, with 8.45 crore rejections by the Unique Identification Authority of India implementing the project.

UIDAI has generated 64.05 crore Aadhaars and incurred an expenditure of Rs 4,620.61 crore so far since its inception.

The minister informed the House that Aadhaar enrolments are being carried out in all districts of 22 states and union territories allocated to the project.

The authority was mandated to collect biometrics of 60 crore residents and rest of India's population was to be covered under the NPR project.

It was decided by the Cabinet Committee on UIDAI during UPA regime that all residents would be issued National Multi-purpose Identity Cards under NPR, and UIDAI would generate Unique identification number for entire population.

Both UIDAI and NPR were to share the biometric data collected by them for issuing NMIC and generating unique identification number.

The NPR is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the Home Ministry.

5722 - Has Modi government done a u-turn on Aadhaar after meeting with Nandan Nilekani? - The News Minute

Has Modi government done a u-turn on Aadhaar after meeting with Nandan Nilekani?

The News Minute | July 24, 214 | 4 pm IST

After lambasting the Aadhaar card scheme during its election campaign, how did the NDA-led government end up increasing the proposed allocation for the scheme?

A report in The Economic Times talks of a meeting between the former chairperson of the UIDAI Nandan Nilekani met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on July 1. Four days later, the Prime Minister sought an enrolment target of 100 crore under the Aadhaar scheme.

The report says: “There is enough evidence to suggest that the crucial July 1 meeting between Nilekani, the prime minister and the FM, brought forth a volte face in the government stand on UIDAI.”

5721 - First time, headcount begins of all govt staff, top to bottom - Financial Express

First time, headcount begins of all govt staff, top to bottom

Subhomoy Bhattacharjee , Surabhi | New Delhi | Published: Jul 26 2014, 09:11 IST

Census: Employee details would be matched with Aadhaar numbers to create a real time repository of all employees.

THE government has begun an exercise similar to a census to map all its employees — posted right down to the block level.

The exercise is being conducted by the cabinet secretariat with the responsibility, surprisingly, given to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Department of Information Technology. The I&B Ministry has, in turn, directed all central ministries to provide lists of officials working with them to create a central database.

“The Government of India has decided to create a database in respect of the functionaries in the ministry and department including those in attached, subordinate, field offices and (those) under the administrative control of the ministry to enable... better coordination among the different tiers,” says an official note.

This is the first time ever that the government has undertaken such a massive exercise across the country. A source involved in the exercise told The Indian Express that the employee details would be matched with Aadhaar numbers to create a real time repository of all employees. An employee’s performance can then be tracked on any day of the year with details of her attendance records, and the time she has spent at work.

“It is being done to improve efficiency in government functioning. The exercise is at present limited only to the central government employees but will later be expanded to states as well,” said a senior official.

The official said the unusual choice of the two departments to conduct the exercise was determined by the cabinet secretariat.

The details of the employees have to be submitted in an Excel format by every department, including autonomous organisations. It will include the name and designation of the employees in granular details going up to the state, district, department, block and municipalities where he or she is posted along with e-mail address as well as mobile and landline telephone numbers.

The exercise is also surprising given that the Department of Personnel and Training maintains details of all officials, including their career history. Aggregate data on the number of government employees is also used in the union budget to estimate the annual outgo on salaries and pensions.

For instance, in financial year 2015, the total number of Central government civilian employees, including Railways, is pegged at 3.6 million. The number of military and paramilitary staff is about another 2.5 million.

“We are still collecting the data in an electronic format from field offices. We have written records but this is a very comprehensive exercise,” said an government official who is collecting the information for his ministry.

The instructions are clear that the electronic format must be followed and all details must be in Excel format. This will allow for faster uploading of the data onto the IT platform and used accordingly.

The Centre has also recently revised and vastly expanded the format in which the employees have to furnish their asset details, including investment, in every form. The details will have to include in equal measure the investments made by their spouse and dependent children too.

5720 - No move to integrate UID & NPR, says govt - Financial Express

No move to integrate UID & NPR, says govt

PTI | New Delhi | Published: Jul 26 2014, 10:17 IST

SUMMARY

The authority was mandated to collect biometrics of 60 crore residents and rest of India’s population was to be covered under the NPR project.

The government is not considering any proposal to integrate the UID (Aadhaar) project with National Population Register (NPR), Parliament was informed on Friday.

“There is no such proposal under consideration of the government at this stage,” Planning Minister Rao Inderjit Singh said in a written reply to the Lok Sabha, when asked whether it proposes to integrate UID with NPR.

On giving statutory status to Aadhaar, Singh said: “A notice for introduction of the bill (for the purpose) along with official amendments was moved in Parliament during Winter Session, 2013. However, the same could not be taken up for consideration.”

The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 was introduced in the Rajya Sabha in December 2010 and was thereafter referred to the Standing Committee on Finance.

The UPA government had to suspend Aadhaar-based direct benefit transfers in view of reservations over some issues.

Giving indications that the new government will continue Aadhaar enrolments, Rs 2,039.64 crore has been provided in the Budget for the Aadhaar for the current fiscal, as against Rs 1,550 crore released in 2013-14.

As per latest information available, as many as 73.71 crore Aadhaar enrolments have been done till mid-July, with 8.45 crore rejections by the Unique Identification Authority of India implementing the project.

The authority was mandated to collect biometrics of 60 crore residents and rest of India’s population was to be covered under the NPR project.

Both UIDAI and NPR were to share the biometric data collected by them for issuing National Multi-purpose Identidy Card (NMIC) and generating unique identification number.

The NPR is a comprehensive identity database maintained by the Registrar General and Census Commissioner of India under the MHA.

5719 - EPFO issues 41.7 million UANs for seeding with workers' KYCs - Business Standard

EPFO issues 41.7 million UANs for seeding with workers' KYCs

UANs will be operational in Oct as the process of seeding with the KYC documents like Aadhaar will be completed by Sept 15

Press Trust of India  |  New Delhi  July 25, 2014 Last Updated at 18:16 IST

Initiating the process of providing portable Universal Account Numbers to members, retirement fund body EPFO today issued 41.7 million UANs to firms for seeding them with workers' KYCs like Aadhaar and bank account number.

An Employees' Provident Fund Organisation official said however that UANs would be operational in October as the process of seeding with the Know-your-customer (KYC) documents like Aadhaar would be completed by September 15.

UAN will improve the quality of service provided to workers in the organised sector as they would not have to apply for transfer of PF account claims on changing jobs. It will also help workers in the construction sector who often work at different locations with different contractors.

"UAN stands allocated to all 41.7 million members who have made contribution to EPFO in any one of the last 6 months. All these UANs have been disseminated to respective employers through OTCP (Online Transfer Claim) Portal," an EPFO office order for the field staff stated.

It said employers are supposed to log on to OTCP portal to collect the UAN allotted to their employees and disseminate that to the individual workers.

Besides, the employers, who maintain computerised database of workers' relating to KYC like Aadhaar/NPR, PAN card or bank account number, can seed those through the UAN Portal by sending a text file in pre-defined format.

The KYC data will automatically be seeded against the UAN of the members upon receipt of this information.

The EPFO wants that the firms must provide Aadhaar/NPR number of workers wherever available and bank A/c number as part of the KYC detail because it will enable EPFO in future to provide services directly to the beneficiaries without intermediation of the employers.

In case where employers does not maintain database of workers' KYC details, the EPFO has created a facility for individual members to upload the details on UAN portal through a personal log in on the member portal.

The individual subscribers are also expected to upload a scanned copy of the documents relied upon for quoting KYC on the Portal. The KYC furnished by individual members will be automatically captured by UAN database for seeding.

Asking field formations to expedite the work on UAN, the order said: "We have set an ambitious target for seeding of KYC which has to be concluded at the earliest by September 15. It is expected that all of you will rise to the present challenge and ensure that seeding for 100% of four crore members is done much before September 15.

5718 - Maoists disrupt Aadhaar enrollment in Odisha - Business Standard

Maoists disrupt Aadhaar enrollment in Odisha

IANS  |  Bhubaneswar  July 26, 2014 Last Updated at 12:33 IST

Armed Maoists Friday abducted four enrollers from a Aadhaar camp in Malkangiri district, releasing them with a warning to stop the process, a senior official said Saturday.

Armed rebels Friday stormed into a Aadhaar enrollment camp at Marigata village, over 750 kms from here, and took with them four enrollers, state director of census operations Bishnupada Sethi told IANS.

The enrollers were released about six hours later with a warning to stop the enrollments in the area, he said.

The rebels however snatched laptop computers and obtained passwords from enrollers to access Aadhaar enrollments data of the region, Sethi said.

The rebels through the enrollers have also sent a three-page letter asking that the enrollment drive be immediately scrapped.

"We have suspended the Aaadhaar enrollment in the region after the incident," Sethi said.

5717 - Is India a perfect test bed for piloting Big Data projects?

Is India a perfect test bed for piloting Big Data projects? 

Srikanth RP Executive Editor, InformationWeek India

Read more at: http://www.informationweek.in/informationweek/cio-blog/297212/india-perfect-test-bed-piloting-projects?utm_source=referrence_article

Given its vast population and multi-lingual and diverse culture, the scale at which India operates is massive. Thus, providing the perfect opportunity to test innovative Big Data projects in

 While many Big Data projects are being piloted across the world, India with its vast population (volume), variety (multi-lingual and diverse culture) and velocity (the pace of data being added on a daily basis), appears to be perfectly positioned for piloting Big Data projects. 

One of the first Big Data projects of massive complexity is India’s UID or Aadhar, as it is commonly known. Everything about Aadhar, which aims to provide a unique identity to 1.2 billion residents, is ambitious. Aadhar’s scope is to capture 12 billion fingerprints, 1.2 billion photographs, and 2.4 billion iris scans. Aadhar enrolment module processes about 1 million enrollment every day. The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has already issued 56 crore Aadhaar numbers, with an average generation of about 13-14 lakh Aadhaar numbers every day. 

Aadhar exhibits all the values that are characteristic of Big Data. The size of the data is huge and it is estimated that this database will be 10 times larger than the largest existing biometric database, which is created by FBI from the U.S. Once the system is fully developed, it can become the foundation or the platform to check an individual’s identity across multiple services such as free education, public distribution systems and pension schemes. 

The Big Data angle was also apparent during the recent elections, where major political parties used Big Data analysis effectively to improve the efficiency of their campaigns. By mining social media effectively, political parties like the BJP managed to read the pulse of the voters accurately, which played a major role in their success. 

More recently, Hyderabad-based startup Modak Analytics, built a Big Data-based electoral data repository of 81.4 crore voters. When you put this data in perspective with respect to other countries, the U.S. has close to 19.36 crore voters, Indonesia has 17.1 crore voters, Brazil has 13.58 and U.K. has 4.55 crore voters. Clearly, the scale at which India operates is massive. Apart from the volume, the startup had to deal with variety (12 languages) and velocity (due to frequent data changes). 

Used effectively, Big Data analytics can significantly improve governance and efficiency of public services. For example, India with its rapid population growth and economic development is facing a serious water crisis. Can Big Data analytics come to the rescue? 

A case in point is the Bangalore Water Supply and Sewerage Board (BWSSB), which is using Big Data and predictive analytics technology from IBM to create systems for monitoring water distribution systems. Bangalore’s massive population growth (from 5.4 million in 2000 to over 10 million) has put tremendous strain on the city’s water supply and distribution systems. In partnership with IBM, the BWSSB has built an operational dashboard which serves as a “command center” for managing the city’s water supply networks. Around 45 percent of the water supplied by the BWSSB goes unaccounted. Implementing this solution will help minimize unaccounted water by detecting large changes in water flow, through real-time monitoring. While Big Data is certainly no ‘silver bullet’, India’s scale, variety and velocity of information flow, offers service providers the perfect opportunity to innovate and test out innovative solutions. 

5716 - Congress asks govt to clear confusion about Aadhar card - ZEE News

Congress asks govt to clear confusion about Aadhar card

Last Updated: Thursday, July 24, 2014, 22:01

New Delhi: Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday asked the government to clear confusion surrounding Aadhar-linked bank accounts for direct transfer of subsidies under various schemes to beneficiaries. 

Raising the issue while participating in a debate on the 2014-15 Budget in the Rajya Sabha, Ramesh said: "There is lot of confusion about Aadhar. ...Is government committed to use Aadhar to eliminate leakage of subsidies? We want clear statement." 

About Rs 3.5 lakh crore money goes from exchequer to the individual beneficiary. Direct transfer of subsidies with use of Aadhar-linked bank accounts will eliminate leakages, thereby saving 22-25 per cent of money, he said. 

As per official data, 73.71 crore Aadhaar enrolments have been done till mid-July. 

Addhar was one among several ssues that Ramesh raised during the debate. 

For fiscal discipline, he suggested the government to relook at the Fiscal Responsibility and Budget Management Act, 2003 and the way fiscal deficit is calculated. 

He also asked the government not to weaken the financial health of the Centre while implementing the Goods and Services Tax (GST). 

Ramesh accused NDA government of giving an impression through allocation for several schemes in the Budget that the previous government has done nothing. 

The allocation made for several schemes are ongoing initiatives announced by the UPA government, he said, citing examples of Pradhan Mantri Gram Sadak Yojana, Clean Ganga Programme and MNREGA. 

Ramesh also took a dig at the Finance Minister on the issue of inheriting poor economy from the previous government. 

He said "The Finance Minister says what could we do in Budget in 45 days and we have inherited bad economy. UPA when it took over had presented better Budget within 45 days." 

The NDA government has inherited much better economy from the previous government although last two years were slow growth period, he said, adding NDA saw worst economic period between 2001 and 2003, while UPA government witnessed slowdown in economy for three years between 2008 and 2013. 

PTI

First Published: Thursday, July 24, 2014, 22:01

5715 - Nandan Nilekani impresses Narendra Modi & Arun Jaitley, gets Aadhaar a lifeline - Economic Times

Nandan Nilekani impresses Narendra Modi & Arun Jaitley, gets Aadhaar a lifeline

By Vikas Dhoot & M Rajshekhar, ET Bureau | 24 Jul, 2014, 04.00AM IST

There is enough evidence to suggest that the meeting between Nilekani, the PM and the FM, brought forth a volte face in the government stand on UIDAI.

NEW DELHI: Four days before Prime Minister Narendra Modi made his first public statement surprisingly backing the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), former UIDAI chairmanNandan Nilekani met with the PM and Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and persuaded the new regime to persist with Aadhaar numbers and the Direct Benefits Transfer (DBT) scheme. 

This meeting — a life-saver for the Aadhaar programme — happened on the first of July. On July 5, Modi sought a 100 crore enrolment target under Aadhaar at the 'earliest', casting aside earlier notions that the new government will go slow on the UIDAI project. 

Nilekani, who was appointed by Congress to head UIDAI in 2009, was in Delhi in the last days of June to vacate the government bungalow allotted to him in Lutyens' Delhi. It is during this period that he — and UIDAI — sought and obtained a meeting with the prime minister and the finance minister. Nine days after this meeting, Jaitley, in the Union Budget, increased allocation for UIDAI from Rs 1,550 crore (revised estimate) to Rs 2,039 crore. 

There is enough evidence to suggest that the crucial July 1 meeting between Nilekani, the prime minister and the FM, brought forth a volte face in the government stand on UIDAI. 

Only two days before this, on July 3, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, Telecom, IT and Law Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Planning Minister Rao Inderjeet Singh had met with top officials to discuss UIDAI versus the National Population Register (NPR), an entity under the home ministry that conducts the decadal census. The conclusions did not favour UIDAI in the form it was running till then. 

Instead, it was decided that a panel of secretaries will work to ensure greater synergy between NPR and Aadhaar to prevent duplication in efforts to capture biometrics and the costs thereof. Earlier, BJP had also made plenty of anti-Aadhaar noises during its election campaign. 

Shortly after the party won, BJP spokesperson Prakash Javadekar told ET: "Our concerns with Aadhaar are two-fold: the lack of a legal backing and the security implications." 

"There was a vacuum between May 16 happen to Aadhaar," a source close to UIDAI said, speaking on the condition of anonymity. This is also the time when the home ministry made a play to control Aadhaar. Highly placed sources say a proposal to move UIDAI to the home ministry was being explored. 

This rattled UIDAI, which functions under the authority of the Planning Commission headed by the PM. 

Says an UIDAI official, speaking on the condition of anonymity: "We were not even consulted." and July 5. It was unclear what would That was the backdrop for Nilekani's meeting with the PM and FM. Nilekani argued that by "removing ghosts and duplicates from the beneficiary lists of welfare programmes, Aadhaar can help India save Rs 50,000 crore which would help with the fiscal deficit", sources told ET. 

The ongoing litigation in the Supreme Court was also discussed at the meeting. "The Bill is ready to be passed. You could get it passed in this session itself. Once you pass the Bill, the SC will lay off the matter," Nilekani reportedly told Jaitely, sources close to UIDAI said. Nilekani declined comment. Questions sent to Nripendra Misra, principal secretary to the PM and PMO's press officer remained unanswered. 

The July 5 meeting at PM's residence — after which Modi publicly backed UIDAI — was attended by Jaitley, Home Minister Rajnath Singh, UIDAI Director-General Vijay Madan, Registrar-General C Chandramouli, Home Secretary Anil Goswami, Planning Commission Secretary Sindhushree Khullar, Nripendra Misra and others. It lasted two-and-a-half hours. Neither NPR nor UIDAI got to make any presentations at this meeting. 

Instead, two Gujarat cadre officers — one retired and one still serving — were asked to list out the virtues and problems of UIDAI and NPR. After a discussion, Modi unequivocally went in favour of UIDAI. 

There is now clarity on many issues. "Aadhaar stays in the Planning Commission. Direct Benefits Transfer scheme is being revived," the source close to UIDAI said. 

But some questions remain. It is expected that Modi will announce a new financial inclusion drive on August 15. Banks are likely to be encouraged to open 20 crore new accounts, each bundled with an overdraft ranging from Rs 1,000-5,000. It is yet unclear if these accounts will be Aadhaar-based

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