A selection of readers’ opinions.
by Scroll
Published Nov 12, 2017 · 10:30 pm
Big brother
Thank you for making an effective suggestion on protesting, in our own humble way against the encroachment into our private lives and day to day activities (“Why Indian mobile users must take the initiative to protest against linking their phones to Aadhaar”). This is nothing but tyranny by a democratically elected government with brute majority. I strongly feel young, educated, otherwise resourceful and conscious young people should start a movement the way you have suggested. Thank you once again for your initiative. – Sanjit Chatterjee
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I am a 80-plus year old man with reduced physical capabilities because of various serious ailments. However, I run an industry for the last 42 years and pay several crores as taxes and duties to the government. I also provide direct and indirect employment to another 150 families. While trying to get my Aadhaar number verified, I was surprised that none of my fingers matched. Even during my second attempt, it failed.
Now, after March 31, if my Aadhaar physical verification fails and I am denied my authentic existence as a bonafide Indian citizen, 150 families will lose their livelihoods. Stuff like this should be taken into consideration before making Aadhaar mandatory. – Sanjit Chatterjee
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The errors component in Aadhaar is not big compared to the benefits of linking it to welfare schemes. The error component is not large to be alarmed at as compared to the benefits achieved by linking Aadhaar with social benefit schemes. The government should act fast to plug the shortcomings so that the system does not crash. – DP Gupta
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There are far too many defects in the Aadhaar implementation and how far it has come from what was envisioned. If bank accounts details are leaked, who will take responsibility? And how can we trust private companies with all our personal data? I hope the Supreme Court decides against making Aadhaar mandatory. – Juanita War
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I retired as additional chief secretary to the government of Gujarat and I have studied the Aadhaar law very carefully. As a concerned citizen, I strongly feel that the law needs to be scrapped outright, except maybe for a few welfare schemes.
In fact we are fast losing the basic freedoms enshrined in our Constitution. We as citizens have only one sanctuary left now and that is the Apex Court. If that too fails us, we will become subjects to be manipulated at will by a villainous state. There are obviously very sinister and powerful business interests that hold the present government in their selfish clutches and they will do their best to transform the people of India into servile slaves to be ordered about as George Orwell predicted in 1984!
We are at a crossroads at this point and we as a nation of right-thinking people should battle the state to preserve our fundamental rights enshrined in our Constitution. A large forum of citizens should be formed to take up the matter with the government and educate the people at large about the perils of the unique identity project. We now do not have much time to lose. People of India must awake for their second freedom struggle from this crushing law and that too right now. – A Prasad
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As law-abiding citizens, it is essential for us accept the government’s decision. What is wrong with this project? India is faces threats from terrorists and my government will have to save me for which I will cooperate. – Venkatraghavan Maruthuvanpadi
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I agree with the benefits of Aadhaar but the manner in which the government is making it mandatory for almost everything is putting citizens in a tough spot. For example, if someone wishes to move back to their hometown upon retirement, they will not be able to access many facilities without updating their address in the Aadhaar card. But changing official documents is very challenging. Such concerns must be addressed. – DK Painuli
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Insisting on Aadhaar-linking is good move made by the government to save the misuse of public money and crack down on black money collected under fictitious names. – Ashok Jadhav
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There should be be more mass protests across the .country against the government’s autocratic and unilateral action in violation of the fundamental right to privacy. This will pose a serious threat to people in coming days. The Supreme Court must arrive at a verdict immediately to resolve the matter. – Arup Kumsen
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Switching off our phones for 15 or 30 minutes will not achieve anything. Ultimately we will miss our important calls. So, we should find a way that will result in a significant loss for telecom companies. – Betson P Kunjappan
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What is wrong with linking Aadhaar? Why should we be afraid? The government should heed to complaints but all Indians should link Aadhaar to all services to prevent criminal, anti-social and anti-India activities. – Chandrashekar BK
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I have no objection to getting my phone number linked to Aadhaar. To hell with the objections.Why shouldn’t I abide by a government order? First stop phone manufacturers from collecting our fingerprint information and then object against to the government. – Mukesh Patel
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The proposal to link Aadhaar to so many services is a clear violation of our right to privacy which that Supreme Court has upheld as our Constitutional right. – Ajit Kumar
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Aadhaar is indeed a must. It is the only identity document that has the complete details of citizens. Objecting to it is against the nation’s interest. – Badri Narayanan
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There is no harm in linking Aadhar to different schemes. No secret information is needed for Aadhar. I don’t see the harm in sharing my details for Aadhaar. It’s only some people who have a problem. – GP Shukla
Clarification from a university
This article refers to an interview that Scroll.in had telephonically with a member of our Committee on Gender Sensitisation Against Sexual Harassment or COGSASH at the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences, Calcutta (“Universities respond to Raya Sarkar’s list of alleged sexual predators: Mostly silence, some denials”). The members of the COGSASH had not yet met to deliberate the issue when the said interview was conducted. Following its meeting on November 8, the COGSASH would like to reiterate as a body that no complaints have been registered with it against the two members of the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences named in the list recently uploaded by Raya Sarkar.
However, we would also like to point out that there is no consensus among the current members of the COGSASH over the nature of the general impact that a crowd-sourced public list of alleged sexual harassers happens to have on our society and politics. Nevertheless, as a statutory body, the COGSASH remains committed to abide by the letter and the spirit of the Policy on Gender Sensitization against Sexual Harassment that the Centre for Studies in Social Sciences had adopted in September, 2010. – Debdatta Chowdhury, Chairperson, COGSASH
No offence
In the US and other Western countries, criticising government activities or government policies is seen as a way of expressing nationalism (“The Daily Fix: Tamil cartoonist’s arrest is yet another attempt to gag voices on social media”). Here in India, it is just the opposite. No one or nothing should be above criticism. – Varun Akavoor