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Times of India (blog)
By Eben Moglen and Mishi Choudhary. A couple of weeks back, Bill Gates committed his globe-girdling foundation to the goal of spreading Aadhaar ...
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Economic Times
In April, Aadhaar-issuing body UIDAI followed this up with the launch of beta version of VID feature allowing users to generate VID and use it to update ...
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Live Law
It is surprising as to why unlike in the US, states in India are yet to argue on how the Aadhaar Act for Centralized Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of ...
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Bangalore Mirror
As farm loans are given based on the agriculture land papers, the government is thinking of linking land details to Aadhaar when farmers seek the ...
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National Herald
It has become mandatory to show the Aadhaar card of the deceased at Varanasi's Manikarnika, Harishchandra Ghats for last rites. It's also required to ...
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Bar & Bench
Aadhaar is not mandatory for filing cases in the Delhi High Court or the district courts in the capital. The order clarifying the same was passed on May ...
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The Tribune
New Delhi, May 30. Following the Facebook data breach, the sentiment of Indian Internet users has taken a beating, a study suggests, as 80 per cent ...
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The Asian Age
“Aadhaar will help us in maintaining records and also the authenticity of the information about those cremated here. People come to cremate the dead ...
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The Telegraph India
Aizawl: Altogether 79.73 per cent of the existing ration cards in Mizoram have been linked with Aadhaar under the end to end computerisation of the ...
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GNS News (satire) (press release) (blog)
(G.N.S) DT. 30 New Delhi The government is pushing for mandatory use of Aadhaar for various schemes and services, including bank accounts and ...
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Swarajya
This is where Aadhaar became an integral component of the JAM trinity. In December 2014, more than 720 million people had enrolled for an ...
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Times Now
You need to have a PAN and verify your Aadhaar card using OTP. You can complete the process on the 'Cardless Credit Application' page, following ...
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Financial Chronicle (press release) (blog)
Among the internet users, 86 per cent are also concerned about the security of their Aadhaar data, finds a study. A study by market research company ...
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Daily News & Analysis
However, this will be applicable to transactions done using debit cards, UPI BHIM application or Aadhaar. MDR is payable by the merchant to the bank ...
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Financial Express
Aadhaar allows freshers to signal a low-cost background verification that will considerably improve matching. Over time, it will tackle the rampant ...
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E-Pao.net
The source informed that the validity for procuring the Aadhaar cards of the children covered by the mid day meal schemes is almost finished but it is ...
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Nagaland Post
As part of the PDA's 100 day programme, director of Industries & Commerce (I&C), I. Bendangliba launched an Aadhaar based Biometric Attendance ...
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Firstpost
However, they said, it is possible that the health ministry will wait for the Supreme Court verdict in the Aadhaar litigation before finalising the bill.
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Moneycontrol.com
Elliot Alderson, the French security researcher who has made his name by picking on Aadhaar, posted a series of tweets highlighting security issues ...
Patanjali's Kimbho app not secure, all user messages can be accessed: Cyber researcher - The News Minute
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Economic Times
... payment systems like IMPS, UPI-including BHIM, National Unified USSD Platform (NUUP) for mobile payments, RuPay, and Aadhaar based AePS.
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Financial Express
Despite a big push by the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) for greater use of the Aadhaar-enabled Payments System (AePS), the apprehension on the ...
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Economic Times (blog)
The identifier, just as Aadhaar for resident Indians, will prevent shell companies from being used to anonymise undesirable transactions. It will make ...
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The Hindu
... Bansode, who was working at an Aadhar card centre in Turbhe, met Hande (70), when she went there to change the address on her Aadhaar card.
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Firstpost
... several conflicting accounts about her age muddied the case. The police have stated before the magistrate that according to the girl's Aadhaar card, ...
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Swarajya
The introduction of the Aadhaar card by the Modi government has, however, brought some optimism in this area. With a unique Aadhaar number, ...
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Thursday, May 31, 2018
13627 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 31st May 2018
13626 - Cobrapost Sting: Softbank and Alibaba, Paytm's Foreign Investors, Mum Over Alleged Privacy Breach - Huffington Post
Even as investors rush to implement European Union privacy directives, Indian users left unprotected.
RUPAK DE CHOWDHURI / REUTERS
An advertisement of Paytm, a digital wallet company, is pictured at a road side stall in Kolkata, India, January 25, 2017. Picture taken January 25, 2017.
NEW DELHI — Paytm is under fire for allegedly sharing user data with Indian law enforcement agencies, but the popular e-wallet company's global investors — Softbank and Ant Financial, the Chinese internet giant behind Alibaba — are keeping mum.
The silence of two of the world's biggest technology investors, privacy experts say, point to how technology companies, promising to create a more democratic and transparent world, are actually completely unaccountable to their users.
Softbank, for instance, has a Privacy Policy for Personal Data for its European operations, but declined to comment on its obligations to Indian users.
"Right now, the user is not in control and the service provider is in complete control," said Apar Gupta, a Delhi High Court lawyer, specialising in privacy-related issues.
Last week, a sting operation by the Noida-based investigative news portal, Cobrapost, revealed a video in which a man, who is purportedly Ajay Shekhar, senior vice president of the company, appears to say that he personally received a phone call from the Prime Minister's Office (PMO) after the protests in Kashmir, seeking data on Paytm users. Shekhar allegedly said that Paytm had a very close relationship with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), the parent organization of the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP).
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If true, Paytm is in violation of its own privacy policy.
HuffPost India has been unable to verify these claims independently, and Paytm has denied sharing any data with the BJP-ruled government.
HuffPost wrote to Softbank and Alibaba — Paytm's biggest backers — and also to Uber, one of the most popular use-cases for Paytm. In India, Uber customers can use Paytm to pay for their rides, implying Paytm gathers a significant amount of Uber user data. Ant Financial and Alibaba collectively own close to 40% in One97 communications, Paytm's holding company, while Softbank, a Japanese internet and telecom conglomerate, owns about one-fifth of the $7 billion company.
HuffPost asked the following questions:
- Are you aware of the sting investigation alleging that Paytm has shared user data with the Indian government in violation of its privacy policy?
- Are you concerned about the allegation that Paytm has shared user data with the Indian government?
- Have you reached out to Paytm regarding the allegations? What follow-up steps have you taken?
Only Softbank replied: "Softbank does not comment on portfolio companies."
HuffPost spoke with experts about the legal and ethical reasons that should drive investors to have a more proactive role in demanding accountability.
Right now, the user is not in control and the service provider is in complete control.
Legal reason
Legal experts say that sharing of private data with the government or with any third party would contravene the right to privacy, a fundamental right under Article 21 of the Constitution of India.
"The Supreme Court judgment is law," said Usha Ramanathan, a Supreme Court advocate, referring to the 2017 judgment, Justice KS Puttaswamy (Retd.) & Anr. v. Union of India & Ors.
Ramanathan, who is challenging AADHAR as a breach of privacy, believes that there is no circumstance under which the government in India could demand private data from a service provider. For that to happen, Ramanathan explained, the government would first need to have a data protection law then stipulate any exceptions.
All that exists right now is a data protection policy.
In its statement, Paytm said, "Our policy allows ONLY legally compliant data requests from the law of the land to get access to data for necessary investigations."
Even in a scenario where the government demands private data, say, for instance, by a court order, Gautam Bhatia, a Supreme Court advocate, noted that the question of legality or illegality did not arise unless Paytm reveals what were the precise circumstances of the exchange.
"What were the safeguards that were taken?" he asked.
There are some who argue that it may not be incumbent on investors to respond to an alleged privacy breach because the Supreme Court judgment is not enough to establish illegality, and India does not yet have a data protection law.
But whether it is illegal or not, if the allegation against Paytm are true, it raises a huge ethical problem for investors.
Ethical problem
Ramanathan argues that foreign investments are about keeping companies on ethical lines. "You don't go to a country with less laws to violate the rights of people," she said.
Earlier this year, a sovereign wealth fund sold its stake in Vedanta Resources Plc, a mining and metals company, over "environmental and human rights violations" by the firm.
In 2010, the Church of England sold its shares of Vedanta Resources, citing its unhappiness at how the company treated the tribals of Orissa's Kalahandi district.
One of the foreign investors in Paytm, Alibaba, is already tainted in China. Earlier this year, its affiliate, Ant Financial, was forced to apologize after its users complained that they were misled into giving their consent for its Alipay service to share data with third parties.
You don't got to a country with less laws to violate the rights of people.
Why the double standard?
Uber has a mixed record when it comes to safeguarding private user data. On the one hand, the app-based cab service is known be fiercely protective about its data, for two reasons: competition and privacy. On the other hand, in 2016, it tried to conceal a hack that affected 57 million customers and drivers and payed $100,000 to the attackers to delete the data.
Last year, in the face of mounting pressure to share its data with local governments for the sake of urban planning, Uber launched "Movement," a tool that allows city planners and the public to access to anonymous data on Uber trips.
Privacy has been a concern for Uber, and, according to the terms and conditions of Movement, the data being shared is "anonymized and aggregated to ensure no personally identifiable information or user behavior can be surfaced through the Movement tool."
Uber, however, did not reply to HuffPost's question: "One of the big reason that Indian consumers have signed up for Paytm is to pay for Uber rides. Are you concerned that Uber consumer data has been compromised by Paytm?"
Way forward
In India, a committee headed by Justice B.N. Srikrishna Committee, under the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, is looking to frame a data protection law.
Gupta, the lawyer specializing in privacy-related issues, has argued that India should consider the European Union's General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), which makes it incumbent on companies to - at the request of a user - disclose all the data it has on the person.
A user in EU can also ask a company to delete her data, send copies of the data or correct an error in data. The maximum fine for a GDPR violation is 20 million euros or four percent of a company's annual global revenue from the year before, whichever is higher.
"It builds a system of accountability," Gupta said, speaking of the need for a similar policy in India.
13625 - Why Aadhaar Act is a Black Act? Part I bu Gopal Krishna - Live Law
BY: DR. GOPAL KRISHNA MAY 31, 2018 9:42 AM 42 SHARES
Ever wondered as to why bankers are immensely interested in biometric identification and verification ...
13624 - For financial transaction & opening Bank Account without Biometric - Gazette Notifications
For financial transaction & opening Bank Account without Biometric
UID/Aadhaar Number use 16 May, 2018 notification and December 2017 notification of govt.
1) http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2018/185413.pdf (16 May, 2018
notification)
2017 notification)
SC order of 13 March 2018
It seems these three documents can be used creatively to contest demand for UID/Aadhaar in the current situation & to ask them to reverse their orders seeking UID/Aadhaar or ask them to give in writing that they will disregard the Court's order.
thanks
Gopal Krishna
Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)
Mb: 08227816731
Web: www.toxicswatch.org
"We may admire what he does, but we despise what he is."-referring to
humans who act mechanically on instructions
-------Wilhelm von Humboldt, 1792
Wednesday, May 30, 2018
13623 - Paswan tom-toms govt achievements - Telegraph India
Roshan Kumar May 30, 2018 00:00 IST
Ram Vilas Paswan in Patna on Tuesday. Picture by Nagendra Kumar Singh
Patna: Union minister for consumer affairs, food and public distribution Ram Vilas Paswan on Tuesday highlighted the Narendra Modi government's achievements in various sectors such as opening up of Jan Dhan accounts, social security schemes for the poor, Ujjwala Yojana, power connectivity, construction of highways and roads. He was marking the fourth anniversary of the NDA government.
"Under the national food security act, the prices of subsidised wheat and rice given at Rs 2 and Rs 3 per kg respectively to more than 51 crore people in the country will not be revised till June 2019," Paswan said. "The Centre has not revised prices of subsidised foodgrain since 2013. It shows that the Centre cares for the poor."
On pulses and farmers' agitation at Mokama taal (lake) area, Paswan said: "We have come to know that this year there has been buffer stock production of pulses, which is a good sign. The government is concerned about farmers' problems and we have decided to strengthen procurement of pulses from farmers."
He said he will meet Veena Devi, his party's MP from Munger, who on Monday sat on a dharna against her governments in the state and the Centre over farmers' policy.
Paswan said his department has linked over 2.62 crore ration cards with Aadhaar, checking over 12 crore dummy beneficiaries and saving over Rs 17,000 crore. He claimed that with introduction of Aadhaar-based e-PoS machines, which would use biometric identification, the number of dummy beneficiaries will come down further.
He refused to say how many seats his party will get to fight under NDA alliance. "But I know that the NDA will remain intact during Lok Sabha polls," he said.
He said the government is serious about introducing Consumer Protection Act. "The bill has been passed from Lok Sabha and is pending with standing committee." Under the new consumer protection bill there is strict punishment, including jail terms and hefty fines for misleading advertisements and food adulteration.
13622 - Rohingyas under lens, but UIDAI won’t share data - Times of India
U Sudhakar Reddy | TNN | May 30, 2018, 12:57 IST
HYDERABAD: Despite a local court order, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) refused to share biometric data of Rohingya Muslims who allegedly obtained Aadhaar card through fraudulent means. UIDAI officials told the city police that biometric data could not be shared as per the Aadhaar act, as vindicated by the Supreme court. However, city police is contesting the issue and has obtained an order from a local court against UIDAI, by quoting other SC judgements that went in its favour.
The SIT (Special Investigation Team) of Hyderabad police, which has been probing a case of Rohingya Muslims obtaining Aadhar card and passport, sought the biometric data of the accused from the Hyderabad UIDAI office. The case was initially booked in January 2018 with Kanchanbagh police of Hyderabad and later transferred to SIT.
SIT investigators want to compare fingerprints of the accused Rohingyas taken from the records of UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee agency with biometric data the accused gave UIDAI during enrollment for Aadhaar.
Kanchanbagh Inspector of police N Shankar said, “We arrested eight persons including five Rohingyas who came from Myanmar in January 2018. Initially, they obtained voter ID card and then Aadhaar card and passport. The case was transferred to SIT for further investigation,”
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“Based on the petition filed by us, quoting judgements of the apex court, the 12th ACCM court in Nampally has issued directions to UIDAI to furnish the fingerprint data of the accused. Despite that, UIDAI authorities refused to provide the data..We are asking for the biometric data to compare the fingerprints as it would be the clinching evidence in the case,” a city police official said. To butress its case, the city police quoted the Supreme Court in the 2017 privacy case of Justice KS Puttuswamy Vs Union of India.
An official of UIDAI from Delhi rebutted, saying, “The Madras High Court in 2017 in the former CM J Jayalalithaa case ordered UIDAI to part with her thumb impressions, but the Supreme Court stayed the same. In 2014 itself, the Supreme Court had ruled that UIDAI shall not share Aadhaar data with any agency when the CBI had approached it regarding a Panaji case.”
“Biometric data cannot be shared for any purpose including criminal investigation.. Anybody can share the demographic details, as police have got right to seek information under CRPC. But the Aadhaar Act 2016 prohibits sharing of the biometric data,” the official said.
13621 - Aadhaar of dead person is now mandatory for last rites in Kaashi -India Today
- Priya Pathak
- New Delhi
- May 30, 2018
- UPDATED 16:03 IST
- Follow @Priyapathakview
- FOLLOW
- EMAIL AUTHOR
Aadhaar card has become mandatory for almost everyone in almost all spheres of life. Now, it has also become mandatory even in the matters of death. According to a report in a Hindi newspaper, authorities in Banaras aka Kaashi will now ask relatives to show Aadhaar of the deceased before the last rites are allowed for that person. Authorities at Manikarnika Ghat and Harishchandra Ghat in collaboration with National Disaster Response Force(NDRF) have made Aadhaar card mandatory for the last rites of dead ones.
The facility for corpse carrier motorboats will be given to only those who carry the Aadhaar ID of their deceased relative to the ghat.
The move comes after reports of people secretly performing last rites of people dying in suspicious conditions came to light. Sudhanshu Mehta Foundation, the group working for the cause of development of Manikarnika Ghat and facilities for last rites, started the corpse-carrying motorboat service in the year 2015. There are total four such motorboats currently operating in the Ganges of Varanasi.
When the news of people secretly burning suspicious dead bodies reached ears of the Foundation members, the group started asking for the details of the deceased before offering the motorboat services. This caused agitation among people seeing which NDRF decided to make Aadhaar mandatory before providing the corpse carrier motorboat.
While this new move may appear an outcome of good intentions, Aadhaar has been a hotbed for privacy-related debates since its launch. Government's order to make Aadhaar card mandatory at all places has not gone down well with many privacy advocates stating that Aadhaar data is insecure and anybody can hack it. There have several cases of Aadhaar data leak in past two years.
In a recent incident, two privacy experts have claimed that two public-sector enterprises leaked Aadhaar data of select people and the issue was fixed only a month after by UIDAI.
However, with Aadhaar now made mandatory for last rites in Kaashi, the move may not go down well with everyone. Varanasi is one of the holy cities for many Hindus in India and it is believed that the person attains salvation if his or her last rites are performed on the ghats of Varanasi.
13620 - 80% people concerned about Aadhaar data security: Study
PTI | May 30, 2018, 14:03 IST
NEW DELHI: Following the Facebook data breach, the sentiment of Indian internet users has taken a beating, a study suggests, as 80 per cent of respondents said they are concerned about their Aadhaar data security.
The national study by market research and analysis company Velocity MR, which was conducted among 5,800 respondents, noted that 8 out of 10 people are concerned about their Aadhaar data security and feel that the government should intervene for their online data protection.
"Every netizen is leaving a trail of digital footprints with everything that they click online. From personal information, to financial data, to biometric details, all this data is accessible in some form or the other on various foreign servers that one cannot fathom," Velocity MR Managing Director and CEO Jasal Shah said.
Shah further noted that "with the new General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) regime coming into play, it is a wake-up call for internet companies to tighten their security policies with immediate effect."
Europe has introduced the GDPR regime that all tech companies have to adhere to.
The recent data breach episode involving US-based social networking giant Facebook and British data analytics firm Cambridge Analytica has created an awareness like never before on issues around information privacy, user rights and consent policies, nudging companies to review and strengthen their privacy protection rules.
According to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) Chairman J Satyanarayana, more than 121 crore residents have been enrolled for Aadhaar and it has been used for over 19 billion authentications.
The national study that covered prominent Indian cities including Delhi, Kolkata, Mumbai, Hyderabad, Bangalore, Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune also noted that 4 in every 10 respondents said their opinion about Facebook has gone down in recent months.
One-third of respondents said that they would share lesser on Facebook, even though they will continue to be on Facebook, the study said.
TOP COMMENT
Even though there are security concerns, Technology can be used effectively to protect everyones data. Dont you think your online banking details are safe? Same way technology can be used for Aadhar also
Vishu
Moreover, even though people believe that social media sites are not completely safe for financial transactions, they have not completely stopped using it either.
The higher age group of 46-60 years is more willing to continue using Facebook as before, the study noted.
13619 - RuPay expansion might be on the cards during PM Modi’s upcoming Singapore trip - Connected to India
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Tushaar Kuthiala Monday, May 28th 2018
Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s upcoming Singapore visit could see the launch of mutually acceptable digital wallets between Indian and Singaporean citizens, speculated experts.
Indian PM Narendra Modi (left) is set to have a bilateral meeting with Singapore premier Lee Hsien Loong during his upcoming visit to Singapore. Photo courtesy: Wikimedia
Capping year-long events celebrating 25 years of ASEAN-India partnership, the Singapore Pravasi Bharatiya Divas (PBD) from January 6-7, 2018 and the New Delhi ASEAN-India Summit on January 25-26, 2018 both focused on fintech and developing new digital payment gateways across the region. Singapore’s rigorous system of cashless transactions ensured it was featured prominently in all discussions on the topic.
The transactions would be hosted by Indian government’s National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI) — an umbrella organisation for all retail payment systems in India — with its RuPay cards and Singapore’s equivalent system, Network for Electronic Transfers (NETS). Both governments envision that once the handshake between NPCI and NETS happen, Indians can carry out transactions in the island nation with RuPay cards. Similarly, a press release from NETS states Singapore shoppers will be able to pay for goods and services on popular Indian e-commerce websites via NETS-powered digital cards.
India and Singapore "Stepping into the Future",a business and community event will be held on 31 May 2018 at Marina Bay Sands, Singapore. All are welcome to share your experience on social media by using #MODISG2018 . We are listening! #MODISG2018
PM Modi is set to reach Singapore on May 31 for a three-day trip on the second leg of his two-nation tour. He arrives in Indonesia on May 29. He is scheduled to meet Singapore PM Lee Hsien Loong during his visit to discuss issues to boost bilateral cooperation.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) signed between NETS, floated by a consortium of Singapore-based banks but as privately-held company and state-owned NPCI is already in existence since September last year.
The issue of India’s cashless payment sector was prominently featured during the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit in January. In a media briefing, Secretary (East) for the Indian government Preeti Saran stated that the leaders of the two nations had discussed expanding RuPay overseas in a bilateral meeting on the summit’s sidelines.
“You would be aware that our Prime Minister has been invited as the Chief Guest for the Shangri-La Dialogue which is the flagship event that takes place in Singapore,” Saran said.
“They did talk about fintech and RuPay. Two proposals regarding India’s RuPay and Singapore’s fintech and how these could decrease the cost of transactions and promote cashless economy, something that Singapore is also working towards,” she added.
A press release issued when the two organisation signed on the MoU sets “mid 2018” as the time to roll out the first phase of the partnership. It would enable an Nets powered digital cards system to become operational so that it can be accepted as a payment option on NPCI’s e-commerce merchants’ websites in India. Similarly “RuPay cards (will) be accepted via QR code payment at all NETS acceptance points in Singapore”.
For India, an acceptance of RuPay card by Singapore is a major stepping stone to the wider acceptance of the Rupee abroad. In the welter of competing digital payments practices sweeping through Asia, making RuPay an important player, is important. China is attempting s similar deal for the Yuan abroad and has the chance to do so on the back of the mega Chinese e-commerce companies.
Indian External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj (left) meets Singapore Foreign Minister Dr Vivian Balakrishnan as Preeti Saran, Secretary (East), Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, (centre) looks on. Photo courtesy: MEA
Singapore Foreign Affairs Minister Vivian Balakrishnan in Delhi last year said his country is ready to become RuPay Card's first international partner while praising steps taken by the government such as the promotion of digital payments and use of Aadhaar.
"One area where we hope there will be more interaction between Singapore, ASEAN and India are in this digital arena. We already have commercial projects such as MAS Electronic Payment System (MEPS), an electronic payment system in Singapore similar to RuPay in India. Singapore can serve as RuPay's first overseas market. We can explore connecting our e-payment systems,” he said.
The launch of multiple mobile payment platforms in India by the government and private entities have laid the foundation to expand overseas. However, there are certain issues such as opening up the Aadhaar card system and providing currency exchange information in real-time, that need to be dealt with before putting such a system in place.
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13618 - India Post Payments Bank offers option to de-link Aadhaar - Entracker
By Tausif Alam -
May 29, 2018
The rush over to push Aadhaar linking of individuals to banks, post office and mobile service providers by the government has slowed down in the past one month.
It began with telecom companies when the Centre directed telecom companies to start accepting alternative documents such as driving licence, passport and voter ID card last month.
Now, the shocker comes from the government-owned India Post Payments Bank (IPPB), which is allowing its account holders to de-link Aadhaar number. The Payments Bank also allows customers to open savings bank account without Aadhaar.
However, there is some issue in the form of India Post Payments Bank. Despite the option of de-linking Aadhaar, the declaration part in the form still seeks consent from account holders to allow seeding their account with their Aadhaar, and map this with the National Payments Corp of India (NPCI) to enable direct benefit transfer (DBT) from the government. The anomaly in the form needs to be addressed by the Department of Posts (DoP).
The softening of stand comes after the Centre made it mandatory to link Aadhaar with various post office schemes like PPF, NSC, KVP last year.
In the past, the UIDAI has taken every measure to link 12-digit unique identity number to every bank account, mobile number as well as government schemes like PDS (public distribution system), mid-day meal and others.
In the frenzy of Aadhaar linkage, even private institutions like private banks and mobile service providers seem to leave no-stone-unturned to make it happen.
As the UIDAI is pushing for its case, the matter is in the Supreme Court whether Aadhaar should become compulsory for every citizen in the country.
In the past, the Supreme Court had ruled that citizens do not have to link their the unique identity numbers to bank accounts, mobile phones and passport until the judgment was pronounced on the constitutionality of the unique identification programme.
The development was first reported by Moneylife.
13617 - The new Luddites’ paranoia - Indian Express
Critics of Aadhaar are raising an alarm based on unfounded concerns.
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Written by Ajay Bhushan Pandey | Updated: May 29, 2018 12:18:25 am
The fear of a threat to privacy because of the use of core biometrics (fingerprints and iris) in Aadhaar is exaggerated because biometrics are not secret information like PIN or password.
The article by Jean Dreze, ‘Know your Aadhaar’, (IE, May 8) seeks to raise four privacy concerns arising from the threat of hacking of core biometrics, leakage of Aadhaar number and sharing of demographic information with service providers and finally, state surveillance. With due respect, these concerns are wholly unfounded.
The fear of a threat to privacy because of the use of core biometrics (fingerprints and iris) in Aadhaar is exaggerated because biometrics are not secret information like PIN or password. People must know that even the theft of biometrics in a rare eventuality will not put one to the same level of risk as the leakage of a password. Critics try to raise an unnecessary fear about biometrics and use it to attack Aadhaar. They forget that we use thumbprints for many purposes such as registration of documents, passports, driving licence, affidavits, etc. Similarly, physical signatures too fall into the category of biometrics. We all widely use our physical signatures to authenticate documents and transactions. Have the critics shunned the use of physical thumb prints and signatures? We continue to use them because there are additional checks in the system. For example, when I issue a high-value cheque, my bank calls me to confirm whether I signed it. Similar due diligence needs to be followed for Aadhaar verification.
Related News
UIDAI won’t know, say, if one has a car… Even if national security is invoked, it can’t tell you this: Ajay Bhushan Pandey
Aadhaar not mandatory for getting pension: Govt
Aadhaar Card: Here’s how to change your address, contact details
Critics also try to raise an alarm about biometric information being leaked from the Aadhaar database. As explained above, even though the biometric information is not a secret information and its leakage might have relatively limited damage potential, UIDAI has taken and will continue to take measures to ensure that its database remains secure. During the last eight years, there has not been a single instance of a biometric data breach from the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR). But to say that because somebody may possibly hack the CIDR and, therefore, as a nation, we should not use biometrics is a manifestation of extreme paranoia.
Critics are under the incorrect impression that Aadhaar is a confidential number and term any publication thereof a security breach. There exists a distinction between a secret number and sensitive personal information (SPI) and, also, that SPI is not secret information. Aadhaar, just like a bank account number or PAN, is not secret. It is a piece of SPI whose unauthorised public disclosure is prohibited under the law to protect overall privacy. However, it is also an identity number which needs to be freely shared as and when required. Bank account numbers and signatures are on every cheque. Can somebody hack into someone’s bank account just by knowing his account number or Aadhaar number alone? One would need a password, OTP, PIN, fingerprints etc.
The article also asserts that UIDAI has a weak consent clause, which it uses to freely share people’s data with service providers. Drawing a parallel with Facebook and Cambridge Analytica and referring to Aadhaar being “a drill to new oil”, demonstrates a complete lack of understanding. Critics must first know what personal data UIDAI stores and then question the so-called danger of sharing or data mining. Contrary to the massive real-time personal data which social media companies amass, UIDAI keeps minimal data of a person — name, address, date of birth, photo (which are publicly available in telephone directories, voter lists, etc.) and biometrics. UIDAI does not collect or keep personal details such as one’s assets, bank details, call records, caste, religion, family tree, friends’ list, health information, likes and dislikes etc. Even though one links Aadhaar with telecom, banks, passport, etc, UIDAI under the Aadhaar Act is prohibited from seeking the purpose and/or the location of any transactions. If one were to accept Dreze’s fear about data mining through such minimal data, then the first casualty will be the publication of voters’ list, which has far greater demographic details.
Critics also accuse Aadhaar of creating an unprecedented infrastructure of state surveillance. They need to ask themselves whether mandatory usage of Social Security Number (SSN) in the United States in areas such as food stamps, bank accounts, financial aid, subsidised housing, birth registrations, death certificates, healthcare benefits has turned that country into a surveillance state. One may argue that there are safeguards in the US which prevent data aggregation. Similarly, India as the world’s largest democracy has a strong legislature, independent judiciary and free press which prevent any such attempt or overreach by the executive. The Parliament brought in the Aadhaar Act in 2016 with strong safeguards to eliminate the possibility of any state surveillance. The Aadhaar Act is based on the principle of privacy by design — minimal data, federated databases and optimal ignorance — which in turn ensure that no agency, UIDAI, government or private, is able to aggregate Aadhaar information from various sources to track or profile any individual. Bill Gates has rightly commented that Aadhaar in itself does not pose any privacy issue because it is just a bio-ID verification scheme.
Finally, the above concerns raised by the conscientious objectors of Aadhaar remind us of the arguments that the Luddites gave while opposing Industrial Revolution. We must realise that we are moving towards a digital society where technology will have a far greater role than before. What is needed is mitigation of risk, if any, rather than an abrogation of technology, otherwise, as a nation, we will be the big loser. We were left out of Industrial Revolution because our country was not independent then, but we would not like to miss the bus this time.
The writer is CEO, UIADI.
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13616 - Home BusinessBusiness Others Ravi Shankar Prasad: ‘Digital India has become a mass movement in 4 years’ - Indian Express
- Home BusinessBusiness Others Ravi Shankar Prasad: ‘Digital India has become a mass movement in 4 years’
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that digital health and literacy are areas where work needs to be accelerated.
Union Minister for Electronics & Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad(Express Photo by Prem Nath Pandey)
Written by Pranav Mukul | New Delhi | Updated: May 28, 2018 12:56:41 pm
Having completed four years in power, digital delivery of services and employment generation through the common service centre scheme are the biggest achievements of the National Democratic Alliance government, Minister of Electronics and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad told Indian EXpress in an interview. Prasad said that digital health and literacy are areas where work needs to be accelerated. Edited excerpts:
What have been the biggest achievements of this government in the digital technology sector over the last four years?
Digital India has become a mass movement touching the life of common and poor people. Four years down the line, common service centre movement has become big. From 23,000 common service centres in 2014, there are 2.91 lakh now. Apart from providing digital delivery of services, they have also created employment for 10 lakh people and have created entrepreneurship.
Bringing technology to rural areas of the country was one of the promises of this government. Apart from common service centres, where else have efforts been made?
Eighty-nine business processing and outsourcing units (BPOs) in 27 states of India in far-flung areas like Imphal, Kohima, Guwahati, Patna, Muzaffarpur, Bareily, Kanpur, Bhiwandi have been set up in the first phase of the rural BPO scheme. In the next lot, places like Ghazipur, Dewaria, Jahanabad and Gaya are going to be covered.
“The government’s role in generating employment has been promotion of the common service centre scheme that has added 10 lakh jobs, claimed Electronics and Information Technology Minister.
While the government boasts about the success of electronic manufacturing, there has been criticism that only assembly is done in India…
Electronic manufacturing is also a great success story. From two mobile units in 2014, there are 120 now. Those who criticise setting up of assembly units first must know it’s a norm worldwide. Now, even the other ecosystem, which includes components, sub-assemblies, is coming about apart from manufacturing of consumer electronics, automobiles, LED lights, solar panels, etc. India is emerging as a big country in electronic manufacturing.
Are there any areas where more could have been done in the last four years?
In four years, the progress is remarkable. I have to accelerate its speed more in the areas like digital health, digital literacy and delivery of digital services. We have also seen enormous success of Aadhaar as part of the JAM (Jan Dhan-Mobile-Aadhaar) trinity. As of date, there are 30 crore Jan Dhan accounts, 120 crore Aadhaar and 121 crore mobile phones in the country. We have saved over Rs 90,000 crore through direct benefit transfer. Fictitious claimants and middle-men are now out. Four years have shown poor people getting empowered through technological developments such as e-hospital, soil health cards, e-scholarships, Jeevan Praman Scheme, e-NAM. All of this technology is homegrown.
“Digital India is transformative in empowering ordinary Indians ably assisted by other programmes like Startup India, Standup India, Skill India and newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, etc. Most important thing is that it is also empowering all genders. One-third of employees in the IT sector are women,” said Prasad. (Express Photo: Anil Sharma)
Employment in the information technology (IT) sector has been a cause for concern. There were reports last year about mass lay-offs in the sector. What has the government done to address that?
In the IT sector, 39.97 lakh people work directly, according to the Nasscom estimate. Nearly, 3.5 times or over 1.30 crore work indirectly. In the last four years, 6 lakh jobs have been added by various IT companies including more than 1 lakh in 2017-18. We are promoting digital economy for it to reach $1 trillion size in the next five to seven years to address the rising demand in India that will add 50-75 lakh more jobs.
The government’s role in generating employment has been promotion of the common service centre scheme that has added 10 lakh jobs. Each village level entrepreneur is employing five to seven people on an average. Five lakh jobs have been added in mobile and electronic manufacturing, which the Centre has promoted. Further, 12,500 jobs have been created in the BPO sector through the rural BPO scheme, and this number is still rising. Therefore, employment potential is robust and I’m not even talking about jobs in other sectors created as a result of growing digital technologies. I am only talking about what is directly dealt with by my department.
Ravi Shankar Prasad said that digital health and literacy are areas where work needs to be accelerated.
Has the government been able to address the problem of skilling, which is said to be one of the key causes for concern in job creation in India?
Digital India is transformative in empowering ordinary Indians ably assisted by other programmes like Startup India, Standup India, Skill India and newer technologies such as artificial intelligence, etc. Most important thing is that it is also empowering all genders. One-third of employees in the IT sector are women.
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13615 - Two years of Ujjwala Yojana: Govt initiative has had an impact at ground level but teething problems remain - First Post
India Vivek Anand May 27, 2018 18:25:01 IST
Editor's note: Over two years have passed since the inauguration of the Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojana in the district of Ballia in Uttar Pradesh. The scheme, which aims to provide LPG connections to economically weaker sections, has often been cited by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to showcase the Centre's work towards poverty alleviation. In this series of reports, Firstpost seeks to assess the impact of the scheme on the ground in western Uttar Pradesh.
Lakshmi never imagined she’d have a bank account. At 36, an account has finally been opened in her name. As she glanced at her name written on the passbook, she couldn't contain a smile. Though there isn't much in her bank account, owing to her household expenses, whatever sum she owns guarantees her a greater degree of economic security that those rolled notes around the corners of her house offered.
Representational image. Firstpost/Naresh Sharma
Lakshmi is planning to put her savings in her new account opened under the Jan Dhan Yojana. She is yet to deposit the saved money in her account. But, nowadays, whenever she buys an LPG cylinder, the subsidy amount is deposited directly into her bank account.
The Pradhan Mantri Ujjawala Yojana has not just emancipated Lakshmi from the suffocating smoke coming out of her clay stove, but also helped her have her own bank account. Also, thanks to the scheme, some money is regularly deposited in Lakshmi's account.
To get an LPG gas connection under Ujjwala scheme, it is compulsory to have a bank account in the name of a female member of a family. Many Jan Dhan accounts were opened for women. Government statistics from January 2018 show that of 30.97 crore accounts opened under Jan Dhan scheme, 16.37 crore (roughly 50 percent) were opened in the name of women. The government’s initiative towards female empowerment seems to have had an impact at the ground level.
The Khatauli assembly area of Muzaffarnagar district in Western Uttar Pradesh, has many such stories. To get a better picture of how such schemes are working on ground, how these schemes have benefitted and impacted the lives of women, Firstpost visited a tiny hamlet of Khatauli. The village's school bears the name of the hamlet—Islamabad—which immediately grabs the attention. Vishnu Dutt, a senior citizen and resident of Islamabad, explained that their forebears chose the name well before the Partition. Dutt, who hails from the Brahmin community, said it never bothered people like him but it arouses the intrigue of outsiders.
He also revealed that there was a village named Aurangzeb Nagar not too far from Islamabad. The villagers renamed it Radhna sometime ago. There are also villages such as Akbargarh and Mujahidpur. Dutt explained that these villages date back to the Mughal era, hence the names. Here, villagers might have availed the benefits of the Ujjwala and Jan Dhan schemes but Dutt feels one should wait before measuring the success of any scheme. He added that LPG connections aren’t available to every poor family.
Udit Kumar is doing a survey on LPG gas connection being distributed under Ujjwala scheme. A local LPG distributer hired Kumar, who runs camps across villages to educate people and tells villagers about the documents required. “The biggest issue here is that of documentation. Several women don't have an Aadhaar card. If they have Aadhaar then there is no bank account. Some of them don't have ration cards. All these three documents are a prerequisite to getting the benefit of this scheme”, Kumar explained.
The official website of Ujjwala scheme says that BPL ration card, Aadhaar card or Voter I card are the required documents to enlist under this scheme. According to the website, if one doesn't have Aadhaar, people can alternatively use Voter I card to get the benefits. But on the ground, it is almost impossible to get an LPG connection through Ujjwala without Aadhaar card.
“Some people already have gas connection. Now, they want benefits under this scheme as well. That's why the Aadhaar has been made mandatory for enrollment under the Ujjwala scheme. The Aadhaar is also necessary to get LPG subsidy. So, BPL ration card and bank account are must along with Aadhaar card,” he said.
It is evident that Ujjwala scheme is reaching ground level. People are buying LPG stoves. To put the impact of this scheme in perspective, one must recall the 90s: A time when gas stoves and LPG connections were making inroads in the medium-level cites and small towns. People didn't start using LPG stoves at once. Use of clay stoves with wood and coal as fuel continued.
Then, clay stoves made way for LPG stoves. In most households, women used clay stoves to cook food, while LPG stoves were used to make breakfast and snacks. This was done to maximise the longevity of the LPG cylinder. Aside from dreading added expenditure, people were also wary of standing in long queues to get cylinders refilled. It wasn't easy to get an LPG connection and cylinder refills.
Later, the process eased. Cylinder refills were also made easy to come by and oil marketing companies started doorstep delivery. This easing of the process led to expansion of LPG gas connection base. Gradually, the use of clay stoves and kerosene stoves also became extinct in small towns and cities.
“People still think that they should use the LPG stove minimally if they want to prolong their usage. That's why women are still cooking on wooden stoves. As a result, sometimes a single LPG cylinder lasts up to a year. In rural patches of Western Uttar Pradesh, poor families are still to get used to cooking on LPG stoves,” said Udit Kumar.
But this saving leads to another problem. If they don't get their cylinders refilled every three months, the distributors put such connections in the ‘inactive list’ of customers who then face difficulties in getting their connection reactivated. It takes a lot of documents and a visit to the distributors' office to get such connections activated. Rural customers are often are unable to get their LPG connections reactivated after they are put in inactive list by LPG distributors. Many connections are rendered inactive due to this.
A lot of rural customers have LPG connections to their name which are inactive. Which means they took the connection, but didn't use LPG regularly. There were 3.55 crore such inactive LPG connections across country. The number of inactive LPG connections touched 3.82 crore in January 2018. The total number of gas connections distributed under Ujjwala scheme is almost at par with these inactive LPG connections.
Today, 15 percent of LPG connections are inactive. A large number of inactive LPG connections are disappointing and doesn't bode well for success of any of the government's flagship scheme. Though there hasn't been any paucity in distributing LPG connections to poor families. According to data, 3.7 crore poor women have been given LPG connections under Pradhan Mantri Ujjwala Yojna.
Several schemes have been launched to improve the LPG sector. The government started transferring gas subsidy directly to peoples' accounts through 'Pahal' scheme. The Modi government also launched, 'Give it up' campaign to nudge well to do families to give up gas subsidy. These programmes have led to plugging the leaks in LPG delivery system. Also, falling international crude prices in past couple of years helped government to deliver LPG connections to more and more families.
After the launch of the Ujjwala scheme, India surpassed Japan when it comes to LPG imports. Now, only China is ahead of India in terms of LPG imports. India imported 2.4 million tonnes of gas in December 2017, while China imported 2.3 million tonnes of LPG during same period. The average consumption of LPG in China is around 2.7 million tonnes per month, while Indians guzzle around 1.7 million tonnes of LPG per month. This data amply shows that people are more and more using LPG as fuel.
The Ujjwala scheme aims to provide a better life to major portion of country's populace. Still, to see a major positive shift at ground level due to this scheme, one will have to wait for some more time.
Read Part 1: Two years of Ujjwala Yojana: Dalits in western UP laud benefits despite resentment against Centre on other issues
Updated Date: May 27, 2018 18:25 PM
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