13289 - Importance of biometric data protection emphasized as IMF recognizes Aadhaar achievement - Biometric Update

Importance of biometric data protection emphasized as IMF recognizes Aadhaar achievement

Apr 13, 2018 | Chris Burt

CATEGORIES Biometrics News  |  Civil / National ID

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) has recognized India as a global leader in biometric identification systems, but has called on the country to take measures to ensure the privacy and security of personal data included in the Aadhaar program. Wrongful payments under India’s LPG (liquified petroleum gas) subsidies have been reduced by at least 11 percent, and as much as 24 percent, according to the recently published IMF Fiscal Monitor chapter on Digital Government.

The report lauds India’s registration of 1.2 billion people, and notes that the Unique Identification Authority of India estimates the cost of Aadhaar’s implementation and maintenance is roughly $1.5 billion, or $1.25 per card, while other electronic identification systems tend to cost $3 to $6 per person.

It also notes that the encryption of the collected biometric data makes Aadhaar compatible with privacy rights, according to its proponents, but says that a lack of sufficient security controls has made it vulnerable to unauthorized access.

“In India, privacy and security concerns led to alternating periods of mandatory and non-mandatory use of Aadhaar in social programmes,” the report says. It also notes that it has been reported that 135 million Aadhaar numbers have been compromised, and that the program’s compliance with privacy laws is under review by India’s Supreme Court.

“The security risks associated with biometric data are very similar to any other personal data, once the digital data is stored somewhere, it can be hacked,” Michael Fauscette, Chief Research Officer of G2 Crowd told Biometric Update in an email conversation on the general topic of biometric data security. “Moving the data from the sensor to the repository is also a risk point, and must include data encryption to prevent highjacking.”

While encryption is important to preserving the security and privacy of biometric data, Fauscette says, it is only part of a larger data protection picture.

“Data at rest (in storage) presents a large risk, but there are other risks. The process of setting up the system, sometimes called enrollment, can be a weak point. If the enrollment process doesn’t include positive identification, then the whole system is at risk from the start. The wrong person’s biometric data could be used and associating it to a different person. Or, if the enrollment process includes a comparison of biometric data to some central repository as a way to validate identity, there is risk to the data in transit if it is not encrypted.”

Changes were recently made to the Aadhaar enrollment process in response to allegations of corruption and process violations.

13286 - India should take steps to ensure privacy in biometric identification programmes: IMF - India.Com

India should take steps to ensure privacy in biometric identification programmes: IMF (Eds: Correcting spelling of Aadhaar) By Lalit K Jha

Published: April 12, 2018 9:15 PM IST

By PTI Feeds

Washington, Apr 12 (PTI) The IMF today said India should take necessary measures to ensure privacy and security controls while implementing large identification programmes like the Aadhaar, as the global financial body identified India as a leader in the biometric identification system.

The International Monetary Fund in its fiscal monitor report on digital government said digitalisation can facilitate stronger governance and fiscal transparency, allowing better public awareness and scrutiny of the budget process and the design of fiscal policy.

In India, the IMF said, biometric identification and electronic payments have helped reduce leakages in LPG subsidies.

“Depending on assumptions and how the reduction in leakage is expressed that is, the reduction in total transfers or wrongful payments estimated savings from digitalisation range between 0.2 and 21 per cent of cash transfers and 11 to 24 per cent of wrongful payments, it said.

“It is difficult to disentangle the effect of digitalisation from broader macroeconomic and policy developments, the IMF said.

For example, the use of Aadhaar in the LPG subsidy scheme coincided with the termination of the LPG dual pricing system and the reduction in the world price of natural gas, both of which helped reduce the cost of LPG subsidies.

Data limitations and lack of proper assessment frameworks constrain ex-post evaluations, the report said.

“With more than 1.2 billion registered citizens in India’s biometric identification system, Aadhaar, the country stands out as a leader in this area,” the report said.

The IMF, however, stressed that governments should take necessary steps to ensure privacy and security controls when implementing large identification programmes.

“In India, privacy and security concerns led to alternating periods of mandatory and non-mandatory use of Aadhaar in social programmes, it said.

“A court decision is still pending on its compliance with the right to privacy. In a recent data breach in India, it has been reported that 135 million Aadhaar numbers were compromised, underscoring the importance of sound privacy measures, it added.

The report noted that spending should also be consistent with the government’s budget constraint and will require policy-makers to create fiscal space for purchasing new technology, storing large amounts of data and hiring cyber-security experts.

Cost estimates are rare and incomplete, it observed.

“In India, data from the Unique Identification Authority of India place the costs of Aadhaar implementation and maintenance at about USD 1.5 billion or USD 1.25 per card between 2009 and 2017 but this compares favourably with the costs of other electronic identification systems of USD 3 to USD 6 per enrollee, the IMF said.

Given its broad coverage, IMF believes that it may be a challenge to phase Aadhaar out.

“Advocates of the system assert that Aadhaar is compatible with the right to privacy because the captured biometric traits are encrypted, making it difficult for anyone who intercepts these images to access the actual content,” it said.

“However, the lack of sufficient security controls makes the system vulnerable to unauthorised access,” it added.

“In a recent data breach, it has been reported that Aadhaar numbers and the corresponding identities of 135 million Indian citizens were compromised when service providers used their access to steal identity information. Privacy and security controls are therefore key when implementing large identification programmes, IMF said.

The IMF in its report listed out central government implementing several digital platforms to overcome leakages in its subsidy scheme.

“The so-called ‘JAM trinity’ has three pillars: Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile. Jan Dhan promotes financial inclusion, targeting universal access to banking facilities and facilitating the delivery of social benefits directly to bank accounts.

“Aadhaar, provides each citizen with a 12-digit unique identification number with demographic and biometric information (fingerprint and iris scan). With 1.2 billion residents enrolled, this is the largest biometric programme in the world. Finally a mobile network covering more than 1.16 billion phones serves as an effective service delivery platform, especially in rural areas.” Under the Jan Dhan, bank accounts have been linked to Aadhaar cards, the report said, adding that this has enabled the delivery of social benefits through direct electronic payments to eligible bank account holders.

Programmes linked to Aadhaar include the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for LPG subsidies, the Public Distribution System for rice and wheat, and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act program, which provides 100 days of work for unemployed workers in a year.

In 2008, the government digitalised the programme’s wage payments and job applicants by linking their job cards to Aadhaar, IMF said.

This is published unedited from the PTI feed.

13285 - Aadhaar: India should take steps to ensure privacy in biometric identification programmes, says IMF - Financial Express

Aadhaar: India should take steps to ensure privacy in biometric identification programmes, says IMF

The IMF today said India should take necessary measures to ensure privacy and security controls while implementing large identification programmes like the Aadhaar, as the global financial body identified India as a leader in the biometric identification system.

By: PTI | Washington | Published: April 12, 2018 9:39 PM

The IMF today said India should take necessary measures to ensure privacy and security controls while implementing large identification programmes like the Aadhaar, as the global financial body identified India as a leader in the biometric identification system.

The IMF today said India should take necessary measures to ensure privacy and security controls while implementing large identification programmes like the Aadhaar, as the global financial body identified India as a leader in the biometric identification system. The International Monetary Fund in its fiscal monitor report on digital government said digitalisation can facilitate stronger governance and fiscal transparency, allowing better public awareness and scrutiny of the budget process and the design of fiscal policy. In India, the IMF said, biometric identification and electronic payments have helped reduce leakages in LPG subsidies.

“Depending on assumptions and how the reduction in leakage is expressed — that is, the reduction in total transfers or wrongful payments — estimated savings from digitalisation range between 0.2 and 21 per cent of cash transfers and 11 to 24 per cent of wrongful payments,” it said. “It is difficult to disentangle the effect of digitalisation from broader macroeconomic and policy developments,” the IMF said. For example, the use of Aadhaar in the LPG subsidy scheme coincided with the termination of the LPG dual pricing system and the reduction in the world price of natural gas, both of which helped reduce the cost of LPG subsidies.

Data limitations and lack of proper assessment frameworks constrain ex-post evaluations, the report said. “With more than 1.2 billion registered citizens in India’s biometric identification system, Aadhaar, the country stands out as a leader in this area,” the report said. The IMF, however, stressed that governments should take necessary steps to ensure privacy and security controls when implementing large identification programmes. “In India, privacy and security concerns led to alternating periods of mandatory and non-mandatory use of Aadhaar in social programmes,” it said.

“A court decision is still pending on its compliance with the right to privacy. In a recent data breach in India, it has been reported that 135 million Aadhaar numbers were compromised, underscoring the importance of sound privacy measures,” it added. The report noted that spending should also be consistent with the government’s budget constraint and will require policy-makers to create fiscal space for purchasing new technology, storing large amounts of data and hiring cyber-security experts.

Cost estimates are rare and incomplete, it observed. “In India, data from the Unique Identification Authority of India place the costs of Aadhaar implementation and maintenance at about USD 1.5 billion or USD 1.25 per card between 2009 and 2017 but this compares favourably with the costs of other electronic identification systems of USD 3 to USD 6 per enrollee,” the IMF said. Given its broad coverage, IMF believes that it may be a challenge to phase Aadhaar out. “Advocates of the system assert that Aadhaar is compatible with the right to privacy because the captured biometric traits are encrypted, making it difficult for anyone who intercepts these images to access the actual content,” it said.

“However, the lack of sufficient security controls makes the system vulnerable to unauthorised access,” it added. “In a recent data breach, it has been reported that Aadhaar numbers and the corresponding identities of 135 million Indian citizens were compromised when service providers used their access to steal identity information. Privacy and security controls are therefore key when implementing large identification programmes, IMF said. The IMF in its report listed out central government implementing several digital platforms to overcome leakages in its subsidy scheme.

“The so-called ‘JAM trinity’ has three pillars: Jan Dhan, Aadhaar and Mobile. Jan Dhan promotes financial inclusion, targeting universal access to banking facilities and facilitating the delivery of social benefits directly to bank accounts. “Aadhaar, provides each citizen with a 12-digit unique identification number with demographic and biometric information (fingerprint and iris scan). With 1.2 billion residents enrolled, this is the largest biometric programme in the world.

Finally, a mobile network covering more than 1.16 billion phones serves as an effective service delivery platform, especially in rural areas.” Under the Jan Dhan, bank accounts have been linked to Aadhaar cards, the report said, adding that this has enabled the delivery of social benefits through direct electronic payments to eligible bank account holders. 

Programmes linked to Aadhaar include the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for LPG subsidies, the Public Distribution System for rice and wheat, and the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act program, which provides 100 days of work for unemployed workers in a year.

In 2008, the government digitalised the programme’s wage payments and job applicants by linking their job cards to Aadhaar, IMF said.

11182 - IMF backs GST and Aadhaar push, pegs India’s growth at 8% - Times Now

IMF backs GST and Aadhaar push, pegs India’s growth at 8%

Apr 28, 2017 | 13:41 IST | SOURCE : Times Now, Agencies

Washington: As the nation nears the start of a new tax regime from July 1 under the historic Goods and Services Tax (GST), the International Monetary Fund (IMF) has backed the reforms, adding that it would help raise India’s mid-term growth to about 8 per cent.

Tao Zhang, Deputy Managing Director of the IMF, said the Indian government has succeeded in making significant progress in implementing economic reforms, which will support strong and sustainable growth in future.

Zhang also praised GST, explaining that it will enhance production and the movement of goods and services across the state.

"We expect that the goods and services tax (GST), which is targeted to be applied starting in July, will help raise India's medium-term growth to above 8 per cent, as it will enhance production and the movement of goods and services across Indian states," the IMF official said.

The deputy director also said that the IMF is “extremely impressed” with the work that is being done by the government of India, adding that GST will help enhance India’s growth unequivocally.

Zhang also believes that India will not slip down in terms of fast-paced economic growth, and with the implementation of GST from July, India will be looking to further improve its growth rate, which was scaled down after the demonetisation move last year, but the situation has improved considerably since November 8.

Adding to his comments on GST, Zhang also highlighted some key factors such as dip in global oil prices that have helped bolster economic activity, apart from lowering inflation.

"The currency exchange initiative led to a slowdown in economic activity. However, there are initial signs of recovery as the currency exchange has been progressing well," said Zhang, who assumed the role of Deputy Managing Director at the IMF on August 22, 2016.

"As India persists with its strong reform efforts, labour market reforms should take priority," he noted.

These would facilitate greater and better quality jobs, raise female labour force participation, and enhance the impact of recent product market reforms, he observed.

"While there has been important progress generally, we see scope to pursue better targeting and greater efficiency of subsidy and social spending programs through greater use of the trio of Aadhaar unique beneficiary identification, direct benefit transfers, and information technology," Zhao  said.

"Finally, more could be done to raise agricultural productivity and enhance market efficiency. This would help increase the supply of high-value foods, enhance returns to farmers, and dampen food inflation pressures," said the IMF official responding to a question.

10830 - Database State to Surveillance State - Rediff

Database State to Surveillance State

January 31, 2017 10:46 IST

UID/Aadhaar-based surveillance does not end with the collection of fingerprints and iris scan, it goes quite beyond it and poses a lethal threat to the idea of India, says Gopal Krishna.

Illustration: Dominic Xavier/Rediff.com

While responding to a request for an urgent hearing in the matter of 'biometric information' based e-identity and 12-digit biometric unique identification (UID)/Aadhaar number-related projects, when the Chief Justice Jagdish Singh Khehar-headed three judge bench asked, 'Surveillance to what. Is it a big deal?' the beneficial owners of the World Bank Group in general and the International Monetary Fund in particular must have patted their backs in satisfaction.

The arrival of a presumptuous Surveillance State is linked to the emergence of a Database State. In Discipline and Punish: The Birth of Prison, Michel Foucault observed that surveillance is based on a system of permanent registration. It is a decisive economic operator.

A chapter titled 'On the Map: Making Surveillance Work' under the section 'Revolutions in the International Monetary System' in the book, Silent Revolution: The International Monetary Fund 1979-1989 corroborates Foucault's contention. This book was published by the IMF in 2001.

The chapter deals with the principles and procedures of surveillance.

It admits that 'Surveillance, a central pillar of IMF activities and responsibilities in the modern era, is not an easy concept to grasp.'

It will have us accept that only the heads of public institutions can grasp and communicate the meaning of 'surveillance.'

The IMF commiserates with lesser mortals, stating that it knows that 'surveillance' does sound terrible. This is understandable.

But it does not sound terrible to the three judge bench.

Jacob A Frenkel, an IMF official, is quoted in the book as arguing that this word 'surveillance' should be made to sound benign.

It 'should give way to concepts of cooperation, partnership, and consultation; of bringing on board the rest of the world’s considerations.'

This publication states, 'In practice, surveillance has encapsulated all of the above notions, but at its best it has been motivated by and has itself promoted a spirit of international cooperation.'

This publication informs that the first official use of the term came in June 1974. The IMF was concerned that 'Few, if any countries, however, were prepared to be subjected to surveillance in that strong sense. The 1980s therefore became a decade of experimentation, in which the staff and management of the Fund constantly probed and prodded to see how far they could go in persuading countries to respond positively to Fund analysis and advice.'

This concern of the IMF is deeply touching. But the IMF's efforts did yield results and by the mid-1990s, a 'silent revolution' had happened in countries like India, it infers.

By 2013, citizens of at least 35 countries and their heads came to know exactly what 'surveillance' means due to disclosures by Wikileaks, Edward Snowden, Chelsea Manning, Glenn Greenwald and Laura Poitras. It sounded terrible to them.

Both the US National Security Agency and the World Bank Group have a different and benevolent sounding meaning in mind.

'Even among IMF staff,' the publication admits, 'those questions did not yield uniform answers.'

This incomprehension among them is understandable because it admittedly means 'close observation especially of a suspected person.'

Heads of financial institutions, the US president and the Indian prime minister appear to be busy getting this dictionary meaning of 'surveillance' changed through their powers of persuasion, peer pressure and advertising to avoid confusion that still exists despite relentless and sincere efforts at least since 1974.

Public institutions seem to have been taken for a ride.

'If surveillance was to have any substance,' the IMF publication states, 'the Fund would have to develop that influence: Through the power of persuasion (Fund management and staff to country authorities), through peer pressure (country to country in the forum of the Fund), and through publicity (Fund to the public).'

'The relative merit of each of these channels was always the subject of much debate. Was publicity appropriate, or would it conflict with and even nullify the benefits of persuasion and peer pressure?'

The publication uses the word 'Fund' to refer to the IMF.

'Did surveillance mean that the IMF was expected to be a financial Interpol, seeking out and punishing errant behaviour, or should its role be more that of a faithful confidant of those entrusted with implementing macroeconomic policies around the world?' the IMF asks itself.

Have most public institutions in India become a 'faithful confidant' of the World Bank Group?

There is a revelation in the publication that the IMF is concerned with the 'viability of military spending' as well.

The IMF took a formal position on the role of military spending in national economic policy in October 1991.

At that time, its executive directors concluded that, 'As military expenditure can have an important bearing on a member's fiscal policy and external position, information about such expenditure may be necessary to permit a full and internally consistent assessment of the member's economic position and policies.'

If this is not an exercise in surveillance, which admittedly sounds 'terrible', what else is it?

Earlier, on April 23, 2010, the World Bank launched its eTransform Initiative by signing a memorandum of understanding with France and South Korea besides transnational companies like L-1 Identity Solutions, IBM, Gemalto, Pfizer and others.

The World Bank is currently funding 14 projects related to e-government and e-ID around the world.

The Supreme Court judges may have missed watching Gattaca, a 1997 film written and directed by Andrew Niccol which dwells on a genetic registry database that uses biometrics to classify 'valids' and 'in-valids.'

If the 12-digit biometric UID/Aadhaar number-based surveillance is not abandoned the way it has been abandoned in China, Australia, the Philippines, the US, the UK and other countries, the court will soon be dealing with 'valid' and 'invalid' Indians.

The emergence of such architecture poses a lethal threat to the very idea of India.

Referring to the incident of surveillance of his mobile phones, in an article titled My Call Detail Records and A Citizen's Right to Privacy (external link) published in Gujarati, Hindi, Urdu and English, Arun Jaitley, then the Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, wrote, '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.'

It is clear that once lawmakers become part of the government, they become enlightened about the benefits of surveillance.

It is relevant to reiterate in this context that Nandan Nilekani, the then chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India, was given the ID Limelight Award at the ID World International Congress 2010 in Milan, Italy, wherein Safran Morpho (of the Safran group) was a key sponsor of the ID Congress.

Its subsidiary, Sagem Morpho Security Pvt Ltd, had been awarded a contract for the purchase of biometric authentication devices on February 2, 2011, by UIDAI.

Coincidentally, in 2009, a similar award was given to the head of Pakistan's National Database Registration Authority which successfully implemented a UID/Aadhaar-like project, which has been shared with authorities in the US as per cables (external link) leaked by Wikileaks.

Is it a coincidence that Morpho sponsored the award to the chairman, UIDAI, and the former got a contract from the latter?

It may also be noted that UIDAI awarded contracts to three companies -- Satyam Computer Services Ltd (Mahindra Satyam), as part of a 'Morpho-led consortium', L-1 Identity Solutions Operating Company and Accenture Services Pvt Ltd of US for the 'implementation of biometric solution for UIDAI' on July 30, 2010.

Following the Central Information Commission's intervention in the matter of application filed by Colonel Mathew Thomas, an octogenarian defence scientist, and submissions by the author on his behalf, UIDAI shared its contract agreement with French and US biometric technology companies, but crucial pages are missing from the contract agreement after the CIC heard the matter on September 10, 2013.

When this was pointed out to the new information commissioner, he ordered the registrar, CIC, to check compliance by UIDAI's earlier order.

The registrar then informed that the new information commissioner has allowed UIDAI to furnish limited financial information.

In effect, he changed the earlier order of the CIC without the authority to do so.

The writ petition (civil) No 9143/2014 in this regard is pending in the Delhi high court. The next date of hearing has been fixed for February 21, 2017.

In the meanwhile, J Satyanarayana's appointment as part-time UIDAI chairman on September 6, 2016, does not inspire even an iota of confidence.

On pages 46-47, the report by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology that examined the work of the department of electronics and information technology (DeitY), ministry of communications and information technology, asked about the surveillance by the US National Security Agency. J

Satyanarayana, as secretary, DeitY, formally communicated that India has no problem if they conduct surveillance for metadata, in fact it is acceptable and tolerable but 'incursion into the content will not be tolerated and is not tolerable.'

Notably, the ministry of electronics and information technology, which was formed by giving the status of a ministry to DeitY, has been misleading state governments, the media and citizens.

The idea of UID was incubated in this very department.

The old maxim, If you have nothing to hide, you have nothing to fear, has been given a very public burial. This has been thoroughly debunked.

Notably, this myth is attributed to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels. Database State, a report from the UK, states: 'In October 2007, Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs (Department) lost two discs containing a copy of the entire child benefit database.'

Only blind faith in a Utopian State can persuade people to think that they have nothing to fear after trusting their personal sensitive information to a Database State.

If an UID/Aadhaar-enabled Biometric Attendance System is indeed a 'digital equivalent' of an 'age-old attendance register,' why did the National Human Rights Commission object to a radio collar which can also be argued by sophists to be a 'digital equivalent'?

Notably, the Union ministry of external affairs agreed with the NHRC's assessment.

The Union minister of external affairs informed Parliament that some 18 students were detained and released in the US with radio monitoring devices on their ankles, pending completion of investigations for possible involvement in irregularities.

'We have also strongly protested the radio collars as unacceptable, which should be removed immediately.'

If the 'digital equivalent' means biometric equivalent as well, then radio collar and DNA-based identity and attendance will also be deemed equivalent to 'age-old attendance register.'

It is quite evident that such claims are deeply misleading.

Giorgio Agamben, the 74-year-old Italian philosopher who has been teaching at the University of Venice and New York University, predicted in 2004 that the 'bio-political tattooing' is the precursor to what would later turn into a normal identity registration of a good citizen.

It provides a continuity between the world of the Nazi concentration camp and contemporary democracy.

It paves the way for a genocidal liberal order.

Biometrics 'concerns the enrollment and filing away of the most private and incommunicable aspect of subjectivity,' which consequents into the capture of the human body by the authorities for good.

Till now such assault on the private human body was an exception, now it is becoming the norm.

Surveillance has been used as a tool to shape the relationship between the citizen and the State.

Both identification and surveillance have co-existed since time immemorial, but it is now assuming frightening architecture with the marriage of statistics of biological characteristics, and biometric technology with digital sculpture.

The reference to 'such other biological attributes' in Section 2 (g) of Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act, 2016, and the definition of 'biometrics' under the Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011 under section 87 read with section 43A of Information Technology Act, 2000 underlines that it includes 'the technologies that measure and analyse human body characteristics, such as "fingerprints", "eye retinas and irises", "voice patterns", "facial patterns", "hand measurements" and "DNA" for authentication purposes.'

It is abundantly clear that the plan of UID/Aadhaar-based surveillance does not end with the collection of fingerprints and iris scan, it goes quite beyond it.

According to the Concise Oxford Dictionary, surveillance means 'close observation, especially of a suspected person'.

So far the Supreme Court has not had the occasion to examine the most glaring aspect of cyber biometric surveillance, which entails close observation of all the present and future Indians indiscriminately as suspects.

Notably, colonial powers had suspect identification offices in Egypt and India after the development of biometric identification by Sir Francis Galton, an English eugenicist who supported slavery.

In the book Imprint of Raj: How Fingerprinting was born in Colonial India, Chandak Sengoopta (2003) reveals how biometric identification technique was fine-tuned by the Bengal police.

Eugenics and slavery have long been abandoned, the scientific claims of biometrics too have been found to be dubious (external link) by reputed institutions.

If surveillance is not a big deal, why is Edward Snowden in Moscow since June 23, 2013?

Why is Australian journalist Julian Assange in Ecuadorian embassy in London since July 19, 2012?

And why was Chelsea Elizabeth Manning (formerly Bradley Edward Manning) sentenced to 35 years imprisonment in August 2013?

If surveillance is indeed such an innocent act, then why is the entire US establishment paranoid about surveillance from Russia?

Isn't the word 'surveillance' being made to sound benign as desired by the IMF?

Gopal Krishna is member, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties, and appeared before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that examined and trashed the UID/Aadhaar Bill, 2010.
He is editor, www.toxicswatch.org

Gopal Krishna

9509 - Jaitley: New tax law, reforms can support sagging world economy - Hindu Business Line

Jaitley: New tax law, reforms can support sagging world economy

SURABHI

India can grow at over 7%: IMF chief; praises RBI for taking on banks’ NPA issues

NEW DELHI, MARCH 13:  

Finance Minister Arun Jaitley on Sunday expressed the hope that the long-pending Constitution Amendment Bill for GST (goods and services tax) and the Insolvency Code will be passed by Parliament in the second half of the Budget session.

“The next few months are important… We hope to see the GST and the Insolvency Bills cleared by Parliament in the second half of the Budget session,” he said at the concluding session of the Advancing Asia conference of the International Monetary Fund.

Noting that the current session of the Lok Sabha has already cleared the “landmark” Aadhaar Bill, he said India can, with new laws and reforms, provide a significant amount of support to the sagging world economic growth.

“We are trying to have special emphasis now both in terms of legislative changes and resources being put to strengthen the banking system,” Jaitley said, adding that the government’s emphasis is also to fill in “pits” in various sectors.

Accordingly, the emphasis is now on rural areas, building physical infrastructure and making higher allocations to social sectors. Stating that India has its own share of problems, Jaitley said there was increased determination in the country to face the challenges and accelerate the pace of reforms so as to continue to grow.

Reforms at IMF

Meanwhile, a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi pitched for more reforms at the multilateral agency, IMF Managing Director Christine Lagarde said the next round of quota and governance reforms at the IMF will be taken up in some time.

“IMF has just completed the quota reform. It was an in-depth series of changes, which are not sufficient. The quota review is a continuous momentum. We will be at it over and over, because it has to mirror the state of the economy,” she told newspersons at the end of the two-and-a-half day conference. Lagarde also said India’s banking sector is well capitalised and appreciated efforts to resolve the problem of non-performing assets. “The Reserve Bank of India Governor addressing banks balance-sheets is absolutely right,” she said, adding that the Finance Minister is also addressing it by pushing the bankruptcy law in Parliament.

She further said the Indian economy can continue to grow at over 7 per cent despite the global slowdown due to its scale of market, growing population and determination to pursue reforms. “There is a huge potential for growth,” she stressed.

(This article was published on March 13, 2016)

7132 - India’s Aadhaar-Type Programs Can Help Target Poverty: Report - India West

India’s Aadhaar-Type Programs Can Help Target Poverty: Report

File photo of a man working on a computer during registration for Aadhaar, or Unique Identification Number, cards in Amritsar, Punjab, May 24, 2011. (AFP/Getty Images)

Posted: Wednesday, December 31, 2014 4:30 pm

IANS | 0 comments

Washington, D.C. — Much more work needs to be done to end poverty, according to a new World Bank and International Monetary Fund report, but programs like India's Unique Identification Number can significantly cut costs and improve targeting.

India and four other countries — Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria — account for almost three-fifths of the world's extreme poor, according to Global Monitoring Report 2014-15 released Oct. 8.

Adding five other countries —Ethiopia, Indonesia, Madagascar, Pakistan, and Tanzania — would comprise just over 70 percent of the extreme poor, it said.

The magnitude of extreme poverty was greatest in East Asia in 1990, the report said. Today sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia account for about 80 percent of the global poor.

According to the 2011 estimates, extreme poverty in sub-Saharan Africa was around 47 percent.

"Identifying and efficiently reaching the poor is a formidable challenge in many countries," the report said.

"Many of those who remain in extreme poverty are harder to reach, so that the administrative costs of safety net programs tend to rise as poverty declines."

"However, recent developments in information and communications technology, such as India's new program to provide all of its citizens and residences a unique official identity, have the potential to reduce these administrative costs significantly and improve targeting," it said.

The report details, for the first time, the World Bank Group's twin goals of ending extreme poverty by 2030 and promoting shared prosperity, measured as income growth of the bottom 40 percent.

"The world has made great progress in the last quarter-century in reducing extreme poverty - it was cut by a stunning two-thirds, and now we have the opportunity to end poverty in less than a generation," said World Bank Group president Jim Yong Kim.

The report notes that much success has been achieved in reducing extreme poverty — those living on less than a $1.25 a day.

However, the number of poor remains unacceptably high, at just over one billion people (14 percent of the world population) in 2011, compared with 1.2 billion (19 percent of the world population) in 2008.

Forecasts in the report show that poverty will remain stubbornly high in the South Asia and sub-Saharan Africa regions, where an estimated 377 million of the world's 412 million poor will likely reside in 2030.

In 2011, the two regions were home to 814 million of the world's one billion poor.

5828 - Aadhaar could help India meet its poverty alleviation target, says World Bank - Economic Times

Aadhaar could help India meet its poverty alleviation target, says World Bank

ET Bureau Oct 9, 2014, 05.23AM IST

(“Identifying and efficiently…)

NEW DELHI: The World Bank has said India's unique identity or Aadhaar programme has the potential to reduce administrative costs significantly and improve the targeting of poverty alleviation schemes.

The World Bank has noted that India has the maximum number of people in absolute poverty but that it also contributed the most to the decline in its global levels along with China.

According to the 'Ending Poverty and Sharing Prosperity' report released by the World Bank on Wednesday, the number of people below the $1.25 a day threshold is expected to decline to 835.5 million from 1.01 billion in 2011.

"Identifying and efficiently reaching the poor is a formidable challenge in many countries," the report noted, while flagging India's initiative.

"However, recent developments in ICT, such as India's new programme to provide all of its citizens and residences a unique official identity, have the potential to reduce these administrative costs significantly and improve targeting," the report noted. It said nearly 60% of the world's extreme poor are in just five countries — Bangladesh, China, the Democratic Republic of Congo, India and Nigeria.

"The world's most populous countries, China and India, have played a central role in the global reduction of poverty as measured by the $1.25 poverty line. Together they lifted some 232 million people out of poverty from 2008 to 2011," the report noted. India's poverty headcount fell by 10 percentage points within two years, from National Sample Survey (NSS) 2009/10 to NSS 2011/12, it noted.

"Still, accelerating poverty reduction and job creation will require more than economic growth," World Bank president Jim Yong Kim and International Monetary Fund managing director Christine Lagarde said in their foreword, adding that there was a need to ensure "all members of society share in the benefits of that growth".

5551 - India can save 0.5% of GDP via direct cash transfer and Aadhaar: IMF - Infotech

India can save 0.5% of GDP via direct cash transfer and Aadhaar: IMF

infotech

April 29, 2013

Infotech Lead Asia: International Monetary Fund (IMF) on Monday said the Integration of direct cash transfer with Aadhaar will assist the Indian government to save 0.5 percent of the GDP.

IMF said that the total savings could be substantial. If the combination of direct cash transfer and Aadhaar eliminates the estimated 15 percent leakage, savings could total 0.5 percent of GDP in addition to the gains from the better targeting of spending on the poor.

Direct cash transfers, which entail direct payments from the government to recipients, can bring down costs and diversion by phasing out middlemen and complex bureaucracies.

The ‘Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific’ report further said the integration of these two programs — Aadhaar and direct cash transfers — promises further savings.

IMF says the integration will involve many challenges: the timeframe for bringing India’s population of 1.2 billion into the Aadhaar program could extend beyond 2014, and integrating this database with information on individuals eligible for subsidized fuel will take time.

As per the Unique Identification Authority of India, (UIDAI) which issues the Aadhaar numbers, about 320 million such cards have been issued so far. UIDAI has plans to issue 600 million Aadhaar cards by 2014.

India has initiated a wide-ranging project to shift many subsidy programs toward direct cash transfers, PTI reported.

The Indian government has started transferring cash directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries of selected schemes using the Aadhaar payment gateway in a phased manner. The first phase started in January covering 43 districts and 78 more would be brought covered from July 1.

3297 - Direct cash through Aadhaar to save 0.5% of GDP for India: IMF

Direct cash through Aadhaar to save 0.5% of GDP for India: IMF

By PTI - WASHINGTON

29th April 2013 07:29 PM

Integration of direct cash transfer with Aadhaar will take time but the scheme will help Indian government save 0.5 per cent of the GDP, International Monetary Fund (IMF) said on Monday.

"... the total savings could be substantial: if the combination of direct cash transfer and Aadhaar eliminates the estimated 15 per cent leakage cited above for the programmes being integrated, savings could total 0.5 per cent of GDP in addition to the gains from the better targeting of spending on the poor," the IMF said in a report.

Direct cash transfers, which entail direct payments from the government to recipients, can bring down costs and diversion by phasing out middlemen and complex bureaucracies, it added.

The 'Regional Economic Outlook: Asia and Pacific' report further said the integration of these two programmes -- Aadhaar and direct cash transfers -- promises further savings.

"...but will involve many challenges: the timeframe for bringing India's population of 1.2 billion into the Aadhaar programme could extend beyond 2014, and integrating this database with information on individuals eligible for subsidised fuel will take time," it added.

As per the Unique Identification Authority of India, (UIDAI) which issues the Aadhaar numbers, about 320 million such cards have been issued so far. UIDAI has plans to issue 600 million Aadhaar cards by 2014.

India has initiated a wide-ranging project to shift many subsidy programmes toward direct cash transfers.

The Indian government has started transfering cash directly into the bank accounts of beneficiaries of selected schemes using the Aadhaar payment gateway in a phased manner.

The first phase started in January covering 43 districts and 78 more would be brought covered from July 1.

Currently, India maintains large subsidy programmes for food, fertiliser and fuels. Subsidised food and kerosene are available from government-owned stores at below-market prices for eligible residents.

While all fertiliser sales are at subsidised prices, LPG cylinders are distributed directly, with a limit on each household's subsidised purchase.

Referring to kerosene, IMF said given that the fuel is consumed by the poorest in the Indian population, "replacing the current system on a broad basis will have to be done with care".

Pilot programmes delivering subsidised kerosene using Aadhaar-based identification have been set up in North Indian state of Rajasthan.

A pilot scheme replacing subsidised LPG with direct cash transfers was also launched in Mysore of South Indian state of Karnataka.