11968 - Why should you Worry unless you have Something to Hide? By Ram Krishnaswamy

Mainstream, VOL LV No 37 New Delhi September 2, 2017

Why should you Worry unless you have Something to Hide?

Saturday 2 September 2017

by Ram Krishnaswamy

In the last seven years every time I opposed Aadhaar and said it was a Frankenstein monster the creators will not be able to control and it invades our privacy, my opponents never hesitated to attack me personally and tell me “unless you have something to hide why should you be worried?” This meant that any one and everyone including activists who have spent their lifetime serving various communities in India, all had something to hide.

Transparency does not mean walking naked in the park; the same way every individual has a right to his/her own privacy.

What is Private/Privacy one may ask?

Virtually anything and everything that an individual does not want to share with anyone. Meaning all-encompassing. It is upto the individual to decide what is private and what is not?

The Privacy Case has gone on for some time in the Supreme Court of India, with a nine-Judge Constitutional Bench which was to determine if the Indian Constitution recognises the Right to Privacy of its Citizens.

Finally Truth and Justice prevailed when the nine-Judge Supreme Court ruled on August 24, 2017 that the Right to Privacy is “Intrinsic to Life and Liberty and is inherently protected under the various fundamental Freedoms enshrined under part III of the Indian Constitution”.

Lawyers often have the unenviable job of having to put forward arguments they themselves do not believe in. This is perhaps what made senior lawyers representing the Indian Government say things in court that were ridiculous and jaw-dropping bloopers. Obviously they had very little to defend their positions in the debate.

Here are a few arguments that will make you laugh:

Mukul Rohatgi — Former Attorney General of India:

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The Right to Privacy is not guaranteed under the Constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right Article 21 of the Indian Constitution refers to the right to life and liberty.”

My Comment: Sir please think about this: “There can be no right to Life or Liberty if there was no right to Privacy.”

Mukul Rohatgi told the Supreme Court that the right over one’s body is not absolute and called the arguments of bodily intrusion to take biometric data for Aadhaar as “bogus”. His added that Aadhaar biometrics are no more intrusive than photographs used in other identity documents andthat an individual does not have absolute authority over their body because the government was already regulating abortions in women and collecting fingerprints from criminals. The A-G also argued that the leaks did not come from the central database and so the Aadhaar database cannot be called unsafe.

Me: I feel like saying “Oh Yeah Over My Dead Body, Mr Rohatgi.”

Attorney-General K.K. Venugopal for the Centre: Privacy is not a single, homogenous right but rather as a bunch of rights spread over the Constitution. The right to privacy is a sub-species of the fundamental right to personal liberty and consists of diverse aspects. Not every aspect of privacy is a fundamental right. Some citizens cannot agitate against Aadhaar, saying it is a violation of their right to privacy. An elite few cannot claim that their bodily integrity would be violated by a scheme which serves to bring home basic human rights and social justice to millions of poor households across the country.

My Comment: Good spin, Mr Venugopal, but nowhere near Prasanna, Bedi, Chandrasekar’s standards. To argue that it is only the elite who are challenging Aadhaar in the Courts is sad. The millions of poor households across the country you talk about are struggling to earn Rs 100 a day and have no Voice in India. The elite few you talk about are in fact, Sir, the “Voice of India”, God-sends like Judge Puttaswamy, Usha Ramanathan, Aruna Roy, Nikhil Dey, Jean Dreze, Reetika Khera, Bezwada Wilson, Shanta Sinha, Kalyani Menon Sen, Sudhir Vombatkere (an IIT Alumnus, same as Mr Nilekani), Dr Anupam Saraph and hundreds more working behind the scenes backing our leaders. 

Mr Venugopal, Sir, will you go to the Supreme Court against an elected Majority Government represented by legal Eagles like yourself? I do not think so.

Additional Attorney General Tushar Mehta representing UIDAI:

What is so great about my fingerprints? I touch a file, I leave my fingerprints. These are all perceived ideas of privacy. We should aim to use technology to the maximum for the betterment of human beings. Aadhaar has 115.15 crore people enrolled, that is, 98 per cent of the population. Privacy is non-negotiable, confidentiality is non-negotiable under the Aadhaar Act. Privacy cannot be inserted as a new fundamental right into the Constitution.

My Comment: What is so great about your Finger Prints you ask, saying you leave it behind on everything you touch. Sir, suggest you watch some Crime Channel and get a better idea of the value of your finger print and for that matter your own DNA. 

An American Citizen Brandon Mayfield living in Oregon was accused and arrested by FBI of the 2004 Madrid train bombing, after the FBI wrongly found a partial match from their Finger Print database. Can Indians trust a database containing fingerprints of a billion Indians considering our corrupt bureaucracy sending innocent people to jails for crimes not committed by them?

You say: “Privacy is non-negotiable, confidentiality is non-negotiable under the Aadhaar Act.” Are you serious? Please check with your family members if they value and want their privacy before going down this path. Sir.

Senior advocate Rakesh Dwivedi for the Gujarat Government: Transparency is a key component in the modern age and providing basic personal information could not be covered under right to privacy.

My Comment : Sir, Dwivediji, Transparency does not mean walking naked in the park, does it?

Senior advocate C.A. Sundaram for Maha-rashtra Government: Privacy is not a fundamental right but only a “concept”. Constitution makers had considered and rejected the idea of privacy as a fundamental right. For something to be a fundamental right, it has to be tangible and exact. Privacy has no exactitude, in fact, the concept of privacy varies from person to person. If made a fundamental right, it would open a flood of litigation.

My Comment: Sir, Sundaram, I am sure you will agree that India’s Constitution came into effect on January 26, 1950 and is the longest written constitution of any sovereign country in the world, by a drafting committee headed by Ambedkar as the Chairman and respected as the chief architect of the Indian Constitution. 

Sir, that was 67 years ago when in India only the urban elite had toilets. Surely, Sir, you did not expect “Privacy” to be spelt out then in the Constitution. 

Since 1950, Sir, there have been at least 101 amendments to the Indian Constitution. And these amendments have been brought about by Attorney Generals and Lawyers like yourself for the Government on behalf of the people the Government represents...

Now that the nine-Judge Supreme Court ruled on August 24, 2017 that the Right to Privacy is “Intrinsic to Life and Liberty and is inherently protected under the various fundamental Freedoms enshrined under part III of the Indian Constitution”; this should open a flood of litigations as you suggest.

PM Modiji: “NPR and UID Aiding Aliens.”

Sir, a Senior BJP Leader said in September 2102: “I do not agree to Nandan Nilekani and his madcap (UID) scheme which he is trying to promote.”

“NPR and UID Aiding Aliens,”This is what you said before the elections.

A nation of 1.3 billion people who were fed up with the corrupt UPA II Government led by PM Manmohan Singh, adored you, respected you and voted you and your BJP Party in with an overwhelming majority. The Nation was ecstatic to see the Congress Party annihilated. The Nation had never seen anything like this since Independence. Finally we have a Prime Minister who cares and is a genuine leader we thought and were all looking forward to the “Achhe Din” that you promised the nation. I was there at the Acer Arena in Sydney to see you and listen to you and my family who were with me said: “Wow, what a speech? What a paradigm shift from an PM we never heard from for 8 long years.” I told everyone that PM Modi will usher in Rama Rajya that has been predicted here right now and every one agreed.

As someone who has opposed Aadhaar from Day 1 for all the right reasons, I was hoping and praying that you will retain Aadhaar only for distributing Government subsidies to the BPL population and scrap the rest as promised by all BJP MPs in their election manifesto. We understand, Sir, you were uncertain about Aadhaar that you willingly implemented in Gujarat as the CM and it is also great that we have a PM who listens.

But then, Sir, you listened to a billionaire like Nandan Nilekani with a National Agenda of not just “removing ghosts and duplicates from beneficiary lists of welfare programmes, Aadhaar can help India save Rs 50,000 crores which would help the fiscal deficit”. Sir, Nandan is entitled to his billionaire views as he has never visited a village in India ever and knew more about the slums in New York.

Sir, this is where you got hoodwinked into believing that Aadhaar for the entire population was an answer to every problem in India.

Sir, I am sure you are personally aware that the looting in PDS is not happening in the last mile by the needy poor who depend on subsidised grains supplied by the Government. Sir, you, I am sure, are aware that the looting of Government subsidies takes place in procurement & supply to the State governments by the Central Government and then again the nearly 1.5 lakh fair price distribution shops in the nation. You do not expect Nandan to understand this as he was born with a silver spoon and mixes and dines with the world’s richest.

Sir, the People of India elected you whole-heartedly and welcomed you with open hands and we have all been waiting for miracles to transform the nation. We believed that each and every state in India will attain the standards of Gujarat.

Unfortunately, Sir, all that we have seen in the last three years is Aadhaar for Subsidies and more and more of Aadhaar which is voluntary and not mandatory but UBIQUITOUS suggesting the Government has taken its entire population for fools.

Sir, at a public meeting when there are thousands of supporters who applaud you, what do you see? Do you see people who are depending on you to help them and raise the standards of living and create jobs or do you see them as mere NUMBERs meaning Aadhaar Numbers?

Now that the nine-Judge Supreme Court Bench, the largest ever, has made its ruling on “Right to Privacy”, a Wise PM like yourself can do another about-turn tell the people you are sorry and were misled and that Aadhaar will now apply only to Government Subsidies as per the Aadhaar Act and not Pan card, passport, Voter’s card, Driving Licence etc etc etc. 

Please do not reduce the entire nation into Creatures with Unique identification numbers. Privacy suggests that all Indians have a right to live with Pride and Dignity without Government intrusions and surveillance.

Sir, a flawed system like the Pan card can be fixed easily if people incharge wanted to, sans Aadhaar. It is the Corruption within the Indian Bureaucracy that has given rise to thousands of fake Pan cards Fake licences and even fake passports. There are simpler ways.

PM, Sir, please remember: the people who backed you and we want to back you again at the next elections.

A blogger based in Australia, the author has consistently opposed Aadhar. This article was put up on his blog.

11506 - Who Is Opposing the Aadhaar Project? - The Wire

Who Is Opposing the Aadhaar Project?

BY USHA RAMANATHAN ON 06/06/2017 • 1 COMMENT

Proponents of Aadhaar have used several derogatory names for those raising questions about the project. But what motivated people to challenge the government’s plan in the first place?

The Aadhaar project has been criticised by many people for many reasons. Credit: Shome Basu

This is the fourth in a series of articles on the UID project that Usha Ramanathan will be writing for The Wire. Read the first part here, the second part here and the third part here.

The proponents of the unique identification (UID) project are angry and in a mood to attack detractors. Nandan Nilekani, the brains behind the project, has many names for them – all delivered pejoratively, of course: Khan Market liberals, JNU types, privacy-wallas who have colonised their minds with Western thought and Goebbelsian liars. He has been open about his contempt for everything happening in India: “In India, half are fake…fake…Fake is the operative word, right?” And, in another interview, “In India, you know, everything is a racket” and “every scheme is a scam” (as the interviewer, Vir Sanghvi, pertly observed, “except Aadhaar”). The last one was while talking about why children should have a UID number to get their mid-day meal in government schools.

Interestingly, all these adjectives are reserved for the hoi polloi. There isn’t a word that he breathes about the scams where the politically powerful and the corporate leadership have been caught with their hand – wrist and elbow – in the till. No Satyam, no 2G, no Commonwealth Games, no Bellary Brothers. No Vyapam, where witnesses are falling like ninepins, except they are falling dead.

ISPIRT, which presents itself as a software product industry roundtable, and of which Nilekani is the mentor, actually had a team that they named ‘Sudham’ allegedly meant to troll anti-UID critics. They had to shut it down after iSPIRT’s convener Sharad Sharma got caught operating Twitter handles using an alias to do some vicious trolling. In that time, they had moved from the relatively mildly contemptuous references about “Lutyens armchair folks (who) have never built anything in their lives” to “JNU-types” to more aggressive posturing and name calling such as “ISI stooge” and talking about the “drivel that comes from either an ignoramus or a malicious mind”.  (Sanjay Jain, who has since taken charge in iSPIRT, reportedly told Economic Times that Sudham was set up in late December 2016 to “dispel myths” about Aadhaar and India Stack.)

The most recent of this was when Ram Sewak Sharma, chief of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India who was earlier the director general of the UIDAI, spoke to the Indian Express and accused those questioning the UID of launching “motivated campaigns”, apparently to serve the data collection interests of various multinational companies. The immediate provocation was the flooding of the internet with data from leaking departments and ministries, containing information including mobile phone numbers, bank details and UID numbers, to be seen or downloaded. In some, a slight adjustment in the URL was enough to make the database accessible. The problem for Ram Sewak was not the leak. It was the embarrassment that was caused by the leaks being exposed. So it was not those who were leaking the data that were hauled up, but the researchers who were threatened. That is how the provision in the Aadhaar Act 2016, which leaves it to the UIDAI to decide who to pursue and about whom to complain, is being used.

When Sharad was forced into contrition and he made a public apology (for allowing the trolling, but not owning up to the trolling he had done), Nilekani tweeted a “Bravo”. That is how this game is played, it seems. While those opposing the UID are subjected to thinly-veiled intimidation, the India Stack “volunteers” (a word that is going to need some serious interrogation) are hurrah-ed for apologising (when found out) for nasty trolling.

And what motivated them to challenge the project, in court and in other public spaces? There has been plenty of writing by Reetika Khera, Jean Dreze, Gopal Krishna, Praveen Dalal, Himanshu, Ramkumar, Kiran Jonnalagadda, Sunil Abraham, and there was recently Pratap Bhanu Mehta’s dramatic change of opinion.

Moneylife has hosted articles and talks, and Ram Krishnaswamy’s blog is a storehouse of what has been in the media since 2010.

But these are not the exception. There are many others. And here are some of them.”

Shantha Sinha set up the MV Foundation, which works for the eradication of child labour. She is a former chairperson of the National Commission for the Protection of the Rights of Children. According to her,

“The most effective way of tracking child labourers and out of school children is at the level of gram panchayats in rural areas and wards in urban areas where children are not statistics and numbers but real names and persons whose rights are to be protected and with involvement of community.  A UID… can at best give a number to the child but not help rescue the child or restore to her rights. Nor does it strengthen the capacities of public institutions to serve children. Further, it could also lead to stigmatising the child for good as an out-of-school child or child labourer. There can be no short cuts in the process of tracking children.

Deserving children have been denied admission into residential schools for want of Aadhaar. Among many others, there is the case of a tribal boy who fled from the Maoist area in Chattisgarh and joined school in Bhadrachalam in Telengana. He shifted from Hindi medium to Telugu medium, made it into the residential school after intense competition – and then was denied admission because he has no Aadhaar number! He lost one year, never procured an Aadhaar – how could he? He has no documents in Telengana. He then began to work as a construction labourer, and his fate is now sealed. While the Aadhaar card was said to be inclusive, in practice it has been exactly the opposite. It has deprived innumerable children of their legitimate access to their education. Exclusion is hitting the mid-day meal too!”

Bezwada Wilson has spent his adult life working for the eradication of the practice of manual scavenging. In 2010, Wilson was one of 17 concerned citizens, which included Justice V.R. Krishna Iyer, Romila Thapar and S.R. Sankaran among others, who issued a “statement of concern” about the project. He says,

“We want to bury this identity of having been manual scavengers. Coming out of untouchability is not easy. Oppressive identities are to be cast off, not documented and kept forever. What we need is a technology that will destroy this demeaning work and finish off this identity. Instead, what this is doing is branding us forever.

This project was never about plugging leakages in subsidies. Look where they have taken it. First, they said it was only for welfare and then they have kept on expanding it into all kinds of areas. All this time, the government has been waiving corporate loans worth Rs 1.14 lakh crore! How can you expect citizens to trust this? “This project is making nonsense out of choice, consent, even citizenship. It has to be understood that the people are not slaves.”

Colonel Mathew Thomas, who retired after serving ten years in the army and another ten years in defence research, says,

“Everyone has a motivation for what they do or say. In the 1970s, in the early years of computers I used them (computers) for the solution of scientific and business problems; specifically, Finite Element Analysis for structural problems on missile components and production planning and control systems for missile manufacture. The experience was invaluable. I learned the hard way what computers and IT could be used for and where these are useless. Most importantly, I understood two things: one, that physical ground reality must be organised to match proposed computer solutions before the solution yields results. And, two, misapplication of IT systems to problems where they cannot be used is dangerous as it fosters a false sense of resolving issues.

As soon as the project was announced in January 2009, my first thoughts were, ‘How in heaven’s name, are they going to do this?’ So, I wrote to the prime minister and Nandan Nilekani. I received no replies. As I continued to study, research and obtain information on the scheme, I found an organised pattern of untruth and obfuscation. The government then, and now, and those managing the project have been less than honest with us; some in government out of ignorance or misplaced faith, and some wilfully, for reasons that remain unknown. Why do you think the UK scrapped the National ID card and the US is yet to implement its Real ID Act after eleven years? Do you know that the UIDAI says, in its contracts with companies that are handling the data, “No assurance can be provided as to the accuracy of the demographic data in its database”? Do you understand what this means?”

Major General S.G. Vombatkere (retd) has an enduring respect for the liberties which the constitution recognises. His keenness to contest the unconstitutionality of the project derives from what he saw of the making of constitutional history.

“I remember my father and recall a personal debt to the constitution of India and the Supreme Court of India. To elaborate, my father, Vombatkere Gurunandan Row (better known as V.G. Row, barrister-at-law), was general secretary of a society named People’s Education Society and was publishing a newsletter from the society. People’s Education Society was declared as an unlawful association under extant criminal law by the Government of Madras [The State of Madras vs V.G.Row].

My father fought the charge in the courts of law up to the Supreme Court before a five-judge bench including the CJI, and on March 31, 1952, won his case on the basis of the freedom of expression and freedom of association, which the Constitution guarantees every citizen. Indeed years later, on 16 October 2008, Justice K.Kannan (Judge, Punjab & Haryana High Court) noted thus: “The triad of fundamental freedoms of expression, movement and association found the first affirmation in A.K.Gopalan and V.G.Row, the names that are etched into constitutional history via the Madras High Court”.

If my father had not fought and won his freedom on the basis of the constitution of India, he would have been imprisoned, changing everything in a big way for my mother, my brother and me way back in 1952, when I was still a child. That is the debt I and my family owe to the constitution of India, and to the Supreme Court of India which recognised and enforced its freedoms.

Long live the Republic of India, and may the values it enshrines always remain valid in Indian society!”

J.T. Dsouza is a biometrics expert who demonstrated in the Planning Commission how ridiculously simple it is to fake a fingerprint. That was on September 30, 2011, in the presence of representatives from the UIDAI and Natgrid.

“My objection is to the hegemony of the state, where the state treats its citizen as subjects to be subjugated. Identity projects, with control residing in a centrally controlled repository have been repeatedly misused in the past. Nazi Germany and Kosovo (with the ideas of ‘identity cleansing’ and ‘archival cleansing’) in more recent times are examples.

The intrusive bullying and abuse of power by the state that the project has already witnessed is testimony to the problems of the project.

My second objection about technology involves a whole panoply of reasons. One, the use of wholly untested theories as the foundation of the project. Two, intrinsic flaws of biometrics as an authentication factor. Three, vulnerabilities of centralised database to misuse, both official and inadvertent. Four, non-existent technical infrastructure in most of our country. No matter how secure you make the central core, the nature of such a system makes securing the periphery impossible. This project continues to gloss over all of this at our peril.”

Nagarjuna is a professor at the Gnowledge lab, Homi Bhabha Centre for Science Education, at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He says,

“Centralisation of any resource will eventually go against the democratic ideals of distributed justice. Centralisation leads to single point of failure.

In a true democracy, we wish the state to be transparent to the people, and not vice versa. The very possibility of a certified unique identity will create multiple modes of criminal activities that never existed in the past. A certified unique identity will create more crime than reducing the crime.

The Aadhaar system is not built like self-reliant technology ventures like Atomic Energy or Space Research, but with commercial links with global security companies. This will make the entire country vulnerable. Considering that the Aadhaar is promoted by powerful agencies (both private and public), it shows that it serves their interests and it is not about recognising power in  the people.

Identity is not created by birth, real social identity is developed dynamically as we live. Freedom to build or change character without coercion to other lives must be respected at any cost.”

Anupam Saraph is an innovator and polymath, and has been an advisor to government on technology and on identity systems. He asks,

“What is the motivation of the child who sees the emperor’s new robes don’t exist? What will the child do if the emperor insists the robes exist?

Having experience in building identity solutions, and having developed logical frameworks for identity documents, it is plain that the UID is merely a number that is assigned to unverified and unaudited data submitted by private enrolees – 34,000 of who have been suspended by the UIDAI. This means that there can be millions of ghosts in the UIDAI database.

It is fairly obvious that any bank accounts opened solely on the basis of such a number can allow “ghosts” to create and operate “mule” accounts. Furthermore, even while the RBI’s own system of digital money transfers has been used by government for over a decade, the sudden unexplained switch to a non-government payment system based on Aadhaar that facilitates money laundering by destroying the money trail raises serious questions that need investigation.

The UID cannot serve as the basis for identification of any individual in an impartially arbitrable way. This means using it to build governance, national security, digital economy and anything at all is plainly absurd and, because it will destroy lives and the nation, inhuman. If I turn a blind eye to what is so obvious I would be no less guilty of the crimes than the perpetuators of the UID.

Should anyone who sees absurdities, illegalities, anti-national and criminal intent need any further motivation to expose it?”

Vickram Crishna is an engineer who, like most others featured here, has challenged the project in court.

“My problem with the technology is, in most instances, that commercial considerations trump the priority of meeting incredibly high standards, and this can be seen in the design choices at every stage. The manner of implementation of this system, however, is fully dependent upon a very high quality of seamless connectivity across the country, which in itself demands a very high level and availability of specialised labour, apart from electrical power and stability. We are some years away from approaching such a situation  and the present distribution of quality of service is heavily weighted in favour of major cities, and against rural areas in general.

It is attractive to initially bar all failures, and claim reduced expenditure as savings, and this is what is being observed now.

I have a problem with the understanding of ‘social contract’, as expressed in the implementation of the UID scheme. The constitution, as I read it, from its opening phrase of “We, the People…” was intended to lead to a state that is primarily citizen-facing. However, the justification for identity documents of one kind and another is invariably found to be the need to address failures in the state’s ability to identify citizens, and not any failures of the citizens themselves, as part of the social contract expressed as the constitution.”

Kalyani Menon-Sen is a feminist researcher of 25 years’ standing. She says,

“Many years of working with poor women has made me keenly aware of the many barriers they face in accessing their entitlements. Proving their identity is not the major barrier. The real corruption is in the system.This issue of systemic exclusions has been at the centre of my work. Over these last seven years, I have more and more first-hand evidence that UID has not improved service delivery, whether it’s rations or gas cylinders or pensions. Even more worrying is the fact that Aadhaar is actually creating more exclusion, again because of systemic failures – even people with valid UIDs are unable to claim benefits because “machine kharab hai (the machine isn’t working)” or fingerprints don’t match or because some new rule is unearthed that they are not aware of. I think what really brought home to me that the promoters of the scheme were losing their moorings was the announcement of the Aadhaar-midday meal linkage. We have the most horrendous rates of child malnutrition, children come to school starving and for many, the school meal is the only cooked food they get that day. This is a universal provision. What is the sense in making it Aadhaar dependent?

This is true for school admissions too – it is a universal right and making it Aadhaar dependent will only help schools to exclude children whom they don’t want to take – because they are poor, disabled, Muslims or Dalits. These are the exclusions that are happening and are being ignored.

I feel utterly frustrated that we invest so much attention on the GDP and completely ignore the GDI (gender development index) – shocking rates of anaemia, underage pregnancies, maternal deaths, malnutrition, violence, women’s employment. Do we really need to argue about methods of calculation when the naked truth is visible to the naked eye?

So I felt I had to take a stand and do something – I was very sure that if the facts about exclusion are put before the Supreme Court, they would at least stay these notifications while examining all the other constitutional issues.”

M.K. Pai is a software engineer and data scientist. He says,

“I fear that Aadhaar will destroy our delicate democracy by threatening exclusion. We can already see a future where dissenters will be silenced, their bank accounts and phones disabled, and unable to travel.

It is profoundly ugly for any government to require its citizens to get fingerprinted, no matter how noble the objectives. My fingerprints are my property and I should not be compelled to part with them unless I am a threat to society.

I am a software engineer and a data scientist. My work makes me very concerned about the future if we succumb today. Frankly, I do not trust any political party with such power.

Privacy is important and worth fighting for.”

The Meghalaya Peoples’ Committee on Aadhaar in a recent statement said,

“…it is noticed and have been informed regularly that subtle ways are being used to have people enrolled with aadhaar including school children under various guises, putting people in uncomfortable situations and that the statement made by the state government’s chief secretary on the matter (Shillong Times, 04/02/2017) confirms the fact. However, despite the fact that different departments and ministries of the Union government and state government, financial institutions have over and over again issued notifications, advertisements, including regular texting in mobiles, for necessity to enrol or register for aadhaar card, it is to be reiterated and reminded that enrolment for aadhaar is voluntary and so should not be coerced and intimidated by any establishment of government(s), institutions – medical, educational, financial, sports, etc. including corporate bodies.

…Yes,  having  Aadhaar  card  may be  one  of  the  requirements  but  it  is not  the  only  proof  of  one’s  identity  and  must  remain  optional  and  voluntary.”

Nachiket Udupa studied in IIT, has been part of campaigns on rural employment guarantee, food security and the right to information, and is currently involved in the marketing of sustainable foods. According to him,

“At an ideological level it makes profiling and tracking much, much easier than it should be. The path that they are heading down will lead to not just an Orwellian state (as in government doing complete surveillance of its citizens) but also Orwellian corporates (as in companies also knowing way more about their customers than they should). It is attacking privacy in the worst possible way.

At a practical level, because fingerprinting technology doesn’t work well enough, it is leading to large scale exclusions and hardships for many people, especially the poor. I am particularly bothered that this will lead to slow dismantling of the various hard-won rights of the poor, such the rights to food, work, education, etc.

It is compulsory, and with no opt-out feature.

I don’t like how the people behind Aadhaar think that they are holier than thou and seem to have a sense of entitlement and would like to be beyond any sort of accountability.”

Ankita Anand is an award-winning journalist, writer and co-founder of the street theatre group Aatish based in Delhi, and this is how she says it:

U,IDidn’t

I waited for the day someone would ask me my number
Until the state did, and I smirked,
“I know you’ve used that line on a billion others.”

At that it should have left,
But it persisted,
Insisted it would give me one,
If I did not have one of my own.

It wouldn’t take no for an answer,
And now I have fingerprints instead of handholding,
Iris scans, while I wait to be seen,

At least I would be safe, I tried to tell myself,
Until yesterday, when I found myself exposed,
Every single digit of me, up for sale as data porn.

(Anand and Udupa had to battle the system before they could register their marriage without a UID.)

Nikhil Dey, Shankar Singh, Vineet Bhambhu , Nikhil Shenoy, Aruna Roy and others work with the Mazdoor Kisan Shakti Sanghatan, and this is what they say:

“We are activists who live amongst people in rural India and also travel to many places across the country to work with campaigns and movements to improve delivery of programmes meant for poor and marginalised communities and individuals. We believe that well designed people centric social sector programs can make a big difference in people’s lives. We have also spent many years looking at policy and its impact on implementation.

The UID is  currently one of the biggest policy initiatives where proponents of UID claim better delivery by a) ending corruption b) much greater efficiency and most importantly c) of comprehensive inclusion.

We are motivated by the suffering, frustration and pain we are witness to and therefore make strong comments on the UID – initially through apprehension, and, now, through experience and example.

It has, in fact, miserably failed on all three claims. In some ways it has made things worse. Exclusion due to the mandatory use of UID has been so high, that it should cause a comprehensive rethink for the delivery of welfare benefits. Food security rations are supposed to be delivered to 1 crore households in the state of Rajasthan. But figures have shown that at least 25-30% of these households are not able to draw their rations despite being enrolled under UID. This has meant exclusion of some of the most vulnerable people for whom the food security act was designed. In some ways, this is criminal negligence and exclusion, and this has been happening over a period of the nine months since September 2016, when the options started being shut off. We have documented very serious life threatening cases of exclusion and put them up as videos on the net. (We hope these policy makers will see the videos and answer each one of the questions of the poor about who will be held accountable for the failure to enable them to access their entitlements.) Corruption has not reduced – it has only changed its stripes, and inefficiency and delay are now caused by man and machine.

Our own motivation is to use evidence to convince policy makers to change their policy, or to convince those whose minds are still open to refuse to allow mandatory imposition of something that has clearly failed to deliver what it promised to. It has made things worse. Whether or not anyone bothers to listen, we are motivated by the pain and frustration we witness – to keep presenting the facts.

The poor are speaking; only those who need to listen are not even there. In the language of the day, they are ‘presenceless’.”

These are a section of the people who have been challenging the project, in court and outside it. There are many more – and they are from all parts of the country. Such as professor K. Saradamoni from Thiruvananthapuram, a very senior women’s rights activist, who wrote in saying, “Please think of something to stop this.” Or  a retired law professor from a law research institute who wrote to say, “It is only last year that the bank asked for fingerprints verification. Earlier, just physical presence and some ID proof used to be enough. In my case, even when the requirement was not there and despite my giving life certificate (which the bank says they duly forwarded to the EPFO) my pension, so called, was stopped after December 2015. The bank did send them reminders but no result. Then came the requirement of biometrics. My fingerprints did not match but the bank was very cooperative and sent a few letters, as they say, supporting my claim. It has been quite long but no response again from the EPFO. Now the bank has given me a form, certifying my identity, and asked me to go there personally. What disturbs me is why should I be made to run around without any fault? The bank is certifying my case, I have all other documents to prove my identity, why then this stupid requirement of matching of fingerprints?  The entire credibility of fingerprints to establish identity of criminals in criminology and forensic sciences has gone for a toss. It is time things and theories and fundamentals change.”

Usha Ramanathan is a legal researcher.

3240 - Do you know why Aadhaar is NOT compulsory: Ram Krishnaswamy - KAFILA

Do you know why Aadhaar is NOT compulsory: Ram Krishnaswamy

http://kafila.org/2013/04/15/do-you-know-why-aadhaar-is-not-compulsory-ram-krishnaswamy/#comments

APRIL 15, 2013

tags: Aadhar, Nandan Nilekani, UID, UIDAI

by Sunalini Kumar

This is a guest post by Ram Krishnaswamy For the last three years activists opposing Aadhaar/UID have argued that it can lead to communal targeting, can aid illegal migrants, can invade privacy, is unconstitutional, does not have parliamentary approval, is illegal, etc. Yet all such objections and more have been successfully stonewalled by UIDAI and UPA leaders.

Further, Aadhaar is not compulsory and so such allegations are considered invalid. The middle and upper class Indians have remained silent about the UID debate, as it does not affect them in the least. The long lines of persons stretching before UID enrollment centers must be proof, then, of the popularity of this concept.

Nandan Nilekani and UIDAI Director General R.S Sharma have repeatedly told the nation that UID, now called Aadhaar, is not mandatory. Yet, over a period of time, they say, it could become ubiquitous, if service providers insist upon it compulsorily, in order to receive their services. To quote UIDAI Chairman, Nandan Nilekani, “Yes, it is voluntary. But the service providers might make it mandatory. In the long run I wouldn’t call it compulsory. I’d rather say it will be come ubiquitous.”

From the time GOI toyed with the idea of a Unique Identity number for the poor and the marginalized Indian population, the nation has been told Aadhaar is not compulsory.

Ever wondered why?

One question activists have never asked is, “Why is Aadhaar not compulsory?”

The reason is so obvious, and staring us in the face all along, yet no one seems to have picked it up. This question throws more light on what is going on and why.

On the very face of it, both these schemes “UID/NPR and Cash Transfers” echo Mohammad Bin Tughlaq – the wisest fool in India’s history so far. Schemes like these are not the way to build a great nation; indeed they may be exactly the way to create a generation of paupers. Poverty was “good” until the time the poor had the dignity to fight it out and move up the ladder. Pauperization however, would kill the very consciousness and self-dignity critical for a nation of 1 billion plus to survive and march forward.

The history of the human race suggests that master position-holders always wanted some form of identification of their slaves. The slave’s name and family links were not adequate. Galley slaves had the letters GAL burnt into their arms. In imperial Russia the Katorshniki (public slaves) were branded in a grisly manner – the letters KAT being punctured on their cheeks and forehead; and gunpowder rubbed into their wounds. In several countries, slaves had their heads shorn, except for a pigtail from the crown. The shorn head was symbolic of castration, loss of manliness, power and freedom. Slavery is one of the most extreme forms of the relation of domination approaching the limits of total power from the view point of the master and the total powerlessness from the view point of the slave. All power strives for authority.

In the current context in India, the “Master” is the State, which suggests that the poor need just Rs 32 a day to survive, while the bourgeois masters can afford to spend Rs 500 for a meal. The “slaves” are the Indian population living below poverty levels, who are told that, unless you have a number linked to finger prints, you will not be allowed to avail subsidised grain at Rupees 3 a kilo. A slave in India today is a socially dead person who can be identified only by a number issued by the master, and not his/her  paternity, or maternity, or other social links to the world.

The question that many activists have often been asked is, “Why should you worry about privacy, if you do not have anything to hide?” The corollary to this question just hit me today, “People who have something to hide certainly do not want a Unique Identity number which is linked to their biometrics, meaning their fingerprints and iris scan.”

Recent sting operations suggest that many banks in India facilitate money laundering allowing corrupt individuals with black money to convert them into white money without the person’s identity being questioned. It is amazing how easily the bankers assist in converting unaccounted black money to white. Now imagine how the corrupt in India would react to Aadhaar being compulsory. The Aadhaar number and associated biometrics can be used by law enforcement agencies to link and expose all hidden stashes, not only in India but even in Swiss banks and Singapore banks, now that Singapore is the haven for parking illegal funds.

If Aadhaar is made compulsory over time, the associated biometrics could be used to expose all corrupt bureaucrats, politicians and businessmen, making them all vulnerable.  Surely the government does not want to facilitate such a monster. That is why Aadhaar is not compulsory. It is time for all activists to challenge UIDAI Chairman and UPA II government to make Aadhaar compulsory, and help flush out the cancer that is eating the nation from within.

Mr Nilekani, once you asked the question, “What am I? A virus?”

Prove to us you are not a virus, by making Aadhaar compulsory for all Indians, rich and poor, and show us that your ‘Imagining India’ was a genuine attempt to serve the nation.

Surely you do not want to facilitate a system where all people are equal, except some people are more equal than others, and have the right to decline an Aadhaar. But rest assured, the day UIDAI and GOI make Aadhaar compulsory, the nation, meaning the rich and powerful, will show you their true colours regarding UID.

As a Nation we should join hands and ask UPA II the question:

“Why is Aadhaar not compulsory ?”

Why does Aadhaar discriminate the haves and have-nots creating a new caste system that will further divide an all ready fragmented country?

Aadhaar is not compulsory so that low life criminal elements like murderers, rapists, embezzlers, tax avoiders, income tax fraudsters, corrupt bureaucrats and politicians and even potential terrorists can continue fearlessly, without  Aadhaar & biometrics to elude law enforcement.

Here are a few notable quotes from people opposing Aadhaar: 

• “NPR & UID aiding Aliens” – Narendra Modi
• “UID may aid Communal Targetting” – Aruna Roy & Nikhil Dey, NAC Members
• “Unique Identity Scheme will take away the Privacy of Indian Citizens” – Mathew Thomas
• “UID Project Will Make Constitution Of India A Dead Document” – S.G.Vombatkere
• “Aadhaar will institutionalise Poverty” – Ram Krishnaswamy
• “UID project is full of ambiguity, confusions and suspicions, but no answers” – Usha Ramanathan
• “Aadhaar is UIDAI’s unsolicited Testimonials to the Biometric Industry” – David Moss, UK
• “It is a Bad Idea to Marry UID with NREGA” – Reetika Khera
• “Nilekani’s reporting structure is unprecedented in history; he reports directly to the Prime Minister, thus bypassing all checks and balances in government” – Home Minister Chidambaram
• “Aadhaar is not compulsory — it is just a voluntary “facility.” UIDAI’s concept note stresses that “enrolment will not be mandated.” But there is a catch: “… benefits and services that are linked to the UID will ensure demand for the number.” This is like selling bottled water in a village after poisoning the well, and claiming that people are buying water voluntarily. The next sentence is also ominous: “This will not, however, preclude governments or registrars from mandating enrollment.” – Jean Dreze, Visiting Prof of Economics, Uni of Allahabad, Ex-NAC Member
• “Aadhaar was meant to deduplicate peoples ID’s and Aadhaar itself is a Duplicate of NPR and needs deduplication” – Expenditure Finance Committee (EFC) headed by Secretary Sumit Bose.
• “Nilekani’s technocratic obsession with gathering data is consistent with that of Bill Gates as though lack of information is what is causing world hunger” – Arundhati Roy
• “Which is the bigger crime, a poor family double dipping on PDS to stay alive, or Govt wasting mega bucks on a white elephant called Aadhaar?” – Ram Krishnaswamy
• “In Reality, Aadhaar intrudes into peoples privacy that is hidden under the guise of reaching out” – Srijit Misra
• “Privacy is not something that people feel, except in its absence. Remove it and you destroy something at the heart of being human” –  Phil Booth, No2ID
• “The UID is a corporate scam which funnels billions of dollars into the IT sector” – Arundhati Roy
• “Aadhaar is Built on a Platform of Myths” – R. RamaKumar
• “If our Government is selling the Country, then we should know at least who they are selling it to” – Veeresh Malik
• “UID is a ‘Unique Indian Donkey’ that will collapse under the load” – Ram Krishnaswamy
• The strongest voice opposing finger printing was raised by none other than Mahatma Gandhi, the father of the nation who said, “Let us begin by being clear… about General Smuts’ new law. All Indians must now be fingerprinted… like criminals. Men and women. No marriage other than a Christian marriage is considered valid. Under this act our wives and mothers are whores. And every man here is a bastard.”

But then, who in UPA II even remembers Mahatma Gandhi today, leave alone what he said in South Africa?

Ram Krishnaswamy is an IIT Madras alumnus living in Sydney who has opposed UID/Aadhaar since 2009 and hosts Aadhaar Articles Blog Spot (http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com.au/) 
_____________________________________
Comments in Kafila:

trojanwalls PERMALINK

April 15, 2013 9:54 AM

This is a helluva confused article. I like some of the points made here – the fact that for the poor adhaar IS becoming mandatory simply because they need the benefits attached while for the middle and upper classes it’s okay to give it a miss if you have something to hide.
But Nilekani isn’t an idiot. If he’d insisted on making it compulsory from the get go then the voices of dissent would have been much louder and stronger with the support of those who don’t want a light shown on their private dealings.
Now if over time something that started out as voluntary gains momentum and popularity through the masses (because dear poster the poor do make up the majority of the state’s population) then the middle classes would get involved too (really, who doesn’t want LPG subsidies transferred to their savings account?) and as more organizations see the benefits of UID, someday – maybe seven, ten years from now – you’ll have the rich fingerprinted alongside the poor.
Come one, guys. It’s a good idea but it wont be hurried. Give it time.

-----------

ananthak1412 PERMALINK

April 17, 2013 1:22 AM

I like your optimism. If the rich and the corrupt want to hide, even in the long run I doubt corporations providing services will make this mandatory. Just like how they control state policies now. Thus, It has to come from the state – to show that there are no double standards.

_________

Saurabh PERMALINK

April 15, 2013 12:54 PM

Interesting questions raised. However, this is the probably the exact trap which is laid to trap activists and concerned people about the issues of Aadhar. If we realise the problems with it, it needs to be taken back and not implemented universally. Although I understand what exactly is the author trying to say – and I take these arguments well.
The problem to ending chaos cannot be more chaos. The project is a result of maligned intentions of corporations and its ugly collusion with the state. After this realisation, making it universal formally will only justify the claims of the state to push similar things in the future. And the civil society would have then lost all legitimacy to do anything about it.

_____________________

Sridhar Sankranti PERMALINK

April 16, 2013 3:37 AM

The author opposes UID because it is not compulsory and lets the crooks get away without the need for registering for it? Or that he likes the privileges that these crooks and himself are enjoying currently?

__________________

Comments in other Discussion Groups: ( Names with held )

Ram, I like your swashbuckling style - giving it to them straight on the chin - bravo! But I'm rather scared that our thickheaded rulers might decide to follow your suggestions literally - in an election year, the usual weightage for "pros" and "cons" can get drastically revised.

______________

Ram,

1.  I am already getting SMS from Public Sector Bank to link my account to Aadhaar. There is a fair interest now in middle class, as it may get linked to LPG service. So it may cover more people in course of time, not just those who have a ration card.

2.  I agree with you that people should question why Government is hesitating from making Aadhaar mandatory  if they believe it is the right thing to do, why have multiple forms of identification ? Whom are they protecting ? Already lot of people escape paying income tax. Even convicts finger-prints and DNA samples are not taken in all jails. (Refer to "Bitti Mohanty" case, which hit the press recently, where a rape convict jumped parole and remained untraceable for 7+ years. It seems his finger prints were not taken.).

3. I am also interested to know what is your counter to the famous statement that "Every Rupee Government spends only 15 paise reaches targeted benficiaries".and related claim that Aadhaar will help this by de-duplication.and using schemes that connect Government to Citizen directly.

_________________

good one rambo

_________________

Ram,

What exactly means 'make it compulsory'?

Would a person be put behind bars if he does not get his UID?

It would seem that the govt would make it 'obligatory' without making it compulsory - the word used by NN was 'obiquitous'. PAN, KYC etc are other such things - if u want a bank a/c or any investment in property, shares, car, jewelery etc - if u dont want any financial dealings, u dont need these. The UID is presently being thought of only as an instrument for availing of govt subsidies but i guess, gradually it would replace all other cards, IDs etc & would become 'compulsary' for all financial transactions.

I wonder if 'compulsory' would mean crooks & politicians would need UID for a swiss a/c???

Let us focus on "how" to make it compulsory - what does it really mean - we need to be specific on these steps to make it an ACTION deal. We can also discuss in this forum the technology, the entire process of making & use of these cards & improvements that can be made.

________________

Though the authorities are calling it voluntary, it is being forced upon all through various tactics. 

So far as the LPG subsidy is concerned, even the rich enjoy it. So they are also being pressurised.

But far more importantly, the Aadhaar number is an essential component of the NPR (National Population Register) details and the NPR is mandatory for all. So, by implication, the Aadhaar is also mandatory for all. 

______________

You will need for virtually anything, including sending a courier by DHL!

Check it out. It's beyond reason !!

______________

Dear Ramji,

I fully agree with you that calling Aadhaar voluntary is a dirty trick

on the part of the authorities.

______________

FYI - NN has categorically declared that everyone in his family has Aadhar Card. 

______________

Ram - you really do go to any length to prove a point, right? 

"Any one wondered why NN himself did not apply for an Aadhaar Card ?" 

NN has an Aadhaar which he uses regularly for marking his attendance in the Aadhaar-based-biometric-attendance-system deployed at all floors of UIDAI office in New Delhi. 

While it is okay to argue strongly in favor or against something based on beliefs, by making such loose statements in your emails and blogs, you hide the truth, mislead people, and lose credibility. UIDAI can do many things better which they are not doing currently, but not enrolling rich and influential is not one of them.  

______________

Rambo,

AADHAR is here & here to stay. I feel it is like 'body search' required for entry to any airport, railway station, hotel, office or wherever - it is not mandatory/compulsory - it is voluntary, you may refuse to enter the premises - u may decide not to visit all such places but if u do, it becomes obligatory. The rich & the powerful do manage to avoid it even at present times, yet, they do enter these places without a 'body search', as it is seen degrading..

Aadhar would soon become 'ubiquitous' in these times of security concern & fake IDs - may soon replace PIN, passwords, Driving License, Credit cards, even ATM cards etc with its unique Biometrics (finger print etc) identification. I was amazed to see finger print id gadgets being used in SBI already by their cashiers, instead of logging in very time with their passwords & they were very happy.

 Now, instaed of opposing it, Let us actually demand that UID be used by ALL - CROOKS & POLICIANS - INCLUDING RICH & FAMOUS - make it compulsory for all bank a/cs, property deals, high-value purchases, cars, political donations, foreign-exchange deals & for all security-related matters. There will be no shame in using it for subsidized rations, gas, birth, death, marriage, travel & yes, a public convenience(if for security matters) or whatever else.

We will have to delineate actual steps & ACTIONS required to make it compulsory - short of putting people behind bars for no UID.

Of course, there is a valid concern of misuse of the data by the "State" for total control, suppression & oppression of the public & "LOSS OF PRIVACY". I would say that is unavoidable & perhaps a small price to pay for the benefits it offers. We can also demand certain safeguards, checks & balances to control that but of course, the risk of a brazen misuse by the state would always be there - as it is, even without Aadhar, police & the Govt machinery have enough data in your PAN, PP, MOBILE BILLS ETC FOR ALL SURVEILLANCE THEY WANT. 

The idea of individual freedom & privacy is just that - an idea - nothing more - when GOOD GOVERNANCE is lacking. NPR is only duplication of the effort & the expenses - really a turf war between two GoI deptts - we need to point out the futility of it & misuse of funds - again a governace issue. 

______________

One may assume whatever suitable one has in one's mind.

Likewise, a driving license is NOT a must [unless one wishes to drive a vehicle]

Passport is NOT a must [unless one wishes to visit other countries]

Aadhaar is also NOT a must ... unless what?

In India, LPG cylinders have a limited and restricted subsidy for every LPG user. This subsidy shall get refunded directly to the bank accounts linked with Aadhaar cards.

Definitely this is NOT a must for NRIs, but  shall be a MUST for every middle class family of resident Indians, who would like to get that subsidy credited to their Bank accounts.

Without Aadhaar card, the subsidy is lost.

And yet, Aadhaar card is NOT a must and one can forget the subsidy amount.  

Even subsidy is not a MUST... why the hell that is being given?

Government is crazy to give subsidy to the resident Indians.

Now RAM is happy and satisfied. He does not carry a Passport and a Driving Licence because both are NOT a MUST.

:)

1659 - What Aadhaar Can Do For You By Ram Krishnaswamy - Counter Currents

What Aadhaar Can Do For You
By Ram Krishnaswamy
30 September, 2011, Countercurrents.org

Which is the bigger crime a poor family double dipping on PDS to stay alive or Govt wasting mega bucks on a white elephant called Aadhaar ?
 
1. Aadhaar Hand Book for Registrars - Version 1.2 – September 2010 Page 4
2. Aadhaar Overview

Aadhaar's Hand Book for Registrars says :

Aadhaar, which means ‘foundation' in many Indian languages, has the following Features and Benefits :
Comment : Al Queda also means base or Foundation. If Al Queda is a Terrorist Organisation then Aadhaar has to be State Sponsored Terrorism on its own people – all Indians

1. One Aadhaar = 1 beneficiary:  Aadhaar is a unique number, and no resident can have a duplicate number since it is linked to their individual biometrics; thereby identifying fake and ghost identities which result in leakages today. Savings from eliminating duplicates and fakes through Aadhaar-based identification will further enable governments to expand benefits to other eligible residents
Comment : It is an out landish statement to say that fake and ghost identities result in leakages today considering only about 15 % of Govt Subsidies reach the deserving poor. Of these even if 10% are fake and ghost identities it would amount to 1.5% of a PDS that is worth Rs 50,000 crores which will amount to about Rs 750 crores. It does not make sense spending Rs 45000 to Rs 150000 crores to save a paltry sum.

Main corruption is upstream in the distribution chain and here we are victimizing the victims all over.

Which is the bigger crime a poor family double dipping on PDS to stay alive or Govt wasting mega bucks on a white elephant called Aadhaar ?. Further Aadhaar is optional and cannot be forced and can never cover the entire population nor does Aadhaar help identify the deserving poor BPL population.

It is possible to double dip on PDS even with Aadhaar which is not compulsory. For example any one with two Ration Cards for example can use aadhaar for one and claim not to have an Aadhaar while using the other. It does not take an IT Whiz or Consultants like Ernst & Young or Accenture to figure this out.

2. Portability: Aadhaar is a universal number, and agencies and services can contact the central Unique Identification database from anywhere in the country to confirm a beneficiary's identity
Comment: This seems to be a great sales pitch, that Aadhaar is portable and can be used anywhere in India to avail Govt subsidies. It is a pity that none of the proponents of Aadhaar can foresee the dangers ahead. Extremely poor Rural population can and will move enmasse into already over crowded cities armed by the fact that their Aadhaar card will get them their rations any where in India. Are we happy to have more slums in our cities ? This influx in population will also lead to increase in crime and prostitution as a means of survival in Metros.

3. Inclusion of those without any existing identity documents : A problem in reaching benefits to poor and marginalized residents is that they often lack the identification documents they need to receive State benefits; the ‘Introducer' system which has been approved for data verification for the UIDAI will enable such residents to establish an identity
Comment : This is perhaps the biggest flaw in Aadhaar. It creates a new Introducer system that is prone to be vandalized by opportunists keen on making a quick buck. UIDAI does not have the man power to supervise and audit this aspect and consequently we as a nation can embrace ourselves as crores of aliens from border states will ease into the nation and Aadhaar will legitamise them as residents of India . West Bengal beware.

Outside UIDAI offices are touts who will act as “Introducers” for a fee. You could be  any body, choose any name or any address and any date of birth as you wish, as all you will require is an Introducer

4. Electronic benefit transfers:   the UID-enabled-Bank-Account network will offer a secure and low cost platform to directly remit benefits to residents without the heavy costs associated today with benefit distribution; the leakages in the current system will also be stemmed as a result
Comment: PDS Leakages will not be stemmed but ghosts with Aadhaar will receive payments in perpetuity in lieu of PDS grains or receive NREGA payments without doing a days work. The concept of authentication of NREGA labourers on work sites is a myth that will never be achieved.

Miss Piggy said “ By the time I am Thin, FAT will be in” By the time UIDAI dishes out these Unique numbers, PDS, NREGA and even UPA II may not exist.

5. Aadhaar-based authentication to confirm entitlement delivered to the beneficiary :  the UIDAI will offer online authentication services for agencies who wish to validate a resident's identity; this service will enable confirmation of the entitlement actually reaching the intended beneficiary
Comment : Key words here are “agencies who wish to validate a residents identity” Ration shop owners and NREGA contractors will be the last to use authentication services to validate a residents identity. It is not in their interest plus it is a time consuming process with no additional financial returns. So who will use this authentication service ?

Further even major cities are facing power cuts on a daily basis. A few days ago a friend in Mumbai wrote he could not use his computer all day as there was no power. “On line Authentication” of people all over the country, with no electricity and no internet connectivity,  sounds like a drunkard's fantsy.

6. Improved services through increased transparency: Clear accountability and transparent monitoring would significantly improve access and quality of entitlements to beneficiaries and the agency alike
Comment: How does transparency result in improved quality of entitlements?. 35 Kilos quota will remain the same in PDS, how will this improve ? Will Aadhaar enable the poor to get better quality grains ?
Sounds more mumbo jumbo sales pitch

7. Self-service puts residents in control:  Using Aadhaar as an authentication mechanism, residents should be able to access up-to-date information about their entitlements, demand services and redress their grievances directly from their mobile phone, kiosks or other means.  In the case of self-service on the resident's mobile, security is assured using two-factor authentication (i.e. by proving possession of the resident's registered Mobile Number and knowledge of the resident's Aadhaar PIN). These standards are compliant with the Reserve Bank of India's approved standards for Mobile Banking and Payments. (Please see Annexure for how mobile phone can be used for Aadhaar enabled applications)
Comment: This is exactly what one can expect from Corporate Consultants in pin striped suits. We are talking about a target population in need for government subsidies who are predominantly uneducated & living in rural India. Even if they are using mobile phones, though it seems unlikely, it is only to communicate with loved ones. Will some one educate UIDAI's Chief and consultants that the target population is uneducated ( meaning cannot read and write) rural poor and incapable of determining their entitlements using mobile phones.

Will some one send Nandan Nilekani and his UIDAI experts to remote villages without power, banks and kirana shops and ask them to explain how efficient Aadhaar will be ?

Remember what happened to Internet Kiosks ? It failed despite being a great concept only because poor who earn less than Rs 50 a day cannot tell the difference between a TV and a Computer Monitor used in Internet Kiosks.

Concept of Micro ATMs in Kirana shops to service the rural population.
Comments: Chaps who run Kirana shops are there to make money out of the poor. In the Long run each Kirana shop owner will become a Micro Lender if we are to be polite and a Pawn Broker who will lend money at high interest to poor who pledge their Aadhaar and Ration Cards. This means the poor cannot avail monthly quota without begging and pleasing the Kirana shop owner. Has the nation forgotten the scenes from Mother India  and how a poor widow was exploited by a Kirana shop owner.  ( Watch you tube clips to jog your memory)

Cash Transfers in lieu of PDS
Comment : Does Nandan Nilekani a Billionaire living in his Gated Mansion  know more about the poor & poverty in India than Jean Dreze & Aruna Roy the brains behind NREGA?.
Aruna Roy says “ Aadhaar is Bound to Fail”
Jean Dreze in his article “ The Cash Mantra”  says “For poor people, food entitlements have several advantages over cash transfers; they are inflation-proof, unlike cash transfers that can be eroded by local price increases, even if they are indexed to the general price level…..

Privacy, Legality, and Constitution;
Comment: Is Uidai Chief also an expert on Sociology, a Lawyer and an expert on Constitutional Matters ? If he is he would have come out of hiding and debated legal eagles like Usha Ramanathan a Human Rights Lawyer and Somnath Bharti and IIT Alumnus as well as a Supreme Court Lawyer.

Biometrics
Comment: There is zero expertise in UIDAI on Biometrics besides vendors keen on signing mega contracts. One has to read an article “India's ID card scheme – drowning in a sea of false positives by David Moss . Read all about how two key players L1 Identity and Morpho have now merged into Safran to get a strangle hold on UIDAIs Aadhaar. Safran completes acquisition of L1 Identity solutions to become worlds leader in Biometric Solutions

Have Indians forgotten how East India Company  traded mainly in cotton, silk, indigo dye , saltpetre  , tea, and opium. The Company also came to rule large areas of India, exercising military power and assuming administrative functions, to the exclusion, gradually, of its commercial pursuits; it effectively functioned as a megacorporation . Is history repeating itself here ?
  ______________________________

Ram Krishnaswamy is the Founder and Managing Director (Retd) of Noise Control Australia. He compiled and published in 2008 “Reflections by IITians” , a book showcasing the paths traversed by a diverse range of IITians.
He is the owner/ moderator of IIT Global Yahoo Groups   and Jago India Yahoo group  and is the publisher of the blog on “All Aadhaar Related Articles”  .
He actively supports “Jeevodaya”  a Hospice for terminally ill Cancer Patients in Chennai, Tamilnadu.
He is currently co-authoring a series of articles on Aadhaar in Money life. “ Privacy Numbers Game ”  by Ram Krishnaswamy & Vickram Crishna Part 1  “ Privacy Numbers Game ” Moneylife  
 

1564 - As Bright As Night, or, How Nandan Nilekani Blindsided A Nation with Aadhaar By Ram Krishnaswamy & Vickram Crishna

As Bright As Night, or, How Nandan Nilekani Blindsided A Nation with Aadhaar

By Ram Krishnaswamy & Vickram Crishna

On many occasions, after my graduation,  riding the city roads in Chennai on my Royal Enfield Bullet, I would be forced off the road, or have to stop by the roadside for my safety, when the car coming in the opposite direction, most often an Ambassador, would be driving with the high beam on. By the rule of law, high beam headlights are not to be used on roads well lit by street lamps, but who cares for traffic rules in India?

The high beam was often used by drivers to spot potholes early enough to avoid them; a reasonable enough justification for preserving the car's condition, but an action that directly jeopardised the lives of other people, especially those riding two wheelers, bicycles and motorbikes.

Full beam headlights are blinding, and as such, one has no option but to yield right of way, no matter what the actual scenario, right or wrong.

The Indian government is now busy producing an ersatz Ambassador – not the car, but a cloned and compromised vehicle for the most egregious intrusion into personal privacy and information the world has ever seen.

The Prime Minister, Mr Manmohan Singh, appointed Nandan Nilekani as Chairman of the Unique Identity Authority of India, an arm of the Planning Commission. He was given the responsibility of issuing numbers to every living human being in India.

Why this man?

The following list is easily found, in Wikipedia:

·      One of the youngest entrepreneurs to join 20 global leaders on the prestigious World Economic Forum (WEF) Foundation Board in January 2006.

·      Member of the Board of Governors of the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi

·      Member of the review committee of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

·      Forbes “Businessman of the Year” for Asia in 2007.

·      He, along with Infosys founder (and currently non-executive chairman) N. R. Narayana Murthy, also received Fortune magazine’s ‘Asia’s Businessmen of the Year 2003’ award.

·      Named among the ‘World’s most respected business leaders’ in 2002 and 2003, according to a global survey by Financial Times and PricewaterhouseCoopers.

·      Awarded the Corporate Citizen of the Year award at the Asia Business Leader Awards (2004) organized by CNBC.

• Joseph Schumpeter Prize for innovative services in economy, economic sciences and politics - 2005.[11]
• Padma Bhushan, one of the highest civilian honors awarded by the Government of India - 2006.
• Was presented the 'Legend in Leadership Award' by the Yale University in November 2009. He is the first Indian to receive the top honour.
• First Indian to be honoured with the Legend in Leadership Award of Yale University.
• Annual global ''ID People Awards'',
• Was awarded the 12th Sir M Visvesvaraya Memorial Award on Founder's Day, organised by the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI), to mark the birth anniversary of Sir M Visvesvaraya.

This list may not be fully comprehensive, but it certainly implies that this person is, indeed, a luminaire extraordinaire – literally, a very bright light.

When the oncoming headlights are too bright, you just step aside, no matter if the driver is driving on the wrong side of the road, or driving the wrong way down a one way road.

This is the story of Aadhaar. Nandan's light is so bright, that the entire nation has gone silent, unquestioningly accepting that this project must be right for the country.

There are about 1,75,000 IIT alumni worldwide, all willing to accept Aadhaar without question, bar a handful labelled as activists for simply asking questions; only because Nandan is also an IIT alumnus.

As a comment to an article in Money Life by Dr.Samir Kelekar, an IIT Bombay alumnus, titled “UIDAI chairman leaves simple questions unanswered at lecture for students”, Sudhir Badami, another IIT alumnus, in reply to Vickram’s comment, wrote, “Thanks, Vickram, for an elaborate response. I go with confidence in Nandan's ability in delivering things and shall I say Integrity. Yes, I do need to go into details. Perhaps in a real world outside the commercial arena, he is somewhat naive. Instead of getting him on the defensive, I think he could do well with constructive criticism. I will get back on this later.”

It has been an uphill task to even raise questions of the legality or constitutionality of Aadhaar, and the privacy issues associated with a centralised identity database and its accessibility, only because everyone blindly accepts that Nandan is very capable and knows what he is doing.

We have questioned many family and friends living in India on what they know about Aadhaar, and we are disappointed to hear responses such as, “I think it is some kind of ID card for the poor”, and, “Don’t know much, except that Manmohan Singh has asked Nandan Nilekani to issue 600 million people with a number”; and so on. Mind you, these are highly educated professionals, surgeons, lawyers, bankers, sociologists, businessmen, engineers (including other IITians) etc.

What will Aadhaar be, without Nandan Nilekani as the Head (or should that be headlight?), is the question. Will it be another rattler of an Ambassador car, like many other government-run schemes, like the PDS and NREGS?

And imagine either Raja or Suresh Kalmadi as the UIDAI Chief! Tongues would wag, and the media would be in a frenzy, questioning every single move made.

Now, do we ever say the car has got powerful headlights, so it must be a good car?

In evaluating Aadhaar, the general public and the intelligentsia should detach Nandan Nilekani from Aadhaar. Put some other driver in his seat, and now see how good the car looks.

When the authors published their articles in Money Life, “Numbers Game, Part I & II”, and shared it with Mr Narayana Murthy (another IIT alumnus, and former chairman of Infosys, succeeded by Nandan Nilekani), he replied thus: “Dear Ram, Thanks for your kind mail. You do make some serious points. Let me think about them.”

This is all we ask the nation. Forget for a moment that Nandan Nilekani is the UIDAI Chief, evaluate Aadhaar with an open mind, and see if this is what India needs.

ID Cards have been rejected in UK, USA and Australia, not by the governments, but by the people, who dumped both politicians and the political parties who were pushing Identity Cards, such as the UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown.

President George W Bush, and the Labour Party British Prime Minister Tony Blair, Where are they now? And what happened to the ID cards they were pushing with such enthusiasm?

To counter this, Nandan talks about Chile and China, in his article, Power of Identity - Inclusion. For people not in the know, Chile and China are both countries that have in the past, and continue till today, to violate human rights.

Even as I pen this article, I see the headlines “Obama to take on China on human rights?” Should India ape China’s human right violation, or should India suppress and torture its population, like Gen Pinochet did in Chile ?

“In a world of global flows of wealth, power, and images, the search for identity - collective or individual, ascribed or constructed - becomes the fundamental source of social meaning,” says Nandan Nilekani, (Power of Identity).

Give us a break, Nandan. The rhetoric sounds brilliant. However, we are concerned that Aadhaar, the identity that you are force-feeding the illiterate masses in India, could become the fundamental source of social stigma and discrimination.

You may find this difficult to understand, considering your wealthy lifestyle in gated communities, and your lengthy stay abroad, in New York. Please redo your homework, and even walk away from this Frankenstein, Aadhaar, as it could destroy all that you have achieved in over three decades.

As with anything, we human beings get conditioned, and people are now capable of seeing, despite the high beam. We notice that the media that blindly echoed the UID/Aadhaar drum beat, orchestrated by UIDAI marketing and UIDAI-fed advertising agencies, are now raising unpalatable and probing questions.

Is UID, or Aadhaar, only a number, Nandan, as you keep repeating?

We do not believe so, as we have held Aadhaar cards – yes, ID Cards! - issued to our friends, in our hands. At least, if they were standard credit card sized plastic cards, designed to fit in wallets, there would have been some excuse for misleading us. The Aadhaar card is in fact a laminated abomination.

However, Nandan, we can appreciate that your original ideas and original dreams for India may have been pushed aside by politicians.

Is UID/Aadhaar truly optional?

Even a blind man can see the game here. Aadhaar is not compulsory as far as UIDAI is concerned, however registrars, the agencies with which UIDAI has signed contracts, who are engaged in registering people, like state governments, banks, insurance companies, etc., etc., can make it compulsory. They can, and are, doing this both directly (by order) or indirectly) by making it difficult to live an orderly life without it.

Is UID/Aadhaar meant for the poor, who, in your estimation, lack identity, Nandan?

Afraid not, as the focus of all your registrars are not urban slums or rural villages, but metros. The people who are registering are those who already have multiple identifications (including, laughably, the very government servants, in state after state, who are issued state security-recognised cards, and for whom verification has never been an issue).

Can you please explain why you avoided the meeting with NAC – the National Advisory Council? Was it cold feet, or the fact you could no longer continue to lie?

And can you explain why you had no answers for the important questions raised by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance, the major hurdle between you and legitimacy for your identity project?

Surely someone like you could have answered these questions in your sleep. Are you playing politics already? It seems so, for you deliberately misled the country when you 'forgot' to mention this fact, in your televised interview with Shekhar Gupta (“Walk the Talk”-This with-us-or-against-us is the kind of line used in the Iraq war). You professed great admiration for Parliamentarians and the Standing Committee, saying, “These people have done their homework. They have asked us tonnes of questions.” No mention of the fact that you did not, or could not, answer the questions.

If you genuinely believe in UID/Aadhaar, Nandan, why are you afraid to debate the topic with fellow IITians? Surely you are not scared of debates, and do not believe that IITians are either with you or against you? You are welcome to invite your quizzing partner Jairam Ramesh, and even your mentor Mr Narayana Murthy, to be part of your debating team, to face a few IITians, whom you call – dismiss as? - activists. Forget a debate, we are happy with a simple public Q & A session, if and when that suits you.

One day soon, you will wake up and realise that the “world is not flat”; that even poor people each already have an identity, and should not be bastardised by a system that refuses to recognise it; and lastly you will regret having put your hands to serve a system designed for corruption, using the self-same tools that will poison the high-flying principles you have espoused.

While the media is fickle, as any marketing person should know, and you are one of the best, your numerous awards confirm, perhaps you need to pay heed when even your 'protective cover', the Planning Commission, shies at the hike in costs you have just announced, from Rs 6,600 cr to Rs 17,900 cr. “A single UID, earlier estimated to cost around Rs 31 per person, may now end up in the Rs 400-500 territory,” reports the Indian Express, and, in a second article, “Concerned over the increase in costs and the duplication of work between the NPR and the UIDAI, the Plan panel proposes to soon write to the Prime Minister seeking his intervention.”

Last, but not least, Nandan, can you touch your heart and tell us that Anna Hazare's Jan Lok Pal Bill movement is wrong, and Anna and his supporters should be arrested and thrown into prisons?

Parliament does not think so, and has agreed to meet the conditions he suggested as the basis for moving to a Constitutional solution to the issue. It seems that activism, and a people's movement – amiably divided on several issues, but united in purpose – does have the potential to arrest corruption in its tracks.

UPA ministers argue that Jan Lok Pal movement is unconstitutional and is an attempt at blackmail. How about Aadhaar? Is it constitutional? Was it debated nationwide, like the Jan Lok Pal Bill? Does it have approval from the Parliament? afraid not.

In your interview with Shekar Gupta, you said the Lok Pal Bill alone will not fix corruption in India and we need ten to fifteen projects (like UID, costing a few hundred billions) to fix all systems.

We learn that most Central Govt employees of India including the PM use free (and very insecure) email accounts, such as 'Yahoo! Mail', 'Gmail', etc., even for official communications. They do this because the National Informatics Center has not made it possible for emails to be sent and read on mobile devices, which is the preferred way in India (as stated by the article we read). This causes security and legal problems for the government.

It is a disgrace that a nation which boasts about its IT might, and boasts of UID becoming the 'World's Largest Database', cannot have secure email even for the PM.

Nandan, it is time to stand up and confess that you made a mistake.

You did not do your homework and were piggy backing on US Real ID Card and UK ID Cards that were eventually dumped, and did not realise that the government will make use of you, and manipulate you, making you look like a show pony, parroting your government approved lines of rhetoric.

In Indian politics, you are like a fish out of water, and do you know why? You can't mince words, and are too used to speaking the truth, and speaking your mind.

Talk to us, Nandan, and we will explain to you why Aadhaar, the White Elephant, is wrong for India.