9423 - Aadhaar Bill to ensure privacy protection - Business Standard

Aadhaar Bill to ensure privacy protection

Govt to present legislation in the Lok Sabha today

Archis Mohan  |  New Delhi 

March 3, 2016 Last Updated at 00:58 IST

The government could introduce a regulatory framework to ensure that the biometric details of citizens it collects is kept discreet and used only to generate Aadhaar numbers or authenticate them.

The Aadhaar Bill, which could be introduced in the Lok Sabha on Thursday, is likely to introduce this regulatory framework. It could also to propose that in cases of national security, an officer not below the rank of a joint secretary will be empowered to call for disclosure of such information.

According to the revised list of business of the Lok Sabha, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley would introduce The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 on Thursday. It would be a money Bill, since it specifies its objective to provide targeted delivery of subsidies, expenditure of which will be incurred from the Consolidated Fund of India.

A money Bill can only be introduced in the Lok Sabha. The decision of the Speaker is final and cannot be challenged on whether or not a Bill is one. Such a Bill cannot be referred to a joint committee of the two Houses. The government enjoys a majority in the Lok Sabha and has ensured passage of several key Bills in the House only to find these stuck in the Rajya Sabha, where it is in a minority.

Sources said the Bill could propose imprisonment of up to three years and fine of Rs 10,000, which will be Rs 1 lakh in the case of a company, for disclosing or sharing of the core biometric information. The Bill, it is understood, could entail upon the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to take all necessary steps to ensure the confidentiality of identity information by protecting it against access of disclosure or accidental and intentional damage.

The information could be stored in a centralised database of biometrics, the Central Identities Data Repository. The UIDAI will not only take all appropriate technical measures but also ensure that any agency it hires will follow these security measures.

The Bill is likely to propose that no core biometric information will be shared with anyone for any reason whatsoever other than for generation and authentication of Aadhaar numbers.

Information other than core biometrics may be allowed to be shared under the rules - that are yet to be framed. Identity information cannot be disclosed further, except with the prior consent of the individual. The biometric information would be considered "electronic record" and "sensitive personal data or information".

However, an officer not below the rank of a joint secretary, specially authorised for the purpose by the government, would order the disclosure of information in the interest of national security. It is also learnt that an "oversight committee", consisting of the Cabinet secretary and the secretaries in the Department of Legal Affairs and Department of Electronics and Information Technology, would review such a decision before the information is disclosed.

The UIDAI, set up in 2009, will manage the generation and authentication of Aadhaar numbers. The Bill, it is learnt, could propose that the authority will have a chairperson, two part-time members and a chief executive officer for a term of three years but eligible for reappointment.

ON GUARD Finance Minister Arun Jaitley likely to introduce the Aadhaar Bill in the Lok Sabha on Thursday. Some of its key features are likely to be

It would be a money Bill   Could propose strict penalty for disclosing of core biometric information   UIDAI to take all steps to ensure privacy of information   Information is to be stored in the Central Identities Data Repository, a centralised database   UIDAI-hired agencies/consultants to also implement technical measures to ensure privacy   In case of a national security, an officer not below joint secretary to take a call   Oversight committee, headed by the Cabinet secretary, to review each decision before the information is disclosed

8646 - U.S. professors protest Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Silicon Valley visit - LA Times

U.S. professors protest Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's Silicon Valley visit

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, makes a gesture of dialing a phone as he addresses people during the launch of the Digital India project in New Delhi on July 1. (Saurabh Das / AP)

By SHASHANK BENGALI contact the reporter

More than 100 academics from major American universities have issued a scathing critique of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi ahead of his visit to Silicon Valley and warned U.S. technology executives against supporting his Digital India initiative.

A letter sent last week to leaders of Silicon Valley tech companies said Modi’s initiative — which seeks to expand Internet access and develop online tools to improve government performance — lacks adequate privacy protections and could impinge on Indians’ rights.

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But the letter goes further by accusing Modi’s conservative government of authoritarian practices, including harassing critics, clamping down on advocacy groups, meddling with academic institutions and denying foreign scholars entry into India for conferences.

“We urge those who lead Silicon Valley technology enterprises to be mindful of not violating their own codes of corporate responsibility when conducting business with a government which has, on several occasions already, demonstrated its disregard for human rights and civil liberties, as well as the autonomy of educational and cultural institutions,” the letter said.

The letter also raises an uncomfortable episode from Modi’s political past: the religious riots that occurred in the western state of Gujarat in 2002, when he was the state’s chief executive. Modi was denied a U.S. visa for a decade following the violence that killed hundreds, mainly Muslims, while state security forces were slow to intervene.

Months after taking office as prime minister, Modi visited New York last fall and delivered a speech to more than 20,000 people at Madison Square Garden, organized by Indian Diaspora groups. It was a triumphal moment for Modi, who is scheduled to give a similar address to an audience of Indian Americans in the Bay Area in late September.

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While Modi has not been charged with wrongdoing in the Gujarat violence, the state’s high court will hear a case this month that accuses Modi and his state security services of failing to suppress the pogroms.

The letter was signed by scores of professors, mainly liberal arts scholars and South Asia specialists at universities, including Harvard, Stanford and USC. Among them is Wendy Doniger, a University of Chicago divinity professor whose recent book on Hinduism was taken off the shelves in India because religious conservatives objected to her account of the country’s dominant faith.

It is not the first time U.S. academics have expressed concerns over Modi’s record. In 2013, Indian American faculty members at the University of Pennsylvania led an effort to cancel a speech Modi was scheduled to give by video at a conference hosted by the prestigious Wharton business school.

Two English professors who helped spearhead that drive, Ania Loomba and Suvir Kaul, also signed the letter sent last week.

Modi is expected to address the United Nations General Assembly on Sept. 24 in New York before traveling to the Bay Area for a visit aimed at attracting investment in technology and electronics manufacturing in India.

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Modi’s digital governance efforts, including plans to give every Indian a bank account, hit a snag last month when the country’s supreme court imposed limits on the use of Aadhaar, a biometric identification system that assigns each Indian a unique 12-digit number. The court ruled that the government could not make it mandatory for citizens to obtain an Aadhaar card, pending a broader decision on whether the biometric system violates Indians’ privacy rights.

Although the Aadhaar program predates Modi’s digital push, the U.S. academics cited fears that such systems “will be used to enhance surveillance and repress the constitutionally protected rights of citizens.”

Modi’s supporters have accused his liberal critics of indulging in paranoia and impeding efforts to improve Indians’ lives.

“What we are witnessing is the willingness of an intellectual diaspora to actually wage war on India’s development,” commentator Swapan Dasgupta wrote in the Daily Pioneer newspaper. “From political opposition to Modi, they have moved to sabotaging India in the world.”

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