TREATING CITIZENS WORSE THAN PRISONERS, VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CITIZENS’ RIGHT TO PRIVACY: GOPAL KRISHNA

TREATING CITIZENS WORSE THAN PRISONERS, VIOLATION OF HUMAN RIGHTS AND CITIZENS’ RIGHT TO PRIVACY: GOPAL KRISHNA

December 4, 2012

To
Hon’ble Justice K G Balakrishnan
Chairman,
National Human Rights Commission
Faridkot House
New Delhi
 
Date:December 4, 2012

Subject- Treating citizens worse than prisoners, violation of human rights and citizens’ right to privacy in view of NHRC’s views on biometric RFID and UID
 
Sir,

This is to draw your attention towards the fact that all the residents and citizens of India are being made subordinate to prisoner’s status by the ongoing collection of their “biometric information” that includes finger prints, iris scan for permanent storage in a Centralized Identities Data Register (CIDR) and National Population Register (NPR). This is being done ‘as per an approved strategy” by Planning Commission and Union Ministry of Home Affairs without any legal mandate.

I submit that “NHRC’s views on the NIAI Bill, 2010″ in the Human Rights Newsletter (Vol. 18 No.8, August 2011) reveals that UID/Aadhaar Number has dangerous ramifications is quite relevant in this regard. NHRC’s view was presented to the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance. The PSC submitted its report to the Parliament on December 13, 2011 rejecting the UID Bill.

I submit that while such initiatives are underway, echoing NHRC’s view on “need for protection of information” and “the possibility of tampering with stored biometric information” in paragraph 5 (page no. 7 of the NHRC newsletter) and “disclosure of information in the interest of national security” mentioned in paragraph 9 (page no.8 of the newsletter), the Central Government’s Draft Discussion Paper on Privacy Bill admits, “There is no data protection statute in the country.” On UID Number, the Draft Paper on Privacy Bill stated, “Data privacy and the need to protect personal information is almost never a concern when data is stored in a decentralized manner. Data that is maintained in silos is largely useless outside that silo and consequently has a low likelihood of causing any damage. However, all this is likely to change with the implementation of the UID Project. One of the inevitable consequences of the UID Project will be that the UID Number will unify multiple databases. As more and more agencies of the government sign on to the UID Project, the UID Number will become the common thread that links all those databases together. Over time, private enterprise could also adopt the UID Number as an identifier for the purposes of the delivery of their services or even for enrolment as a customer.” The Draft Paper on Privacy Bill discloses, “Once this happens, the separation of data that currently exists between multiple databases will vanish.” This poses a threat to the identity of citizens and the idea of residents of the state as private persons will be forever abandoned.

In view of NHRC’s observation before the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that UID/Aadhaar Number will lead to discrimination due to  its distinction between residents and citizens in the name of “delivery of various benefits and services” and “weaker sections of society”, I wish to draw you attention towards what Late Roger Needham, a British computer scientist aptly said, “if you think IT is the solution to your problem, then you don’t understand IT, and you don’t understand your problem either.”

I submit that as per Identification of Prisoners Act, 1920, biometric measurement like fingerprints of prisoners are taken with the permission of Magistrate and these records of the prisoners are destroyed on acquittal. But in the case of UID/Aadhhar and NPR the same is going to stored forever without any legal mandate.

I submit that Biometrics “means the technologies that measure and analyse human body characteristics, such as ‘fingerprints’, ‘eye retinas and irises’, ‘voice patterns’, “facial patterns’, ‘hand measurements’ and ‘DNA’ for authentication purposes” as per Information Technology (Reasonable security practices and procedures and sensitive personal data or information) Rules, 2011 under section 87 read with section 43A of Information Technology Act, 2000.

I submit that UID)/Aadhaar Number and NPR is treating all residents and citizens of India worse than prisoners. The Identification of Prisoners Act provides that “Every person who has been, (a) convicted of any offence punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of one year or upwards, or of any offence which would render him liable to enhanced punishment on a subsequent conviction, or (b) ordered to give security for his good behaviour under Section 118 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, shall, if so required, allow his measurements and photograph to be taken by a Police Officer in the prescribed manner.”

It further provides that “Any person who has been arrested in connection with an offence punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of one year or upwards shall, if so required by a police officer, allow his measurements to be taken in the prescribed manner.” As per Section 5 of the Act, “If a Magistrate is satisfied that, for the purposes of any investigation or proceeding under the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898, it is expedient to direct any person to allow his measurements or photograph to be taken, he may make an order to the effect, and in that case the person to whom the order relates shall be produced or shall attend at the time and place specified in the order and shall allow his measurements or photograph to be taken, as the case may be, by a police officer:”

I submit that as per Section 7 of Identification of Prisoners Act, “Where any person who, not having been previously convicted of an offence punishable with rigorous imprisonment for a term of one year or upwards, has had his measurements taken or has been photographed in accordance with the provisions of this Act is released without trial or discharged or acquitted by any court, all measurements and all photographs (both negatives and copies) so taken shall, unless the court or (in a case where such person is released without trial) the District Magistrate or Sub-divisional Officer for reasons to be recorded in writing otherwise directs, be destroyed or made over to him.” In the case of UID-Aadhaar/NPR the data will be stored forever.

I submit that NPR is also mentioned in Column 7 of the Aadaar/UID Enrolment Form. Census Commissioner who is ex-officio Registrar General of India (RGI) has awarded the NPR project to Department of Information Technology for 19 States and 2 Union Territories that covers a total population of 49 crores in urban and 13 crores in rural areas, 74 zones and 410 districts.

In fact, the treatment being given to citizens and residents of India is akin to treatment proposed for tigers who are going to be assigned a unique identification (UID) number to each tiger captured through camera traps by  National Tiger Conservation Authority.         

I submit that NHRC’s notice dated February 7, 2011 to Secretary, Union Ministry of External Affairs in the case of radio collars on Indian students in USA was also case of how NHRC objected to biometric identification of Indian students by clamping of radio collars on the ankles in the Tri-Valley University.

I submit that in a statement on the matter of Tri-Valley University scam released to media dated 12th February, S.M. Krishna, Union External Affairs Minister, Government of India said, “You will be happy to know that radio tagging has been removed from some students and other cases are being actively pursued.” It reveals that Government of India through its Embassy in Washington and Consulates in America has been working closely with the US Department of Homeland Security and the State Department to get “fair and humanitarian outcome” for the students who were tagged with radio collars.  The fact remains that some of other students remain tagged with Radio collars in US.

I submit that NHRC recieved a communication from the Foreign Secretary, Ms. Nirupama Rao on the issue saying, “We have also strongly protested the radio collars as unacceptable, which should be removed immediately.” Such biometric identification of Indian citizens is unacceptable indeed.

I submit that the fear of an emerging Orwellian situation where a Big Brother keeps a watch on everybody as George Orwell prophesied in his book 1984 that taught citizens that an all-knowing corrupt minority government is a terrifying situation.

I submit that it may be noted that Supreme Court of Republic of the Philippines July 23, 1998 rejected the National ID program initiated by President Fidel V. Ramos on December 12, 1996 through “Adoption of a National Computerized Identification Reference System” in its 60 page judgment on two important constitutional grounds, viz: one, it is a usurpation of the power of Congress to legislate, and two, it impermissibly intrudes on our citizenry’s protected zone of privacy.

I submit that in a significant development, the unanimous decision of 17 judges the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) about violation of the right to privacy and family life by biometric profile retention in criminal justice databanks, they found that the “blanket and indiscriminate nature” of the power of retention of the fingerprints, cellular samples, and DNA profiles of persons suspected but not convicted of offenses, failed to strike a fair balance between competing public and private interests and ruled that the United Kingdom had “overstepped any acceptable margin of appreciation” in this regard. This decision is relevant for UID, National Population Register (NPR), Human DNA Profiling and voice print through Radio Frequency Identification (RFID).   The decision of the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) decision about violation of the right to privacy and family life by DNA profile retention in criminal justice databanks merits attention. The case in ECHR was heard publicly on February 27, 2008, and the unanimous decision was delivered on December 4, 2008.

I wish to draw you attention towards a Statement of Concern on UID/Aadhaar by 17 eminent citizens which included demands like “The project be halted, a feasibility study be done covering all aspects of this issue, experts be tasked with studying its constitutionality, the law on privacy be urgently worked on (this will affect matters way beyond the UID project), a cost: benefit analysis be done and a public, informed debate be conducted before any such major change be brought in.”  This statement was issued by 17 eminent citizens like Justice V R Krishna Iyer, Prof. Upendra Baxi and Justice A P Shah on September 28, 2010 but till date these concerns and questions remain unanswered. 

In such a backdrop, I submit twelve questions that reveal why civil liberties and human rights movements are against UID related projects:

1.   Why do we need Unique Identification (UID)-Aadhaar Number as a 16th identity proof which in fact is an identifier and not an identity proof? Hasn’t linking of cash transfer with UID made it mandatory contrary to its continued claim that it is voluntary?

In the beginning, it was said that the UID would be voluntary. Now, it is creeping into becoming mandatory, with the threat that those who don’t have a UID cannot access services of many kinds, including rations and bank accounts. How does Nilekani see the implications of this creep for civil liberties and the rights of the people?

2. Why present and future Indian citizens should be allowed profiled based on biometric data? Are citizens worse than prisoners? The indiscriminate collection of biometrics of prisoners is not allowed as per Identification of Prisoners Act.

These UID linked initiatives of India’s e-government are akin to installing a microchip in the human body and electronic surveillance system of Saudi Arabia’s e-government to track the movement of Saudi women by their male guardians. It must be remembered that even Mahatma Gandhi opposed a law similar to UID as a Black Act in South Africa from 1906 to 1914 saying that “finger prints were required by law only from criminals.” UID related schemes too are based on biometric data like finger prints and iris scan.

3. Why have countries like UK, Australia, France, the Philippines and Europe has rejected UID like projects?

These countries have rejected identity projects that closely resemble the UID project because of its implications of civil liberty, the prohibitive cost, the untested technology and because it will make the people subservient to the state. What is the reason for thinking that Indian citizens can bear these risks and costs?

4.  How can UIDAI and UID project be deemed legitimate if it has been disapproved as violation of the prerogative of the Parliament by Parliamentary Committee on Finance

The Committee denounced the UID/Aadhaar project as ‘unethical and violative of Parliament’s prerogatives’ and as akin to an ordinance when the Parliament is in session.’ The government has not come up with a revised law, and there is in fact no law that, today, governs the project. Isn’t the protection of the citizen by law important?

5. Who will be held accountable for violation of citizen’s privacy law and data protection?

The UID project poses a threat to the privacy rights of citizens, and Nilekani has acknowledged that many times over. Yet, the project is steaming ahead without any law on privacy in place, and is believed to be breaching many privacy principles. How is Nilekani addressing this in his project as project leader?

6. If violation of confidentiality promised in the Section 15 of Census Act is done with impunity, how can census like UID and NPR exercise be trusted?

 7. What is the guarantee that whosoever controls Centralized Database of Indians will not become autocrat like Hosni Mubarak who handed over citizens’ database to US Government?

8. Isn’t the entire UID related exercise meant to provide market for biometric and surveillance technology companies and World Bank’s partners like International Business Machines (IBM), Gemalto, Intel, Safran Group, Microsoft, and Pfizer, France and South Korea?

There is an extraordinary dependence on corporations, many of them companies with close links with foreign intelligence agencies. How are the implications of this factor being dealt with?

9. Isn’t linking of UID with voter id, land titles, National Intelligence Grid, National Population Register (NPR), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) etc an assault to rights of citizens?

The ubiquity that the UIDAI is trying to get for the UID — where it will be linked with the National Population Register, and service such set ups as the Crime and Criminal Tracking Network & Systems (CCTNS), the NCTC, the NATGRID– where are the protections for the citizen from an invasive state?

10. Who will guarantee that the centralized database of UID, NPR will not be used for holocaust, genocide, communal and ethnic riots, targeting of minorities and political dissidents? 

11. Among many questions that have emerged, one is: Has Nilekani, in rank of the Cabinet Minister taken the oath on Constitution of India to abide by its provisions?

12. Why is technology treated as if it has no politics, or no implications for civil liberties, when it is known that it most certainly does?, has asked Dr Usha Ramanathan, a noted jurist whose views are recorded in the report of the Parliamentary Committee  on Finance. 

In its report to the Parliament, the Parliamentary Committee on Finance has taken on board studies done in the UK on the identity scheme that was begun and later withdrawn in May 2010 when the proponents of ID project were defeated in the elections. The Committee took note of the problems like “(a) huge cost involved and possible cost overruns; (b) too complex; (c) untested, unreliable and unsafe technology; (d) possibility of risk to the safety and security of citizens; and (e) requirement of high standard security measures, which would result in escalating the estimated operational costs” in undertaking such projects.

The Parliamentary Committee has noted that the Central Government has “admitted that (a) no committee has been constituted to study the financial implications of the UID scheme; and (b) comparative costs of the aadhaar number and various existing ID documents are also not available.”

I submit that the structural basis is being laid out for future authoritarianism through despotic projects at the behest of the ungovernable and unregulated foreign biometric and surveillance technology companies. The collection of biometric data supports the ideology of biological determinism with its implicit and explicit faith in the biometric technologies. There are hitherto unacknowledged dangers of trusting such technological advances for determining social policies.

I submit that the unfolding automatic identification regime is being facilitated by Shri Nilekani, Dr C Chandramouli, the Census Commissioner, Union Home Ministry and others in the face of corporate media unquestionably promoting ungovernable and unregulated identification and surveillance technology companies. Dr Chandramouli is guilty of violating the confidentiality promised under the Census Act, 1948 by using illegitimate subordinate legislation under Citizenship Act, 1955 for biometric data based NPR linked to UID given the fact that 60 crore population is being under UID and the rest under NPR. This subordinate legislation has been questioned by the Parliamentary Committee on Finance.

I submit that providing for a dignified treatment of the citizens of India, Section 15 of the Census Act establishes that “Records of census not open to inspection nor admissible in evidence”. It reads: No person shall have a right to inspect any book, register or record made by a census-officer in the discharge of his duty as such, or any schedule delivered under section 10 and notwithstanding anything to the contrary in the Indian Evidence Act, 1872, no entry in any such book, register, record or schedule shall be admissible as evidence in any civil proceeding whatsoever or in any criminal proceeding other than a prosecution under this Act or any other law for any act or omission which constitutes an offence under this Act.” Demolishing this dignity of the citizens, the Union Home Ministry is dehumanizing citizens by according them a status inferior to that of prisoners.

I submit that ahead of the 2014 elections, the rewriting and engineering of the electoral ecosystem with the unconstitutional and illegal use of biometric technology is akin to re-plumbing the electoral landscape. This is all set to link cash transfer, UID, Election ID and Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) which is not as innocent and as politically neutral as it has been made out to be. It is noteworthy that all EVMs have a UID Number as well.

I earnestly seek your intervention to safeguard civil liberties and human rights of present and future generations from such the illegitimate advances of a bullying State as has been done in The Philippines, UK, France and Australia. It has been established that UID-Aadhaar does not have any basis contrary to its name, Aadhaar which means foundation or base; it is legally Niraadhaar (baseless). If winter session of Parliament fails to stop UID related projects despite having a considered parliamentary report against it, it will be remembered as a historic and monumental failure.

I submit that creation of Centralized Identities Data Register (CIDR) of UID will create a bullying Database and Surveillance State through its ‘black box’.

I submit that Mahatma Gandhi opposed a law similar to UID as a Black Act in South Africa from 1906 to 1914 saying,”.. I read a volume on finger impressions by Mr. Henry, a police officer, from which I gathered that finger prints were required by law only from criminals.” In August 1906 the Asiatic Law Amendment Ordinance became law in the Transvaal. Any Indian who did not register by a certain date would no longer be allowed to stay in the Transvaal. This law stated that every Indian man, woman or child older than 8 years must register with a government official called the registrar of Asiatics. This registrar was to also take the fingerprints of the people he registered and issue them with registration certificates, which they had to show to any policeman who asked to see them. Notably, UID scheme too is based on biometric data like finger prints and iris scan.

It is germane to note that in the US, there is a UID like project called radio frequency identification (RFID) project which is being opposed by the citizen groups there. The technology, RFID, is rapidly moving into the real world through a wide variety of applications: Washington state driver’s licenses, U.S. passports, clothing, payment cards, car keys and more.  Their objective is to create a future world where RFID is everywhere and figure out problems. RFID has been used primarily to track goods in supply chains, and the RFID Ecosystem works as a kind of human warehouse. The system can show when people leave the office, when they return, how often they take breaks, where they go and who’s meeting with whom. The latest RFID tags contain a 96-bit code meant to uniquely identify an object or person. The RFID is an invisible tag. US. Department of Homeland Security required states to use an RFID chip that is readable from a distance to be compatible with its REAL ID initiative. It has failed to take off because of opposition of US States and citizens.

I wish to draw your attention towards a news item dated Oct 25, 2011 about “Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems for homes” (http://www.yentha.com/news/view/1/14123) costing around Rs 15 per unit. This has reference also to the attached MoU signed between Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Government of Kerala on May 28, 2010. Similar agreement have been signed by other States as well.

I wish to draw your attention towards the protest against RFID during the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) between the 16th to 18 November 2005 by the founder of the free software movement, Shri Richard Stallman who protested the use of RFID security cards.

I submit that with the objective of unified Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) technology for National Highways in India, had set up a Shri Nandan Manohar Nilekani headed Committee to examine all technologies available for ETC and recommend the most suitable one for implementation throughout India. The 28 page report of the Committee refers to RFID, saying, “RFID tags are used for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves.” After examining these and several other technologies, Shri Nilekani headed Committee recommended passive RFID tags although there is only one microchip manufacturer for this kind of application stating that “It is extremely simple to use and administer, requiring no actions on the part of the user (the sticker itself can be stuck on the vehicle by the auto vendor or the manufacturer).

It is noteworthy that the US Military’s huge supplies and equipment around the world was tracked using IBM punch cards during World War II, now radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are used to do the same. RFID tags work like “wireless bar codes” which perform the task of recording, tracking, and managing.

I submit that State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has the entered into agreement an with the Kudumbashree Mission to facilitate the extension of its financial services to villages in Kerala. The SBT is to issue smart cards with RFID facility to the customers in villages to act as yet another Identity Card.

I submit that RFID technology helps keep track of supplies and equipment to the battlefield at the right time and place and to secure supplies in the military operations of US Department of Defense’s (DoD) and its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US Navy’s combat casualty care unit uses RFID technology to track combat casualties in Iraq through RFID chips sewn into the wristbands of naval personnel. The US Department of Defense announced the establishment of a Radio Frequency Identification Policy (RFID) on October 23, 2003.

I submit that similar RFID stickers were detected in the office of Union Finance Minister, which was widely reported in the media. It was reported (June 21, 2011, Indian Express) that on September 7, 2010, the then Union Finance Minister wrote to Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh asking him to order a ‘secret inquiry’ into what he called a “serious breach of security” in his office: the presence of “planted adhesives” in 16 key locations as a possible surveillance act. These locations included the office of the Finance Minister himself, the office of his then Advisor, the office of his Private Secretary and two conference rooms used by the Finance Minister, including the main conference hall on the ground floor of the heavily guarded North Block. This got revealed through counter-surveillance operation of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that the adhesives were “planted” at critical places in the Finance Ministry which on closer examination showed grooves on the surface which indicate some “plantable adhesive substances” could have been pasted. The proposed RFID tags appear to be similar to the “plantable adhesive substances” as stickers being proposed for vehicles as part of implementation of ETC technology. Similar incident was reported with regard to the office of the Defence Minister as well.

I wish to bring a book SpyChips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre to your notice. The authors forewarn us of how we are being made to “imagine a world of no privacy. Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought. What’s more, they can be tracked and monitored remotely”. The 270 page book has been published by Thomas Nelson Inc in 2005. It has been contended that RFID will impact our civilization in a deeper way than printing press, industrial revolution, light bulb, Internet and personal computers. The introduction of RFID marks the beginning of a world where everything and every place gets imbedded with RFID or spying micro chips.

I submit that RFID and UID projects are going to do almost exactly the same thing which the predecessors of Adolf Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists with the help of IBM which was in the ‘census’ business that included racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.

I submit that the history of RFID can be traced to 1945 when Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool as a covert listening device which retransmitted radio waves with audio information. In the recent times, the largest deployment of active RFID has been done by the US Department of Defense. In 2009 researchers at Bristol University successfully glued RFID micro-transponders to live ants in order to study their behavior. RFID tags for animals represent one of the oldest uses of RFID technology.

I submit that RFID tags, part of biometric data is world-readable. It poses a risk to both personal location, privacy, national and military security of the country. India’s corporate media seems quite indulgent towards the emergence of a technology-based social control regime due to “Paid News” phenomena, it is up to you and the legislature to bring them under control by revealing the true nature of biometric data based RFID and related identification exercises like UID and NPR

I submit that while UIDAI has been informing the residents, citizens, concerned government departments and the media that the UID Number scheme is voluntary, the ‘Legal Framework For Mandatory Electronic Delivery of Services’ of Union Ministry of Communication and Information Technology, refers to “UIDAI – UID based authentication for services” as an enabler, thus making it compulsory. UIDAI has been functioning without legislative approval since January 2009. Besides the annoucement of UID/Aadhaar based cash transfer implies that the right to have rights is being made dependent on biometric data based UID/Aadhaar.

I submit that Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India related issues (CCUIDAI) is acting in contmept of citizens fundamental rights and Parliament. As per Cabinet Secretariat’s website (http://cabsec.nic.in/showpdf.php?type=council_cabinet_committees),the “Functions” of Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India related issues include “All issues relating to the Unique Identification Authority of India including its organization, plans, policies, programmes, schemes, funding and methodology to be adopted for achieving the objectives of that Authority.”

I submit that the Report of the Shri Nilekani headed Technology Advisory Group (TAGUP) for Unique Projects dated January 31, 2011 presented to Union Ministry of Finance recommends setting up of National Information Utilities (NIU). It proposes NIUs as “private companies with a public purpose:profit-making, but not profit maximizing.” This appears to be an exercise in linguistic corruption.  This TAGUP report refers to UIDAI Strategy Overview document published by UIDAI and mentions that “The recent acceptance of Aadhaar (UID Number) for satisfying proof of identity and address for all telecom connections by Department of Telecommunications will also ensure greater telecom inclusion”. It alo refers to Biometric data standards and how “the UIDAI published standards for the collection and storage of biometric data in the Report on Biometrics Design Standards for UID  Applications, under the chairmanship of Dr. Gairolab.” It must be noted that the uncertainties about biometrics in relation to a large a population as 1.2 billion remain. According to this very Report of the Biometrics Committee of the UIDAI, so far, the maximum number covered has been 50 million people. In fact, even this Committee of UIDAI looked unsure of it in the final analysis, stating: “First, retaining efficacy while scaling the database size from fifty million to a billion has not been adequately analysed. Second, fingerprint quality, the most important variable for determining de-duplication accuracy, has not been studied in depth in the Indian context.”

I submit that UIDAI is seeking demographic and biometric information like Name, Date of birth, Place of birth, Gender, Father’s name, Father’s UID number (optional for adult residents), Mother’s name, Mother’s UID number (optional for adult residents), Address (Permanent and Present), Expiry date, Photograph and Finger prints, NPR Survey Slip No. Now it also includes Iris scan etc. “The Authority will offer a strong form of online authentication, where agencies can compare demographic and biometric information of the resident with the record stored in the central database.”

I submit that the UID/Aadhhar must be looked at along with other initiatives which will end up undertaking surveillance, reconnaissance and targeting of Indian residents and citizens on basis of caste, religion, political opinion and regional bias. UIDAI and related agencies are attempting to convert a resident into a number, Indian population into a market and then citizens into subjects.

In view of the above, these issues directly linked to Right to Life merit your attention in the supreme interest of human rights of present and future generation of citizens. This appears to necessitate an order from NHRC recommending stoppage of further implementation of the biometric data based initiatives by the Central and State Governments and seeking destruction of already collected biometric data of Indian residents and citizens.

Thanking You

Yours Sincerely

(Gopal Krishna)
Member, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)
New Delhi
Phone: +91-11-2651781, Fax: +91-11-26517814
Mb: 9818089660, E-mail: krishna1715@gmail.com