Interested in getting Aadhaar ? Read this.

BS Post : 81, Date : 27.09.2013, Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

UPA government convert operation called UIDAI 

By Srinivasan K. Rangachary  , September 27 th, 2013. 

The Supreme Court ruling stand by for yet another twist in the tale of Aadhaar — that special number supposed to give every Indian citizen a unique identity. And this time, it is a welcome move. The apex court has now stated what was once obvious — that Aadhaar is not mandatory, it is purely voluntary. The government cannot force you to get an Aadhaar card. The government cannot demand that card in order to provide a service to you. Excellent. So we are back to the basics.

Aadhaar or the Unique Identity (UID) number was first introduced to us as a voluntary project. You could, if you so wished, get yourself registered. You could arm yourself with some ID that would make you eligible, stand in queues, obey the pompous barks of unimpressive clerks with impressive equipment, and offer “biometric data”. They would take your fingerprints and photos of your face, their cameras would look deep into your eyes to capture the special pattern of your iris. After all that, they would give you a unique 12 digit number. You would have the pleasure of knowing that the number belonged wholly and entirely to you, that you did not need to share it with anyone. That was about all. The UID did not get you any benefits.

Unlike a ration card that gave you access to subsidised rations, or a voter ID card that allowed you to vote, or a passport that allowed you to travel beyond the borders, or a bank account number that gave you access to banking, or any useful card or number, Aadhaar did not offer you anything besides the satisfaction of having a number. Naturally, not too many flocked to it. What was the point? But Aadhaar was an ambitious project, costing the taxpayer thousands of crores, and projected worldwide as a unique, gigantic, fantastic identification scheme. The government and UID boss Nandan Nilekani could not just sit around waiting for the occasional volunteer to wander in for the fun of it. So it was quickly linked to various government services. The UID may not inherently give you benefits, but it could take away your benefits. Aha! Now are you interested in getting Aadhaar? The government quickly honed its blackmailing skills. You needed Aadhaar to get government subsidies, to get your rations, for payments under the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), for direct cash benefits, for salaries, for cooking gas connections and refills, for school admissions of poorer children, for students fee waivers, for scholarships, for marriage registrations, for property transactions, for crop loans, for caste certificates — the list was ever growing. There was even a suggestion — I can’t remember whether it was passed — that Aadhaar would be necessary to file a Right to Information (RTI) petition.

So Aadhaar was the big bully that marches into a playground and gets his way not by offering the kids his own bat and ball, which he does not have, but by threatening to take away the bat and ball that the kids are already playing with. Sure, enrolling with Aadhaar was quite “voluntary”, in a stifling culture of bullies and brazen coercion.

So now that the Supreme Court has brought us back on track and declared that the government has no right to hold back services if you did not have an Aadhaar card, we are back to the original question: what is Aadhaar good for? What happens to the UID project that has already guzzled several thousand crores of our money? Or should we not be concerned about the SC ruling? After all, the government has muscled its way through in the Aadhaar issue, ignoring the voices of reason. Even failing to get parliamentary approval, which would have made it legal, has not deterred it. Would this desperate government, getting increasingly frantic as the polls approach, pay attention to the Court ruling? I certainly hope it does because the UID project is unique among government projects in its bullying, lawless dash for power. First, it dangerously blurs the boundary between government operations and private enterprise in the area of data collection. The government collects personal data from its citizens and hands it over to the Unique Identity Authority of India (UIDAI). Even the National Population Register data, compulsory for all citizens, is automatically shared with the UID. And then, incredibly, this data becomes the property of the UIDAI — to sell or share as it chooses.

So is the UIDAI a government entity? There was no democratic process or law behind it. When years after arbitrarily starting the UID process, the government finally drafted a Bill to convert the UIDAI into a statutory authority, it was rejected by Parliament. Yet Aadhaar flourishes.

Once it has all the data in place, the UIDAI will simply become a profit seeking business enterprise. Unlike a government body, it would not be accountable to the people. It would offer identity authentication as a paid service to both private and government agencies. And every time someone wants a gas connection, a bank account, a PAN card, a passport, a credit card or whatever, the UIDAI would make money, unless the SC ruling is acted upon.

Besides the peculiar logic by which the government gives birth to and incubates a commercial company and then pays good money to use its services, there is a more fundamental problem with this UID model. It is about privacy. Sharing data with the government may still be okay (though I have serious doubts), since there is trust involved and the government is supposed to protect the information on its citizens and not use it to its own benefit. Giving out the information to commercial companies is a breach of trust. It violates the citizen’s right to privacy as guaranteed by the Constitution.

This can be very dangerous, particularly since India does not have specific laws to protect either data or our privacy. Data mining is the new power tool, and all this information — say on caste or religious identities — could be misused politically. And when a private enterprise owns such massive data, there is no state accountability, and information on Indian citizens may be used by any paying customer for their own purposes.

Aadhaar is a unique, gargantuan mess. Its advertised aim of stopping corruption and terrorism may have been respectable, but its methods and chances of success are not. Hopefully, the SC ruling will make the government take a long, hard look at this hugely extravagant project, its relevance and uses, if any.

Aadhaar cards not mandatory for services: Supreme Court of India.

BS Post : 80, Date : 23.09.2013, Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

The Supreme Court today ruled that the Aadhaar is not mandatory to get government benefits and services such as gas connections, vehicle registration, scholarships, marriage registration, salaries, provident fund, etc.

The interim order was passed in a public interest petition moved by a retired judge of the Karnataka high court who alleged that the Unique Identity (UID) or Aadhaar scheme does not have parliamentary sanction and it was rolled out only by the executive without discussion in Parliament.

This could deal a blow to the ambitious direct benefits transfer (DBT) scheme, under which the government is building a system of transferring welfare payments directly into the Aadhaar linked bank accounts of beneficiaries.

It also comes just days after news reports that UID authority Chairman Nandan Nilekani is likely to contest elections from South Karnataka on a Congress ticket. Neither Nilekani nor UIDAI director general Vijay S. Madan were available for a comment immediately.

A bench headed by Justice B S Chauhan, in today’s order in the petition moved last year by retired Justice K S Puttaswamy, stated that the scheme has several shortcomings and should be discontinued. The scheme should not be made compulsory to avail of essential services. Moreover, the number should not be issued to illegal immigrants like those from Bangladesh.

Nikhil Dey, social activist and co-convener of the National Campaign for People's Right to Information said that the order was "much needed." Dey said that the scheme is completely voluntary but there is nothing voluntary about it government is forcing people to enroll for it if they want to avail various services such as cooking gas subsidy etc.

"DBT project should have only been rolled out after the UID legislation was passed in the Parliament." Dey added that Aadhaar was only good as it gave an identity to people who had no way to prove their citizenship, but the Supreme Court has also said that Aadhaar can't be given to illegal migrants putting a question mark on what will happen to all the people who have already got the number without any identity or address proof.

UIDAI has issued numbers to 429.6 million residents so far. The Prime Minister had introduced the National Identity Authority of India Bill in 2010 but it was rejected by the Parliamentary Standing Committee in 2011. Since then, the government was pushing the scheme through executive action.

A government official, however, said in support of UID said that the whole purpose of Aadhaar is to eliminate duplicates and fakes and it is the only way to check them. "If this country wants leakages, then let there be leakages.

The official who didn't wish to be identified added that it is for the police and not for Aadhaar to check illegal migrants

"Aadhaar is at least trying to put them on the radar, thereafter you can throw them out as Aadhaar doesn't give them identity or legitimacy." The root of the problem is not being addressed, which is how to check illegal migrants, the official added.

The petitioner, on the other hand, argued that apart from the unconstitutionality of the executive acting on its own without legislative sanction, the scheme also impinged on the right to privacy of individuals, as the confidentiality and security of biometric information collected by private agencies were not ensured.

Even non citizens were likely to get benefits like cash transfers and illegal migrants were likely to get legitimised. This would jeopardise national security, it was argued.

The fact whether Aadhaar is mandatory or voluntary has been a point of debate for sometime. While the scheme in itself is voluntary in nature, the linkages with user agencies is making it mandatory in other ways.

The Maharashtra government had insisted recently that marriages could not be registered without the number. The registrar of the Bombay high court is also reported to have insisted for the number for disbursement of salary to the staff.

Similarly, under the DBT scheme, various pensions and scholarship payments are linked to the Aadhaar number. The government has also extended cooking gas subsidy under the scheme to 235 more districts from January 2014 from 20 districts earlier.

According to a statement by DBT Mission Director S Sundareshan earlier this month, the government has credited Rs 480 crore in about nine million transactions so far since the roll-out of the project in January 2013.

New Delhi  September 23, 2013

Theft at Worli passport office, monitors stolen.

BS Post : 79, Date : 13.09.2013, Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

MUMBAI: Three computer monitors were stolen from the passport head office in Worli during the Ganesh Chaturthi holiday from September 8 to 10. While the police said sensitive data was missing from the Passport office, a senior passport official denied it.

"Only the monitors were stolen. of which two were old and two new. Not even the CPUs were taken. No sensitive data is stored here. It is all on a central server, which is also not here," he said. The passport
official said an air conditioner in the waiting hall was being repaired and the hall leads to the regional passport officer's cabin. "The AC had been removed and the opening was closed with a board. The thieves broke it to gain access. We have given the CCTV cameras installed and we have handed over the image to the police.'' He added the cabin had not been broken into.

A source said, "The theft apparently took place on Tuesday. A recce was done two days earlier, shows CCTV footage." Additional commissioner Praveen Salunkhe said an FIR a first information report has been registered.

TNN | Sep 13, 2013

High-tech system to stop illegal pilgrims

BS Post : 78, Date : 09.09.2013, Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

Saudi Arabia is determined to make this year’s pilgrimage free of illegal Hajis as senior security officials vowed that they would apply advanced technology to stop individuals trying to sneak into the holy sites without permits.

“We will apply advanced technologies for the first time this year to detect fake Haj permits,” said Maj. Gen. Ayed Al-Harbi, commander of the Passport Department’s Haj force and its assistant director general.

He said the new technologies would help security officers at checkpoints carry out their mission efficiently. “They will also be provided with devices to check fingerprints of illegal pilgrims trying to enter the holy sites,” he said. “Data of violators will be uploaded onto the electronic system to deport them.”

Al-Harbi’s statement follows a stern warning issued by Makkah Gov. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal that expats violating Haj rules would be deported immediately and banned for 10 years. The governor also warned Saudi drivers carrying illegal pilgrims, saying they would face maximum punishment. Fake Haj service operators will be arrested and face punitive action.

Al-Harbi said adequate number of officers would be deployed at eight Makkah entrances: Shumaysi Saree, Shumaysi Qadeem, Bahitah, Taneem, Kaakiyah, Al-Karr, Husseiniyah and Akishiyah. Helicopters will be used to monitor illegals using desert paths.

“We’ll also deploy female officers at all entry points to check women pilgrims,” said Maj. Gen. Al-Harbi. “We’ll not allow anybody to cross checkpoints without being checked for IDs and Haj permits,” he said, adding that violators would be denied services such as iqama renewal and transfer of sponsorships.

Hundreds of foreign pilgrims have already arrived for Haj which begins on Oct. 13. This year the number of pilgrims will be less than last year’s as the government has slapped a 20 percent cut on foreign pilgrims and 50 percent cut on domestic pilgrims because of ongoing expansion work at the Grand Mosque in Makkah.

Investors in the housing sector said they would suffer a loss of SR2 billion as they had signed contracts with hotels for accommodation of pilgrims before the decision to slash the number of pilgrims.

“We have to pay the amount to hotel owners in accordance with the contracts or face imprisonment,” one investor said. Sharief Mansour, head of the real estate committee at Makkah Chamber, urged the government to intervene to offset the losses of investors.

JEDDAH: P.K. ABDUL GHAFOUR

Published — Tuesday 10 September 2013

SC to examine validity of Aadhaar card.

BS Post : 77, Date : 01.09.2013, Place : Mumbai, By : Mohammed Chand Shaikh.

The Supreme Court on Monday decided to examine the usefulness and validity of the Aadhaar card, while several state governments have decided to make it compulsory for availing various public services like marriage registration and direct benefit transfer scheme.

A bench of Justices B S Chauhan and S A Bobde sought response from different parties on the petition challenging the scheme being implemented by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI).

The PIL filed by Justice K S Puttaswamy, a retired judge of the Karnataka High Court, sought an immediate stay on the implementation of the scheme.

The PIL held that the scheme was in complete violation of the fundamental rights under Articles 14 (right to equality) and 21 (right to life and liberty). The government claimed that the scheme is voluntary. But Aadhaar is being made mandatory for purposes like registration of marriages and others. 

The Maharashtra government recently said no marriage will be registered if parties do not possess Aadhaar cards, senior advocate Anil Divan, representing the petitioner, said.

In its reply to the PIL, the Centre claimed that consent of an individual was indispensable for Aadhaar cards, so it was a voluntary project in order to promote inclusion and benefits to the marginalised sections of society having no formal proof of identity.

Maintaining that it was issued only to resident Indians, the response confirmed that Aadhaar did not confer any right of or proof of citizenship or domicile.

The UIDAI was set up under the executive powers under the Constitution and hence not having a law at the moment was not a legal impediment, it claimed.

The court, meanwhile, allowed a plea made by Additional Solicitor General L N Rao seeking transfer of two similar matters from the Bombay and Madras High Courts and decided to hear them along with the PIL.

New Delhi: September 2, 2013 DHNS