The Supreme Court refusal to allow the Centre to bulldoze the dubious Aadhaar project by luring weaker sections of society into “voluntary” use of Aadhaar to avail of welfare schemes is welcome. The Unique Identity programme has been ridden with secrecy and deceit since its inception, and must be decimated before intimate details of citizens are put online for government or hackers or criminals to abuse in the “Big Brother” scenario so presciently anticipated by India-born George Orwell.
More dangerously, the proposal to put the database on “cloud” will officially place it outside and beyond India’s jurisdiction. Prime Minister Narendra Modi must explain the compulsion to do so.
The genesis of the scheme has been deliberately kept hazy. Beginning with vague talk about a National Population Register to distinguish bona fide citizens from illegal immigrants in the Vajpayee era, the scheme quickly metamorphosed into the Congress-led UPA’s Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and was forced upon the citizenry even though the legislation to legalise it was never cleared by the Parliamentary Standing Committee.
A whopping Rs 6,678 crore has been spent in implementing the scheme up to August 2015. A further Rs 13,663 crore will be bestowed, without tendering, on select private (some foreign) companies. Foreign vendors with links to foreign intelligence agencies are in the picture, without contract (or knowledge of Parliament), and there are accountability issues with people running the scheme though they hold intimate details of adult Indians, including biometrics (fingerprints, iris scans) and all identity documents (driving license, passport, voter card, PAN).
Greater transparency is needed on whether high net worth individuals are enrolling or not. Nations with similar plans (Britain, United States, China, France, Australia, The Philippines) quickly abandoned them on realising that the potential for abuse was greater than any possible good. Obviously, one such failed programme was gifted to the UPA. But now the BJP, which protested on the issue when in opposition, needs to explain its change in position.
Recently it came to light that Tarikul Islam, the Bangladeshi terrorist charge-sheeted for his role in the Burdwan blast of October 2, 2014, in which two persons died, successfully acquired Aadhaar and Voter Cards. Despite several such glaring instances being exposed since Aadhaar was launched, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, at the Centre’s behest, told the Supreme Court that stopping the mandatory use of Aadhaar made it “easy” for terrorists to get mobile connections!
Critics of Aadhaar repeatedly point out that the UIDAI has no credible system of enrolment. Acceptance of Election or PAN Cards as proof of identity makes it redundant for bona fide citizens. Imposters flourish because of inexplicable determination to enrol as many persons as possible to justify the scheme. The system of online applications is even more prone to misuse.
The argument of giving direct benefits into the bank accounts of weaker sections of society is an afterthought. These can be routed through Voter I-Card or PAN numbers and claimants authenticated by reference to Census registers.
The middle class was lured to give biometric data in the name of National Population Register, but later received Aadhaar cards; the purpose seems to be to monitor their financial assets. Hence the demand by nationalised banks for Aadhaar numbers of old customers, despite the Supreme Court declaring that this could not be made mandatory.
The Delhi Government under Sheila Dikshit made Aadhaar cards compulsory for registering marriage and property, even rent leases, which is a big giveaway. Mercifully, the Election Commission accepted the apex court’s directive not to link Aadhaar with voters’ electoral data to check for multiple entries in electoral rolls.
It is pertinent that at the time the Aadhaar enrolments took place, the middle class did not receive subsidy in bank accounts. The small LPG subsidy, initially included in the price of the cylinder, was transferred to bank accounts only to justify Aadhaar.
The farce is evident with government appealing to citizens to renounce subsidy as a prelude to withdrawing it altogether. Since this is the only subsidy given to a small section of the middle class, the expense and purpose of Aadhaar needs careful scrutiny.
The Supreme Court decision has not come a day too late. The apex court must now order immediate destruction of biometric data of citizens who do not take subsidy, as a prelude to destroying all biometric data, as it is totally irrelevant to disbursal of subsidies.
Observers note that the February 2014 report on Cyber Crime, Cyber Security and Right to Privacy by the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology asserts that an Aadhaar number compromises national security and citizens’ sovereignty for good. Wikileaks and Edward Snowden have revealed that American agencies and their allies are keenly monitoring the implementation of Aadhaar. This does not come as a surprise and endorses the opinion that it is their surrogate child.
http://www.abplive.in/author/sandhyajain/2015/10/08/article734824.ece/Supreme-Court-echoes-fears-over-Aadhaar