Tuesday, February 18, 2014

Chidambaram defended CIA NATO surveillance UID using Interim budget which is contempt of court misusing immunity in the Parliament and misled the house as well as the Nation. Aadhaar is an assault on democratic rights

Chidambaram defended CIA NATO surveillance UID using Interim budget which is contempt of court misusing immunity in the Parliament and misled the house as well as the Nation.

Aadhaar is an assault on democratic rights

Palash Biswas

Attempts are underway to make this 'online" demographic and biometric database cloud irreversible and ubiquitous so that it can be the cow, which can be milked until the sun sets on national and transnational patrons of Congressmen, their acolytes and outsourcing companies. Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) has been campaigning against surveillance technologies since 2010 and has petitioned and given testimonies and written submission to parliamentary committees and National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) in this regard.

We should stand with Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) .

Chidambaram defended CIA NATO surveillance UID using Interim budget which is contempt of court misusing immunity in the Parliament and misled the house as well as the Nation.

यहीं नहीं,अपने अंतरिम बजट में वित्तमंत्री चिदंबरम ने जिस अंसवैधानिक गैरकानूनी राष्ट्रविरोधी नागरिकों की खुफिया निगरानी की कारपोरेट योजना से इंफोसिस नंदन निलेकणि के जरिये इंफोसिस को लगातार मार्केट लीडर बनाने का ही काम हुआ, उसके बचाव में बाकायदा सुप्रीम कोर्ट की अवमानना संसदीय विशेषाधिकार की आड़ में पेशेवर वकील चिदंबरम ने कर दी।अपनी इस वकालत में नकद सब्सिडी और जरुरी सेवाओं से आधार को लिंक करने पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट की निषेधाज्ञा के बावजूद उन्होंने गरीबों के हितों का हवाला देकर डिजिटल बायोमेट्रिक रोबोटिक खुफिया निगरानी को जयाज बताने का काम करके सुप्रीम कोर्ट की अवमानना करते हुए संसद और देश को गुमराह किया।

केंद्रीय वित्त मंत्री पी चिदंबरम ने सोमवार को कहा कि आधार योजना के तहत 57 करोड़ नंबर जारी किए गए हैं और सरकार इसके कार्यान्वयन के लिए प्रतिबद्ध है।

वित्तमंत्री पी. चिदंबरम ने सोमवार को कहा कि यूनीक पहचान नंबर 'आधार' सशक्तीकरण का हथियार है।इसके विपरीत,हर नागरिक पहचान देने वाला आधार कार्ड बनवाना अब अनिवार्य नहीं है। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने अपने एक फैसले में कहा है कि आवश्यक सेवाओं जैसे एलपीजी कनेक्शन, टेलिफोन वगैरह के लिए आधार कार्ड अनिवार्य नहीं है। साथ ही यह भी कहा कि आधार कार्ड बनाने का फैसला लोगों की इच्छा पर है।

सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने यह निर्देश एक जनहित याचिका की सुनवाई के दौरान दिया। पहले कई चीजों के लिए आधार कार्ड का होना जरूरी था, जिससे जिनके पास आधार कार्ड नहीं था उन्हें परेशानी हो रही थी। हालांकि, सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने केंद्र और राज्य सरकारों को यह भी निर्देश दिया है कि इस बात का ध्यान रखा जाए कि किसी भी अवैध नागरिक का आधार कार्ड न बने।

दरअसल पहले खबरें थीं कि रसोई गैस पर दी जाने वाली सब्सिडी आधार कार्ड से जुड़े आपके बैंक अकाउंट में आएगी। सब्सिडी की राशि तभी अकाउंट में आएगी, जब आपने आधार कार्ड बनवाकर अपने बैंक अकाउंट से उसे लिंक कराया होगा। यह भी बात सामने आ रही थी कि आधार कार्ड न होने पर मार्केट रेट पर एलपीजी सिलेंडर खरीदना पड़ेगा।

हालांकि, इसके पहले केंद्र सरकार ने भी साफ तौर पर कहा था कि सरकारी सब्सिडी का फायदा लेने के लिए आधार कार्ड को अनिवार्य नहीं बनाया गया है। चाहे मामला एलपीजी का हो या कुछ और।

लोकसभा में अंतरिम बजट प्रस्तुत करते हुए उन्होंने कहा कि मैं आपको बताना चाहूंगा कि सरकार आधार, जिसके तहत अभी तक 57 करोड़ विशिष्ट संख्या आवंटित की गई है, और वित्तीय समावेशीकरण हेतु सभी आधार कार्डधारकों के लिए बैंक खाता खोलने के लिए पूरी तरह प्रतिबद्ध है।

चिदंबरम ने कहा कि मुझे इसमें कोई संदेह नहीं कि समय के साथ आधार के आलोचक मानने लगेंगे कि आधार सशक्तीकरण का एक औजार है। उन्होंने कहा कि नकद सब्सिडी भुगतान योजना के तहत लाभार्थियों को 27 योजनाओं के अंतर्गत पैसे हस्तांतरित किए जाते हैं। साथ ही उन्होंने यह भी बताया कि 2.1 करोड़ रसोई गैस सिलेंडर लाभार्थियों को 3,370 करोड़ रुपये हस्तांतरित किए गए हैं।

सरकार की महत्वाकांक्षी आधार कार्ड योजना की कानूनी वैधानिकता पर सुप्रीम कोर्ट में सुनवाई शुरू हो गई है। परियोजना को चुनौती देने वालों ने इसे न सिर्फ निजता के अधिकार का हनन बताया बल्कि निजी कंपनियों द्वारा बायोमेट्रिक ब्योरा एकत्र किए जाने को देश की सुरंक्षा के लिए खतरा भी करार दे दिया।

मुंबई हाई कोर्ट के सेवानिवृत न्यायाधीश पुत्तास्वामी ने सुप्रीम कोर्ट में याचिका दाखिल कर आधार कार्ड की अनिवार्यता पर सवाल उठाया है। जस्टिस पुत्तास्वामी ने पेंशन को आधार कार्ड से जोड़े जाने का विरोध किया है। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने गत नवंबर में इस याचिका पर अंतरिम आदेश पारित करते हुए आधार की अनिवार्यता पर रोक लगा दी थी। मंगलवार से याचिका पर नियमित सुनवाई शुरू हुई।

पुत्तास्वामी के वकील श्याम दीवान ने दलील दी कि सरकार ने बिना कानून योजना लागू कर दी है। सिर्फ प्रशासनिक आदेश से न सिर्फ योजना लागू की गई बल्कि आधार कार्ड को विभिन्न योजनाओं से जोड़कर अनिवार्य भी कर दिया गया है। योजना पर सवाल उठाते हुए दीवान ने कहा कि निजी कंपनियों और संस्थाओं को बायोमेट्रिक डाटा एकत्र करने का अधिकार दिया गया है और इस पर सरकार का कोई नियंत्रण नहीं है। निजी हाथों में बायोमेट्रिक डाटा होने से उसका दुरुपयोग हो सकता है। ये देश की सुरक्षा के लिए भी खतरा है। ये निजता के अधिकार का भी उल्लंघन है क्योंकि इससे व्यक्ति की हर समय निगरानी हो सकती है। इस पर न्यायमूर्ति बीएस चौहान की अध्यक्षता वाली तीन सदस्यीय पीठ ने सवाल किया कि अगर कोई व्यक्ति इच्छा से बायोमेट्रिक ब्योरा देकर पहचान पत्र लेना चाहता है तो क्या कोर्ट उसे रोक सकता है? दीवान का जवाब था कि ऐसे में योजना ऐच्छिक होनी चाहिए अनिवार्य नहीं। पीठ का दूसरा सवाल था कि पूर्वोत्तर राज्यों के बारे में सरकार ने एक हलफनामे में बड़ी संख्या में अवैध रूप से रह रहे लोगों की बात कही है। क्या अवैध रूप से रह रहे लोगों की पहचान नहीं होनी चाहिए। आधार योजना के पीछे ये भी कारण हो सकता है। दीवान ने कहा कि उनकी भी चिंता यही है क्योंकि आधार कार्ड सिर्फ नागरिकों ही नहीं बल्कि घुसपैठियों को भी दिए जा रहे हैं। योजना में इसकी रोकथाम के उपाय नहीं किए गए हैं। कुछ राज्यों ने शादी में तो कुछ ने वेतन और अन्य योजनाओं में आधार कार्ड को अनिवार्य कर दिया है।

चिदम्बर जी बजट मे किसानो के लिए क्या है ?

देश का अन्नदाता किसान कांग्रेस पार्टी के अजेंडे मे क्यों नहीं है ? और जाहिर है बीजेपी इस बार कभी कुछ नहीं बोलेगी !

अब जरा इधर भी नजर डाल लीजिये हुजूर !

भारत सरकार के आँकड़ों के अनुसार देश का कुल कृषि क्षेत्रफल लगभग 125 मिलियन हैक्टेयर है. भारत की कुल आबादी 1 अरब 21 करोड़ है. देश की आबादी का लगभग 60 प्रतिशत हिस्सा कृषि पर निर्भर है. इस प्रकार लगभग 72 करोड़ लोग कृषि पर निर्मल हैं. अगर सिर्फ 72 करोड़ लोगों में कृषि योग्य भूमि का वितरण किया जाए तो भी प्रतिव्यक्ति कृषि योग्य भूमि आएगी मात्र 0.17 हैक्टेयर. पाँच लोगों के एक औसत परिवार में कुल कृषि योग्य भूमि होगी 0.17x5=0.85 हैक्टेयर.

अब आप बताइए कि एक हैक्टेयर से भी कम भूमि के एक औसत भारतीय किसान परिवार की आर्थिक और शैक्षिक स्थिति क्या है? क्या वह बहुत सुखी और समृद्ध है?

सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने उन 11 राज्यों को नोटिस जारी कर जवाब दाखिल करने को कहा है जिन्होंने आधार कार्ड (यूआईडी) को तमाम सरकारी सुविधाओं का लाभ लेने के लिए जरूरी बनाया हुआ है। इसके तहत सैलरी देने से लेकर स्कूल-कॉलेज में ऐडमिशन, मैरेज रजिस्ट्रेशन और एलपीजी कनेक्शन वगैरह लेने के लिए आधार कार्ड को अनिवार्य किया गया है।

सुप्रीम कोर्ट के जस्टिस बी. एस. चौहान की अगुआई वाली बेंच ने राज्यों से जानना चाहा है कि वे बताएं कि आधार कार्ड स्कीम का नेचर क्या है और क्या उक्त सुविधाओं से आधार को लिंक किया गया है। मामले की अगली सुनवाई के लिए अदालत ने 10 दिसंबर की तारीख तय की है। महाराष्ट्र, दिल्ली, कर्नाटक आदि राज्यों में कई सरकारी सुविधाओं के लिए आधार को अनिवार्य बनाया गया है।

आधार कार्ड की संवैधानिक वैधता को चुनौती देते हुए याचिकाकर्ता के वकील अनिल दीवान ने दलील दी कि सरकार की ओर से तमाम प्राइवेट डेटा लिया जाना आम आदमी के राइट टु प्राइवेसी में दखल है। आधार स्कीम पूरी तरह से मूल अधिकार में दखल है। यह संविधान के अनुच्छेद-14 (राइट टु इक्वैलिटी) और अनुच्छेद-21 (राइट टू लाइफ ऐंड लिबर्टी) में दखल है। सरकार कहती है कि यह आधार स्कीम स्वैच्छिक है लेकिन ऐसा नहीं हो रहा। आधार तमाम तरह की सुविधाओं के लिए अनिवार्य किया जा रहा है। शादी के रजिस्ट्रेशन से लेकर अन्य तरह की सुविधाओं के लिए आधार को अनिवार्य किया गया है। महाराष्ट्र सरकार ने हाल ही में कहा था कि अगर संबंधित पार्टी के पास आधार कार्ड नहीं होगा तो शादी रजिस्टर्ड नहीं होगी।

मामले की सुनवाई के दौरान सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने याचिकाकर्ता के वकील से कहा कि मामले में दलील के वक्त इस बात का ध्यान रखना होगा कि वास्तविकता क्या है। इस देश का कठोर सच यह है कि ज्यादातर लोगों के लिए खाना और पानी राइट टु प्राइवेसी से ज्यादा महत्वपूर्ण है। क्या वो लोग जो एक रुपये और दो रुपये प्रति किलो चावल के लिए फाइट करते हैं वे प्राइवेसी की बात करेंगे? जहां तक बच्चों की सहमति न लिए जाने का सवाल है तो यहां पैरेंट्स की मर्जी से बच्चों की शादी कराई जाती है। यह तमाम धाराओं को प्रभावित नहीं करेगा?

सुप्रीम कोर्ट की यह टिप्पणी तब आई जब दीवान ने यह दलील दी कि लोगों का व्यक्तिगत डेटा प्राइवेट सेक्टर के पास जा रहा है। लोगों की प्राइवेसी प्रभावित हो रही है। जो डेटा कलेक्ट किया जा रहा है उस पर कोई निगरानी नहीं है। इससे पहले सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने अपने उस आदेश में बदलाव से इनकार कर दिया था जिसमें सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने कहा था कि आधार कार्ड सरकारी स्कीम के लिए अनिवार्य नहीं किया जा सकता। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने 23 सितंबर को अपने आदेश में कहा था कि आधार कार्ड सरकारी स्कीम के लिए अनिवार्य नहीं किया जा सकता। सुप्रीम कोर्ट में एक रिटायर जस्टिस ने पीआईएल दाखिल कर कहा है कि आधार कार्ड की वैलिडिटी को चुनौती दी गई है।

मद्रास उच्च न्यायालय ने तेल विपणन कंपनियों को निर्देश दिया कि वे सब्सिडी का प्रत्यक्ष लाभ उठाने के इच्छुक ग्राहकों को आधार कार्ड जमा करने के लिए बाध्य न करें।

मदुरै पीठ के न्यायमूर्ति आर. सुधाकर और न्यायमूर्ति वी.एम. वेलुमणि की खंडपीठ ने कहा कि सुप्रीम कोर्ट पहले ही इस मामले पर सुनवाई कर रहा है और सुप्रीम कोर्ट का फैसला आने तक एलपीजी एजेंटों या तेल कंपनियों को आधार कार्ड या संख्या आदि प्रस्तुत करने पर जोर नहीं देना चाहिए।

याचिकाकर्ता एस.एम. अनंतमुरगन ने अपनी जनहित याचिका में कहा कि गैस एजेंसियां ग्राहकों से आधार कार्ड प्रस्तुत करने पर जोर दे रही हैं जो सुप्रीम कोर्ट के निर्देश के खिलाफ है। सुप्रीम कोर्ट ने सितंबर में कहा था कि सरकारी सब्सिडी लेने के लिए आधार अनिवार्य नहीं है।

Finance Minister P Chidambaram today said the unique identification number Aadhaar issued to residents is a tool of empowerment, especially for migrant workers, the homeless and the oppressed."I have no doubt that in course of time, even critics of Aadhaar will realise that Aadhaar is a tool of empowerment," Chidambaram said in his budgetary speech here. "Who needs Aadhaar? It is those who are at the bottom of the pyramid, the poor, the migrant workers, the homeless, and the oppressed who need Aadhaar, and we will ensure that they get Aadhaar," he said.Last year, the government faced flak after making Aadhaar mandatory for its ambitious programme of transferring cooking gas subsidy directly to beneficiaries in certain districts.The apex court observed that the government could not deny benefits to those who did not have not Aadhaar numbers. Later, the scheme was put on hold. A sum of Rs 3,370 crore has been transferred to 2.1 crore LPG (cooking gas) beneficiaries. The scheme has been put on hold for the time being pending resolution of some difficulties that have been pointed out, Chidambaram said. Also Read: Excise duty cut good; see reduction in SUV prices: M&MAccording to the minister, money is transferred to beneficiaries under 27 schemes, including the National Social Assistance Programme. A total of 54,20,114 transactions have been put through until January 31, and Rs 628 crore has been transferred."The government is fully committed to Aadhaar, under which 57 crore unique numbers have been issued so far and to opening bank accounts for all Aadhaar holders in order to promote financial inclusion," he said. At present, the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is responsible for issuing Aadhaar numbers to residents, is enrolling people in 22 states and Union Territories.Earlier this month, the Union Cabinet allowed UIDAI to start enrolments in four more states -- Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand.

Finance Minister P Chidambaram reiterated that the payment of LPG subsidies through the UPA's direct benefit transfer (DBT) scheme has been put on hold for the time being while adding that the government remains fully committed to Aadhaar and will continue to use it to promote financial inclusion.

The government has suspended the cash transfer of cooking gas subsidy directly to the account of beneficiaries. DBT, envisaged as a game changer, is aimed at plugging leakages and elimina ..

Divided right and left, united in objective to scuttle Aadhaar - Indian Express

CLICK ON TITLE TO SEE ORIGINAL ARTICLE - Posted by Ram Krishnaswamy

Divided right and left, united in objective to scuttle Aadhaar

Written by Ravish Tiwari | New Delhi | January 28, 2014 2:08 am

SUMMARY

Six groups have filed cases in the Supreme Court against UIDAI, the unique identification authority.

In contrast, the other four petitions don't raise Aadhaar's prospective coverage of non-citizens.

Right-wing and left, opponents to the Aadhaar project appear bunched together in two distinct formations as they separately seek to scuttle a project that aims at providing every citizen a unique identity number for targeted benefits from the government.

Six groups have filed cases in the Supreme Court against UIDAI, the unique identification authority. These have been filed during the last one year; the UPA-II government had set up UIDAI in 2009 and issued the first Aadhaar numbers in September 2010.

Several of the arguments overlap but what sets two petitions apart from the remaining four is that the former's objections are based on right-wing principles and the latter's on left-wing ones.

A petition by Justice (retired) Puttaswamy and Parvesh Khanna, and another by Maj. Gen. (retired) S G Vombatkere and Bezwada Wilson, both raise an objection identical to what the the BJP has been raising — that the project has no preventive to block illegal immigrants or non-citizens from getting an Aadhaar number.

In fact, BJP Rajya Sabha MP M Rama Jois, also a former chief justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court, is backing the petition by Justice Puttuswamy.

"Yes," Rama Jois replied to a question by The Indian Express about his support. "Puttuswamy was a colleague of mine. I had raised my objections in Parliament as well. I had written to the Prime Minister. I am opposed to the Aadhaar project going ahead without legislative sanction. The government cannot go ahead with an executive order alone."

In contrast, the other four petitions don't raise Aadhaar's prospective coverage of non-citizens. The four petitions, including one by Aruna Roy and Nikhil Dey, have raised instead the left-liberal concerns of privacy, infringement of personal liberties and Aadhaar's being mandatory for welfare schemes. Usha Ramanathan, a campaigner against Aadhaar on left-liberal arguments, is learnt to be actively supporting some of these petitioners.

"As for which side I stand on. I have been researching the UID project almost since its inception, and I find that the handing over of data to all kinds of companies, the corporatisation of an exercise in generating identity; the fact that this is not about identity but about identification; and that these are about how citizens get converted into subjects — and more such questions are what bother me," she told The Indian Express in an emailed reply. "If we are going to be looking for the illegal immigrant through this project, we will miss what actually is the problem."

Ramanathan is learnt to have roped retired Delhi chief justice A P Shah into this cause in the past. Justice (retired) Shah refused to speak on this issue, citing his current job as the chairman of the Law Commission. Shah has, however, spoken publicly against the Aadhaar project in the past. In fact, along with several left-leaning activists, he was a signatory to one of the petitions to the government opposing the project.

The political orientation of the challengers has not been lost on UIDAI. "This appears to be an unholy nexus between the left and the right to kill the project through legal means," agreed a UIDAI functionary.

Another functionary, however, said that politically there did not appear many objections either from the left or from the right to the implementation of the project. The functionary stressed that the BJP governments in Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa have been cooperative in the implementation of the project, and that the Left Front government in Tripura has not placed no obstacles either.

Yet the concerns persist. "Though these cases from the left-leaning and right-leaning individuals have not affected UIDAI's enrolment, which stands about 51 crore, there is a fear of the judicial sword killing the entire initiative in one go the way 122 telecom licenses were scrapped with a single stroke of the Supreme Court's pen," said a UIDAI functionary.

"These small groups of activists can bring this entire project to a halt after welfare programmes have leveraged this project for better service delivery," said another. The functionary pointed out how direct cash subsidy for 12.2 million gas cylinders is now directly credited to the bank accounts of beneficiaries thanks to Aadhaar.

What's the 'Aadhaar' of the UID Scheme?

Gopal Krishna

The national identity card scheme represents the worst of government. It is intrusive and bullying. It is ineffective and expensive. It is an assault on individual liberty that does not promise a great good…" – Theresa May (British Home Secretary) announcing the complete dismantling of the UID project in the UK in June 2010.

The UPA's National Identification Authority of India Bill has been approved by the Union Cabinet, and subsequently the UPA has already launched its much-touted and ambitious Unique Identification (UID) project, called Aadhaar, in some parts of the country. It is to be noted that this massive project, which has tremendous repercussions for democracy in India, is being introduced without even a formal clearance by the Indian parliament, let alone a broad-based, country-wide discussion on its implications. It is also ironical that the UPA is promoting the UID project in India at a time when several countries in the world (including the USA, the UK, Australia, China, Canada and Germany) have scrapped similar projects. As the powers-that-be try to convince us of the 'advantages' of the UID project, let us consider the claims.

'Better Delivery of Social Sector Schemes'?

According to the UPA Government, the UID will enable 'inclusive growth' and help the poor to better access social services by providing each citizen with a verifiable identity. The UID, we're told, will 'facilitate delivery of basic services', and 'plug leakages' in public expenditure.

This claim is highly exaggerated: after all, exclusion from social sector schemes are rarely caused by the inability to prove identity – they are, in the main, caused by the deliberate exclusion of the poor from these services and by deliberate corruption by those entrusted to run these schemes. When BPL families are unable to make use of their valid ration cards, when workers are not paid the legally mandated minimum wages, or when women workers in NREGA schemes are denied work or paid less than their due, the reason is not their lack of ability to prove their identity.

In fact, the introduction of UID is likely to go hand in hand with dismantling of the entire PDS mechanism (whereby the Government is responsible for delivery of guaranteed entitlements of food and fuel) in favour of 'smart cards' and 'cash transfers', under which the poor are likely to face even greater deprivation and exclusion.

Foolproof Identification?

The UID scheme is being peddled as a system of foolproof biometric identification (i.e identification through fingerprints and iris scans as well as photographs.)

But this technology is neither highly accurate nor suitable for large scale use on a population of India's size. Research commissioned by the CIA and US Security establishment in September 2010 had concluded that the current state of biometrics is "inherently fallible" and liable to develop major problems if used on a large scale. The poorest Indians, most of them engaged in hard manual labour have what is in technical terms called "low quality" fingerprints rather than well-defined ones. This same section of people are also highly prone to malnutrition-induced cataract, and corneal injury too is very common, making iris scans quite unreliable as a form of identification. In case their 'fingerprint' or 'iris scan' fails to match at a later date, how will they prove their identity? Is this unreliable form of identification not, therefore, likely to create uncertainty and exclusion for the very section in whose name it is being introduced?

What are CIA-backed US Corporations doing on the UID Project?

Is the UID project a government project? If so, why has it entered into contracts with a range of private players and corporations, including those with close links with US intelligence agencies?

Take the instance of two US companies which have been hired for "Implementation of Biometric Solution for UIDAI." One of them is L1 Identity Solutions (whose main market, and recruitment ground, is the Central Intelligence Agency). Their website reads: "American and foreign military services, defense and intelligence agencies rely on L-1 solutions and services to help determine ally from enemy". Another US company is Accenture (which is working with US Homeland Security in their Smart Borders Project). This company is "committed to helping the (US) Department of Homeland Security" and its "solutions include developing prevention tactics, streamlining intelligence gathering and maximizing new technologies."

Why are companies closely linked to the CIA and US intelligence being given access to sensitive databases about Indian citizens? Is it for their expertise? The National Corruption Index, a website dedicated to exposing corruption in the US, has profiles on both Accenture and L-1, linking them to corruption. It states that Accenture was given a contract for a hi-tech screening system around US borders using fingerprint readers, optical scans and facial recognition software, but from the inception, the project was "plagued with breakdowns, mistakes and security breaches" and "has repeatedly failed to work."

The same website tells us that the L-1 CEO is "one of the main privatized gatekeepers of America's borders." The company has a former CIA director on its board, and specialises in identification technology. But in October 2007 a fraud unit found that its scanners "routinely declared counterfeit IDs to be valid." Can these US companies with their track record of failed projects, be trusted to keep India safe? Obviously not. But they are being entrusted with sensitive personal data about every Indian citizen! What guarantee is there that this information will not be leaked to the global market or expose Indian citizens to intrusive surveillance not only by the Indian State but even by organisations like the CIA?

'Voluntary Participation'?

The UPA Government has stressed that the UID would be a voluntary scheme. Nandan Nilekani, the former Infosys CEO heading the Aadhaar Project however spilled the beans when he said, "Yes, it is voluntary. But the service providers might make it mandatory. In the long run, I wouldn't call it compulsory. I would rather say that it will become ubiquitous." In other words, people will effectively have no choice but to register under the scheme because social welfare schemes and agencies like banks, insurance providers will insist on UID numbers. The upcoming legislation on the UID does not even bother to speak the language of democracy – according to the provisions of the proposed bill, one can be penalized for not updating the information provided to the UID project.

Steep Costs

The current costs are estimated at whopping Rs.45,000 crores, and this is probably a gross underestimate. Operationalising the UID scheme on the ground for NREGA and the public distribution system would require placing fingerprint readers at every panchayat office and every ration shop. The total costs of placing fingerprint readers in each PDS outlet and in each of India's 600,000 villages have not been taken into account in official cost calculations.

Consequences for Privacy

The NIAI Bill and UID project cannot be seen in isolation from a host of other Bills and projects relating, among other things, to privacy, DNA Profiling, Public Information Infrastructure and Innovations (PIII) for a National Knowledge Network and the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID). Joining the dots of all these various proposals, the picture that emerges is an ominous one of surveillance and tracking of Indian citizens to serve corporate and imperialist interests, economic as well as political.

Chidambaram's Man Suggests "Corporate Territorial Armies"

Mahindra Special Services Group CEO Captain Raghu Raman who heads NATGRID, a pet project of Chidambaram's Home Ministry to integrate intelligence databases, has prepared a report in which he makes the audacious suggestion that "it's time for the corporates to step in" to the arena of security. In favour of this idea, he cites the precedence for private security contractors in the Israel, the US and other countries. He proposes that corporates be allowed to raise their own "private territorial armies." He concludes that "If the commercial czars don't begin protecting their empires now, they may find the lines of control cutting across those very empires."

Let us remind ourselves that this is no corporate crank speaking. A man who advocates private armies for corporates has been entrusted by the Home Ministry to head a crucial national intelligence project, while companies who are "privatised gatekeepers" in the US have been given contracts for implementation of the UID project. What does it add up to?

On UID, the Draft Paper on Privacy Bill states, "Data privacy and the need to protect personal information is almost never a concern when data is stored in a decentralized manner. 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...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. The potential for the UID data to be leaked to market forces as well as for intrusions by the state into citizens' privacy becomes enormous. Seen in conjunction with the involvement in the UID project of US corporations close to the CIA (see box) and with potentially intrusive Home Ministry initiatives like NATGRID which aim to integrate 21 databases to feed information to 11 security and intelligence agencies including RAW and IB, serious concerns about the expansion of the web of surveillance arise.

The revolving door phenomenon – where corporate honchos dictate, guide and execute public policy – is very much visible in the UID project too and this explains their unadulterated enthusiasm for this project. Clearly, the UID project will open the doors to an unprecedented access of our personal and financial information to the corporate world; paving the way for misuse and manipulation of such information. The UID scheme is a blatant attempt to convert a resident into a number, the Indian population into a global market and then citizens into subjects.

Home > Liberation > Year_2011 > April_11 > What's the 'Aadhaar' of the UID Scheme?

Foolproof Aadhar?

Posted In: Nishtha Arora , UID . By Journalism student

Nishtha Arora

Two crore national unique identity numbers have been issued by the Unique Identification Authority (UID) in the month of October alone. It is said that UID aims to roll out Aadhaar-based applications for improved service delivery that will ensure that the poor benefits from welfare schemes.

"UIDAI has generated 59.6 million crore Aadhaar numbers within a little more than a year, and more than 100 million citizens have been enrolled in the system across the country", says the latest official statement from the UID authority. But if recent reports of the UID data being misused are to be believed, these cards run the risk of breaching individual privacy.

As recent media report cites the first of its kind complaint received against the misuse of address proof in UID, anti UID campaigners and researchers are vary of its 'safety'. "It is like a version of homeland security. We are no longer safe with our data being available on the net. The state can use anybody's fingerprints and make us look like we committed the crime. You know how easy it is to lift anyone's fingerprints these days"? rues Usha Ramanathan, an independent law researcher and the main voice behind 'Say no to UID' campaign. Gopal Krishna, of The International South Asia Forum (INSAF), has other apprehensions. "Wikileaks has shown that no data is digitally secure over the internet, then how can they claim that this UID data stored would not be hacked"? , he asks.

There is no denying the fact that the UID plan could make it simple for people to access various services such as banking and government subsidies through Aadhaar by merely swiping the cards. However, vulnerability of personal data does raise questions in the mind of the people. Is the digitally saved data in these smart cards secure enough?

Meanwhile advocates of the Unique Identification Authority are confident about the security of data at various levels of collection. "It's based on biometrics and retina scan etc and this personal information of a resident is digitally safe in the regional centres databases. Also, there is an option the form that asks for the resident to share the information with other authorities and they are free to accept or decline that option. It is just a yes or no option…then where does this question of digital data being misused or leaked out arise? When we are not sharing anyone's details then how can you say that the police or the state can misuse this data?" questions Sujata Chaturvedi, Deputy Director General (DDG) of UID.

Currently, UIDAI plans to issue 60 crore UID cards by the year 2014. The million dollar questions that needs to be answered at the moment is: Would the UID authority be able to keep up the promise of making functioning easy from the governance perspective and also secure our biometric information digitally safe always?

http://mcrcontherecord.blogspot.in/2011/11/foolproof-aadhar.html

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Aadhaar: Turning citizens into subjects through social controltechnology companies -PartXX

GOPAL KRISHNA | 31/12/2013 12:20 PM |

What is being proposed by the likes of Pitrodas and Nilekanis through so-called transformational government project is to subjugate nation states and turn their citizens into subjects through social control technology companies

"The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized."

-- The Fourth Amendment, Bill of Rights, United States Constitution adopted on March 1, 1792

Miraculous results can be achieved by practicing the methods of subversion. A king shall have his agents in the courts of the enemy, the ally, the Middle and the Neutral kings to spy on the kings as well as their eighteen types of high officials. A single assassin can achieve, with weapons, fire or poison, more than a fully mobilized army.

-Kautilya in Arthashastra, 150 A.D.

"There's safety in the blindingly obvious"

--David Headley (formerly Daood Saleem Gilani), an intelligence agent

It is 'blindingly obvious' that biometric identification is meant for indiscriminate warrantless and automatic surveillance of citizens. It signals the arrival of the "colonial epidemic of general searches" undertaken on behalf of the monarch with unlimited power on the life and property of subjects.

How will judges hear cases in the judicial system of an Orwellian state? How will they judicially/ biometrically identify the double agents?

Will they allow themselves and their fellow citizens to be subjected to an "ever-watchful electronic sentinel in order to collect future evidence"?

Will Indian Supreme Court allow the Government and non-state actors to wield the power of surveillance over sovereign citizens as portrayed in George Orwell's novel 1984 and Steven Spielberg's "Minority Report"? Orwell was born in India.

In the US Vs Antoine Jones case, the US Supreme Court gave its unanimous verdict on 23 January 2012 and held that by installing the Global Positioning System (GPS), an electronic device on Antoine Jones, the defendant's jeep without a valid warrant, the police had committed a trespass and the trespass constituted an unreasonable search under the Fourth Amendment. Michael R Dreeben, Deputy Solicitor General, Government of US had argued that information revealed to the world is not protected by the Fourth Amendment which protected "reasonable expectation of privacy" of citizens.

In 2005 Jones was suspected of drug trafficking but he was arrested when their warrant to attach a GPS tracking device to the underside of the defendant's jeep had expired and had crossed the geographical boundary for which it was valid. Walter E Dellinger III, the former US Solicitor General and the attorney who represented Jones said the verdict was "a signal event in Fourth Amendment history." This judgement came long after the 10 member 9/11 commission of inquiry in the US had submitted its report. The verdict is attached .

During his first presidential election campaign Barack Obama promised to act against the REAL ID Act passed illegitimately for identifying citizens biometrically during the regime of George W Bush. Obama administration acted on his promise along with the States of US.

With its efforts to create Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)'s Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR), National Population Register (NPR) and National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) in the aftermath of 26 November 2008 wherein 166 people were killed and more than 300 injured in the world's fourth largest city, Mumbai,Government of India seems to be undertaking tasks which have been abandoned in US. The book 'The Siege: The Attack on the Taj" authored by Adrian Levvy & Cathy Scott-Clark published in 2013 by Penguin Books reveals that "The handler Abu Qahafa, 'the Bull', has never been identified. Nor has Major Iqbal, David Headley's ISI contact, who recruited 'the Mice', his information gatherers in Mumbai, who boasted of an Indian double agent called 'Honey Bee'. None of these sources have been found or identified." Abu Qahafa who handled the military components of Operation Bombay is a Punjabi from Bahawalpur is the second in command in Lashkar-e-Toiba which was formed in 1990 by Hafiz Saeed. The book will have us believe that the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was providing consistent intelligence inputs based on its 'significant source' implanted in Lashkar to Indian intelligence agencies. It is admitted that Lashkar knew David Headley (formerly Daood Saleem Gilani) who befriended to be operating for western intelligence agencies.

One wonders whether the chiefs of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA)'s biometric NPR and NATGRID and Planning Commission's CIDR of biometric UID/Aadhaar numbers identify these unidentified individuals like 'Honey Bee' before proceeding with their task of biometrically identifying Indians.Before proceeding with these initiatives it, it must fix accountability for failure to act on available intelligence inputs about the attack on Mumbai.

What are the lessons from bomb explosions in Mumbai in April 1993 in which Sanjay Dutt was allegedly involved among others, conflict in Kargil, attack on Parliament and attack on Mumbai trains in July 2006 and on 5-star hotels and railway station in November 2008? Did it really create a rationale for indiscriminately biometrically profiling all the Indians?

Press Trust of India reported on 13 December 2013 that Chief of Army, General Bikram Singh accepted the Legion of Merit, the sixth highest military honour of the US, when he visited that country from 2nd to 5 December 2013 without the clearance from the Ministry of Defence. General Singh was also inducted into the US Army War College (USAWC) International Fellows Hall of Fame, and toured various military facilities of USA such as Fort Bragg in North Carolina and Fort Benning in Georgia. The Ministry learnt about it from media. General Singh gave a keynote speech to the USAWC graduating class of 2013-2014. He is an alumnus of the USAWC, located in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, having completed a course there in 2004. During his visit to the US earlier this month, Xinhua news agency reported that the Ministry has sought an explanation from General Singh but Sitanshu Kar, the spokesman for the Defense Ministry has refused to comment on the matter.

Earlier, Admiral Nirmal Kumar Verma who as the Chief of the Naval Staff of Indian Navy, from 31 August 2009 to 31 August 2012 and as Chairman, Chiefs of Staff Committee got himself biometrically profiled on 18 August 2011. Did he take the permission of Ministry of Defence before subjecting himself to the ignominy of being biometrically profiled? It has also been reported the office Minister of Defence was implanted surveillance equipments. These incidents happened during the tenure of AK Antony as the Defence Minister.

In November 2012, Admiral Verma was appointed as the High Commissioner to Canada. Can Government of India on affidavit inform the Supreme Court that Admiral Verma's biometric profile is not available with Canada's Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC), which is part of the intelligence sharing alliance comprising of US, UK, Australia, Canada, New Zealand and France? In an unrelated development, Nandan Nilekani was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by the Rotman School of Management at the University of Toronto, Canada on 31 May 2011.

Most recently, the Economic Times has published a news based on the report from Press Trust of India dated 28 December 2013 that Captain P Raghu Raman, the CEO of NATGRID has announced that "In many ways it (NATGRID) has started. There are certain elements being helped out where it is required," when he was asked if the NATGRID has begun its operations. NATGRID is born out of the lessons from 26/11 attack in Mumbai. NATGRID attempts to replicate Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) of US and will require similar budgetary allocations. It is to act on the basis of 21 data sources of various intelligence and enforcement agencies for 10 user agencies. National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) was supposed to gather information through the NATGRID.

Prior to this Captain Raghu Raman was the CEO of a multinational security company, Mahindra Special Security Services Group, a subsidiary of the Mahindra Group. He has been Chairman, Internal Security Committee, Bombay Chamber of Commerce & Industry (BCCI) and head of Subgroup on Industry Guidelines and Member, National Task Force on Internal Security, the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII). Raman had left Indian Army on a job offer from Anand Mahindra, the industrialist and took over as the CEO of the joint venture between Mahindra and British Aerospace, Mahindra Defence Land System in 2009. During the Mumbai attack of November 2008, Raman reportedly spoke constantly on the phone for nearly two days with some people trapped inside sharing "dos and don'ts" despite the fact that he had lost two friends in the terror strike.

It has been noted that 22 minutes after the first shots were fired in Leopold Café, Mumbai on 26 November 2008, Black Cats were ready but it took the Cabinet Secretary, the top most civil servant in the country, 70 minutes (one hour and 10 minutes) to contact Jyoti Dutt, the then Chief of National Security Guards (NSG) under whom Black Cats operated. Madhukar Gupta, the then Secretary, MHA was stranded in Pakistan, on government business, and could not get a flight until the morning and when he did arrive he asked Dutt who was to leave for the airstrip, to pick him up from his residence which entailed significant deviation from Dutt's route. This is noteworthy that the authors' name some officials and in some specific cases they just mention their designations like the Joint Secretary Police (Internal Security) who withheld the green light for the combat operations in the crucial moment. One of the sons of Syed Saleem Gilani, a radio broadcaster from Voice of America and Serrill Headley from Maryland, David Headley (formerly Daood Saleem Gilani) is a US citizen of Pakistani descent. David Headley (formerly Daood Saleem Gilani) is from a mohajir family, who migrated to Pakistan from Kapurthala, Punjab after partition. His half-brother Danyal was the public relations officer of the Pakistan's Prime Minister. When his father died Pakistan's Prime Minister (name?) visited his family to offer condolences. There is 'overwhelming evidence' that David Headley (formerly Daood Saleem Gilani) who ran 'Reliance cyber café' near Churchgate railway station was an intelligence agent.

Is it irrelevant to recollect as to why Adil Sharyar, son of Muhammad Yunus, a migrant from North West Frontier Province, Pakistan who was convicted in US was pardoned by the President of US? Yunus was a confidant of Indira Gandhi and was one of the names mentioned as candidates for the Presidential elections in which R Venkatraman was elected as the President. Venkatraman mentions his name in his book 'My Presidential Years'. Sharyar was imprisoned and he was serving a 35-year sentence for setting off a firebomb, fraud and other violations in Florida. He was pardoned by Ronald Reagan on 11 June 1985, the day Rajiv Gandhi arrived in Washington for a visit with the President. What was the quid pro quoinvolved to secure the pardon for Sharyar from the US President? Rajiv Gandhi had told India Abroad, news agency that he had not asked for the release of his friend.

In the Parliament, Prof Madhu Dandvate had asked the Union Minister of External Affairs (MEA) whether the attention of Government has been drawn to the news report in Times of India (Delhi Edition) of 4 March 1986 under the caption 'Ex-CIA agents' firm made 'Rajiv's India' and whether it is correct that the company which made the film is owned by a former CIA boss Max Hugel and does not such a close liaison between the former CIA boss and the firm production activities harm the national interests and security requirements. KR Narayanan, the then Minister of State in MEA had replied, "The Television Documentary "Rajiv's India" was a joint production of Jack Anderson File/International Syndications Inc. It is a fact that Max Hugel, the President of International Syndications INC (ISI) held an official position in the CIA from 21 January 1981 to 14 July 1981" in a written reply. With regard to question as to its harm to national interests and security requirements, the minister added that it does not harm because "Normal procedures of checking with appropriate authorities for protection of national interests and security requirements are invariably observed before Government grant permission to the producers to visit India to make films. Every security precaution was observed when the television team visited India."

Jack Anderson, the co-producer of the documentary was an investigative journalist who had exposed the infamous Nixon-Kissinger 'tilt' towards Pakistan during the war for the liberation of Bangladesh. Doordarshan had announced that the documentary will be broadcast nationwide but at the scheduled time it was not shown "due to certain technical problems." The 'technical problems' never got solved. As per official records is it known as to for how many hours did Rajiv Gandhi and Sonia Gandhi spend with Max Hugel in getting themselves recorded? Will this documentary be ever shown in India? The books of intelligence agencies underline that in the business of intelligence gathering, once an individual is recruited, he remains recruited forever. Is it untrue?

It was in this a context that Dr Satyanarayan Gangaram Pitroda (Sam Pitroda), a US citizen, came on an invitation from Indira Gandhi, the then Prime Minister. Pitroda became an advisor to Rajiv Gandhi, the then Prime Minister and is at present the advisor to the current Prime Minister on public information infrastructure and innovations (PIII) in the rank of a cabinet minister without oath of office and secrecy. He claims to be working for 'Democratisation of information', which sounds like there is safety in stating blindingly the opposite of what one intends to do.

PIII intends to connect each of the country's 250,000 panchayats to fast, broadband connections. As per its plan, a giant, nationwide, broadband network that will not only integrate all Indians with their governments but government departments with one another, all educational and scientific institutions, every related government programme and develop new applications for these programmes as the network takes shape is unfolding. Aadhaar is a subset of this universal plan. These programmes will be controlled by applications to be developed by the National Informatics Centre (NIC) which created during 1975-1977. The overall plan is that UID will tag every person, GIS will tag every place, and the applications will tag every programme. Once the basic PIII is in place, it is envisaged that "Once we do the basic platforms, "Some kid will figure out the applications." Which kid will figure out the applications? What if these applications end up undertaking surveillance of nine hundred million telephones which are currently being used in the country?

It is noteworthy that Pitroda and Hubert Vedrine, former foreign minister of France, have founded the People for Global Transformation (PGT), which held its first meeting in the last week of September 2012 with the Reliance Foundation in Mumbai. At one point, Vedrine was the Diplomatic adviser of French President, François Mitterrand during 1981-1995. Coincidentally, French Government has a stake in the Safran Group which is involved in biometric Aadhaar. In an interview to Business Standard, Pitroda said, we "come together to think about what kind of world we need to create. For over a decade, I have been telling friends that during the World War II, small groups of people got together and decided certain institutes needed to be set up and they were formed with an idea to dominate the world. So, we have the UN, World Bank, NATO and others. All these institutions do not make any sense now; they are obsolete." They are using 10 people who from a policy-making background, from emerging and mature economies for this work.

Pitroda says, "Nation-states might not have the same meaning anymore as 70 years ago, especially in the connected world." Global Transformation is the aim of the World Bank's e-Transform Initiative launched in Washington in April 2010 which is unfolding in partnership with five transnational companies and national governments of France and South Korea. Meanwhile, Nandan Nilekani, the official of Planning Commission has won an award coincidentally named NDTV's Transformational Idea Award 2011. He is also a winner of ET Award winner for Policy Agent of the Year in 2011 and a member of the ET Awards Jury in 2013. In an unrelated development, The Economic Times and The Times of India have been publishing UIDAI's advertisements at regular intervals.

It is indeed true that a small group of people set up institutions like UN, World Bank and NATO to dominate the world. They are indeed obsolete but what is being proposed through so-called transformational government project is to subjugate nation states and turn their citizens into subjects through social control technology companies. There is democracy deficit in the these institutions but what is being bulldozed under the dictates of these very institutions only enables their firmer grip over the fate of present and future citizens.

At a convocation address on 2 December 2013, Pitroda said, "We are creating two major networks – one called knowledge network to connect all our Universities and R&D institutions, libraries and others, with 40 GB bandwidth to transfer large amounts of information so that our scientists can collaborate better, share resources and expedite research and development. The second network is to connect 250,000 local panchayatsthrough optical fiber. When that happens, all our villages would have huge amount of broadband capacity. These two networks will cost us about Rs50,000 crore. The first one is already built the second one will be built in next eighteen months. In addition, we are creating platforms for ID (Aadhaar) that Nandan Nilekani is working on; GIS (Geographic Information Systems) – Dr Kasturirangan, Dr Ramaswamy, Dr Nayak are working on; Dr Gairola in NeGP (National e-Governance Plan) where information on food distribution, driver's license, passport, income tax – all would be organised. We are computerizing 32 million court cases because it takes fifteen years to get justice today. We need to organise and computerize the police, CBI and prisons." He revealed that his public information infrastructure will be ready in 2-3 years at the cost of about Rs1 lakh crore.

No one seems to have asked Pitroda who is a political appointee in the rank of a cabinet minister in the Indian National Congress-led Government as to what will be the fate of PIII related sets like UID/Aadhaar, NPR and NATGRID after the 2014 elections.

Notably, it is not only the US Supreme Court that has come in defence of democratic rights, even the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and the Supreme Court of Philippines has ruled against indiscriminate biometric profiling by the Government or any entity. Now Supreme Court of India has to decide whether or the letter and spirit of Fourth Amendment of US Constitution is present in Indian Constitution or not and whether the unanimous verdict of ECHR against indiscriminate profiling is relevant in India as well. Besides biometric Aadhaar, NPR, the court must consider examining the interconnectedness and legality of NIC, NATGRID and PIII as well.

You may also want to read…

Why biometric identification of citizens must be resisted? Part I

Biometric identification is modern day enslavement -Part II

Biometric profiling, including DNA, is dehumanising -Part III

Marketing and advertising blitzkrieg of biometric techies and supporters -Part IV

History of technologies reveals it is their owners who are true beneficiaries -Part V

UID's promise of service delivery to poor hides IT, biometrics industry profits –Part VI

Technologies and technology companies are beyond regulation? -Part VII

Surveillance through biometrics-based Aadhaar –Part VIII

Narendra Modi biometrically profiled. What about Congress leaders?-Part IX

Aadhaar: Why opposition ruled states are playing partner for biometric UID? -Part X

Is Nandan Nilekani acting as an agent of non-state actors? –Part XI

Aadhaar and UPA govt's obsession for private sector benefits–Part XII

Are Indians being used as guinea pigs of biometric technology companies? -Part XIV

Aadhaar: Is the biometric data of human body immortal and ageless? Part XV

Aadhaar: The propaganda of transnational vested interests –Part XVI

Aadhaar: Pakistan handed over, India giving database on a platter– Part XVII

Engineered row in US-India relations, an attention diversion tactics of big brothers?—Part XVIII

Aadhaar: UIDAI and the 'fifth column' of Napoleon—Part XIX

(Gopal Krishna is member of Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), which is campaigning against surveillance technologies since 2010)

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Aam Aadmi Party Kerala ആം ആദ്മി പാര്ട്ടി കേരളം

ആം ആദ്‍മി സ്ഥാനാര്‍ഥി പട്ടികയില്‍ സോണി സോറിയും

ആം ആദ്മി സ്ഥാനാര്‍ത്ഥി പട്ടികയില്‍ മാവോവാദി ബന്ധമാരോപിച്ച് ഭരണകൂടം തടവിലാക്കി പീഡിപ്പിച്ച ആദിവാസി അധ്യാപിക സോണി സോറിയും. ആം ആദ്മി പാര്‍ട്ടിയുടെ ആദ്യഘട്ട സ്ഥാനാര്‍ത്ഥി പട്ടികയിലേയ്ക്ക് അവസാന നിമിഷമാണ് നേതാക്കള്‍ സോണി സോറിയുടെ പേര് ചേര്‍ത്തതെന്നും റിപ്പോര്‍ട്ടില്‍ പറയുന്നു. ആദിവാസി മേഖലയായ ബസ്തറില്‍ ബി.ജെ.പിയുടെ ദിനേശ് കശ്യപിനെതിരായാണ് സോണി സോറി മത്സരിയ്ക്കുക. തിരഞ്ഞെടുപ്പില്‍ മത്സരിയ്ക്കാന്‍ താത്പര്യമുണ്ടെങ്കില്‍ മത്സരിയ്ക്കാമെന്ന...See More

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bhiram Mallick shared Manoj Singh Yadav's photo.

शरीफ़ इंसान आखिर क्यों इलेक्शन हार जाता है |

किताबों में तो लिक्खा है कि रावन हार जाता है ||

जुड़ी हैं इससे तहज़ीबें सभी तस्लीम करते हैं |

नुमाइश में मगर मिट्टी का बरतन हार जाता है... ||

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he Economic Times

A vote for Narendra Modi is a vote for Mukesh Ambani, and voters seeking a change from Rahul Gandhi-led Congress need to be educated about this, Arvind Kejriwal told ET, while also saying AAP's Lok Sabha strategy has been wrong so far. Read more here http://ow.ly/tJeeu

Also read his full Interview - I think Narayana Murthy, Azim Premji are good people: Arvind Kejriwal - http://ow.ly/tJefF

Do you think this "politics of certification" will help AAP in the long run?

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The Economic Times

EXCLUSIVE: Top economic commentators, politicians and experts decode & analyse ‪#‎Budget2014‬: UPA-II failed to build on the work done by UPA-I http://ow.ly/tJhnX | Back to 1991: FM has contracted the economy by investment cuts, says Sitaram Yechury http://ow.ly/tJhoWand more. Read all of it here - http://ow.ly/tJhwr

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Aam Aadmi Party Uttarakhand

January 24, 2013

Dear friend,

Arvind Kejriwal has written an email to Sh Mukesh Ambani. The mail, written in Hindi, is given below.Kindly share this post as widely as possible.

Regards

Aam Aadmi Party Team

---------------------------------------------------------------------------Letter in Hindi--------------------------------------------------------------------------

श्री मुकेश अंबानी

रिलायंस इंडस्ट्रीज़ लिमिटेड

मेकर्स चैम्बर्स - IV

नरीमन पाइंट,

मुंबई - 400021

श्री मुकेश अंबानी जी,

अभी हाल ही में आपने देश के सभी टी.वी. चैनलों को मानहानि का नोटिस भेजा है। इनका जुर्म यह है कि इन्होंने 31 अक्टूबर, 2012 और 9 नवम्बर, 2012 को मेरी और प्रशांत भूषण की प्रेस कांफ्रेंस का सीधा प्रसारण किया था। हमने अपनी प्रेस कांफ्रेंस में देश के लोगों को बताया था कि किस तरह से आपने गैरकानूनी तरीके से सरकार पर दबाव डालकर गैस के दाम बढ़वाए। हमने लोगों को यह भी बताया कि आपके, आपके साथियों के और आपकी कंपनियों के स्विस बैंक में खाते हैं जिनमें कालाधन जमा किया गया था। हमारे इस खुलासे का कई टी.वी. चैनलों ने सीध प्रसारण किया। आपने इन सभी टी.वी. चैनलों को मानहानि का नोटिस भेजा है।

मेरी समझ में नहीं आ रहा है कि मेरी और प्रशांत भूषण की कही गई बातों से यदि आपकी मानहानि हुई है तो इसके सबसे बड़े दोषी तो मैं और प्रशांत भूषण हैं। नोटिस भेजना ही था तो आपको हमें भेजना चाहिए था। टी.वी. चैनलों ने तो केवल उसका प्रसारण ही किया था। फिर भी आपने हमें नोटिस न भेजकर टी.वी. चैनलों को नोटिस भेजा है। इससे जाहिर है कि आपका मकसद केवल टी.वी. चैनलों पर दबाव बनाने का है।

देश की जनता आपसे कुछ सीधे सवाल पूछना चाहती है। भारत सरकार को स्विस बैंको में खातेदारों की जो लिस्ट मिली है, क्या ये सच नहीं है कि आपका, आपके रिश्तेदारों का, आपके दोस्तों का और आपकी कंपनियों का उनमें नाम है? क्या यह सच नहीं है कि इस लिस्ट में आपके नाम पर सौ करोड़ रुपये जमा दिखाए गए हैं? क्या ये सच नहीं है कि आपने इस पैसे पर टैक्स जमा कर दिया है? इससे यह साबित होता है कि आपने अपना जुर्म कबूल कर लिया है। कानून के मुताबिक अब आप पर मुकदमा चलना चाहिए और यदि टैक्स की चोरी साबित होती है तो आपको जेल होनी चाहिए।

लेकिन ऐसा नहीं होगा। क्यों? क्योंकि सरकार आपसे डरती है। आपने खुद ही कहा है कि कांग्रेस पार्टी तो आपकी दुकान है। आपने सच ही कहा था। मीडिया में छपी कुछ खबरों के मुताबिक सोनिया गाँधी जी आपके निजी हवाई जहाज से यात्रा करती हैं। लोगों का मानना है कि श्री जयपाल रेडडी का मंत्रालय भी आप ही के दबाव में बदला गया था।

केवल कांग्रेस ही क्यों? भाजपा और अन्य पार्टियां भी आपकी दुकान हैं। पहले तो आडवाणी जी स्विस बैंकों के खातों के बारे में खूब आवाज़ उठाते थे लेकिन जब से आपके खाते निकलकर सामने आए तो सारी भाजपा बिल्कुल चुप हो गई। आपके खातों के बारे में भाजपा ने संसद में एक शब्द भी नहीं बोला।

ऐसा लगता है कि सभी पार्टियां आपसे डरती हैं। सभी नेता आपसे डरते हैं। लेकिन इस देश की जनता आपसे नहीं डरती। सारी पार्टियां आपकी दुकान हो सकती हैं। लेकिन भारत आपकी दुकान नहीं है। भारत हमारा है, इस देश के लोगों का है। आप अपने पैसे से पार्टियों को खरीद सकते हैं, नेताओं को खरीद सकते हैं लेकिन भारत को हम बिकने नहीं देंगे।

आपका कहना है कि हमारे द्वारा कही गई बातों का सीधा प्रसारण करने से टी.वी. चैनलों ने आपकी मानहानि की। आप सोचकर देखिए कि आपकी मानहानि मैंने, प्रशांत भूषण और टी.वी. चैनलों ने की है या आपने अपनी मानहानि खुद अपने कर्मों से की है?

1. 2002 में आपने सरकार से ''फुल मोबिलिटी लेने के लिए प्रमोद महाजन को रिश्वत दी। 55 रुपये प्रति शेयर के भाव वाले एक करोड़ शेयर आपने प्रमोद महाजन को 1 रुपये प्रति शेयर के हिसाब से दे दिए। ये तो सीधी रिश्वत थी। जब आप पकड़े गए तो आपने शेयर वापस ले लिए। मामला अभी कोर्ट में है। क्या ऐसा करने से आपकी मानहानि नहीं हुई?

2. आपने अपना बहुमंजिला मकान 'वक्फ' के ज़मीन पर बनाया है। इस ज़मीन पर अनाथालय बनना था। गरीब और अनाथ मुस्लिम बच्चों के हक को छीना है आपने। क्या ऐसा करने से आपकी मानहानि नहीं हुई?

3. सन 2000 में आपको देश के गैस के कुछ कुएं दिए गए। आपकी जिम्मेदारी थी कि आप इसमें से गैस निकाल कर भारत सरकार को दें। गैस हमारी थी, इस देश के लोगों की। हम उस गैस के मालिक हैं। आपकी हैसियत केवल एक ठेकेदार की थी। आपको गैस के कुएं केवल गैस निकालने के लिए दिए गए थे। लेकिन आप चतुराई से मालिक बन बैठें। सरकार को आपने गैस 'बेचनी' चालू कर दी। सरकार पर दबाव डालकर आपने गैस के दाम बढ़ाने चालू कर दिए। चूंकि कांग्रेस आपकी दुकान है तो कांग्रेस पार्टी हमेशा आपकी दादागिरी के सामने झुकती नज़र आई। अकसर आपके दबाव में कांग्रेस गैस के दाम बढ़ाती गई और देश के लोग हाहाकार करते रहे। आपकी वजह से बिजली, खाद और रसोईगैस महंगी होती गई। लेकिन जब पानी सर से ऊपर हो गया तो श्री जयपाल रेडडी जी ने आपका विरोध् किया। उस समय श्री जयपाल रेडडी देश के तेल मंत्री थे। उन्होंने आपके दबाव में न आकर गैस के दाम और बढ़ाने से मना कर दिया। आपने श्री जयपाल रेडडी जी का ही तबादला करा दिया। आपकी हरकतों की वजह से देश में कई वस्तुएं महंगी हो रही हैं और जनता कराह रही है। क्या यह सब हरकतें आपको शोभा देती हैं? क्या इन हरकतों से आपकी मानहानि नहीं होती?

इस किस्म के आपके बेइमानी के कामों की लिस्ट बहुत लंबी है।

इस देश के अधिकतर व्यवसायी, कारोबारी, उद्योगपति ईमानदारी से काम करना चाहते हैं। लेकिन आज की व्यवस्था उन्हें बेइमानी करने पर मजबूर करती है। पर आपके जैसे उद्योगपति जब खुलेआम व्यवस्था का दुरुपयोग अपने फायदे के लिए करते हैं तो इससे सारे उद्योग और व्यवसाय पर काला धब्बा लगता है।

एक तरफ आप हैं, आपके पास पैसा है। दूसरी तरफ इस देश की जनता है। जनता अब जाग गई है। जनता के अंदर जुनून है। इतिहास गवाह है कि जब-जब पैसे और जुनून के बीच लड़ाई हुई है तो हमेशा जुनून जीता है।

मेरा आपसे निवेदन है कि देश के मीडिया को धमकाने की कोशिश न करें। मीडिया में चंद लोग ऐसे हो सकते हैं जिन्होंने खुद गलत काम किए हों। ऐसे मीडियाकर्मी शायद आपके दबाव में आ जाएं। लेकिन आज भी अधिकांश पत्रकार देश के लिए काम करते हैं। वो आपके दबाव में नहीं आने वाले। इतिहास गवाह है कि जब-जब देश की न्यायपालिका, कार्यपालिका और विधायिका चरमराती नज़र आई तो, ऐसे ही पत्रकारों ने लोकतंत्र को जिंदा रखा। कुछ ऐसे मीडिया घराने हैं जिनमें सीधे या परोक्ष रूप से आपका पैसा लगा है। हो सकता है ऐसे घराने आपके दबाव में आ जाएं, पर इन घरानों में काम करने वाले पत्रकार आपके दबाव में नहीं आने वाले।

आपका क्या सपना है? क्या आप बेइमानी से दुनिया के सबसे धनवान व्यक्ति बनना चाहते हैं? मान लीजिए आप इस देश की सारी दौलत के मालिक बन जाए। क्या इससे आपको खुशी मिलेगी? खुशी अधिक से अधिक धन अर्जित करने से नहीं मिलती। बल्कि त्याग करने से मिलती है। आज आप एक ऐसे मुकाम पर खड़े हैं कि यदि आप बेइमानी से व्यवसाय करना छोड़ दें और अपनी सारी दौलत देश के लोगों के विकास में लगा दें तो यह देश आपको कभी नहीं भूलेगा।

(अरविंद केजरीवाल)

Aadhaar is an assault on democratic rights

Budget Speech supports constitutionally invalid biometric Aadhaar, a fish bait to trap poor in database for Big Data companies

Parliamentary Committee trashes storage of UIDAI's data on cloud, violation of citizen's right to privacy

Outrageously metadata collection by NSA deemed acceptable and tolerable by Congress led Govt

illegal, illegitimate 12 digit biometric identifier number, aadhaar is an assault on democratic rights

17 February, 2014: Finance Minister P Chidambaram presented Interim Budget 2014 expressing his support for legally and electorally questionable biometric identification scheme branded as aadhaar number. The total budgetary allocations made for Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) since its inception up to 31 March 2014 is Rs5, 440.30 crore. In a context where arguments against the scheme are underway in the Supreme Court facing robust legal challenge such

support is aimed at presenting fait accompli to the court. In a significant development, petitions have been filed by individuals seeking to 'opt out' of the scheme in which they enrolled under some mistaken belief.

Chidambaram said,

"However, let me reiterate that the Government remains fully committed to Aadhaar under which 57 crore unique numbers have been issued so far and to opening bank accounts for all Aadhaar holders in order to promote financial inclusion. Who needs Aadhaar? It is those who are at the bottom of the pyramid, the poor, the migrant workers, the homeless, and the oppressed who need Aadhaar, and we will ensure that they get Aadhaar. I have no doubt that in course of time even critics of Aadhaar will realise that Aadhaar is a tool of empowerment."

The moment those who have been issued these biometric numbers come to know of its risk and its pernicious implications, they are likely to 'opt out' of the unique identity (UID) number scheme too. Notably, he seems to maintain a conspiratorial silence about issuance of aadhaar number through Home Ministry's National Population Register (NPR) as if it is a fall back option in case the Court declares UIDAI as unconstitutional.

This claim of Chidambaram is an exercise in sophistry and is nothing but false bravado after the resounding defeat in the assembly elections of UP, MP, Delhi, Rajasthan and Chhattisgarh. The electoral verdict is against aadhaar. Democracies world over have voted against intrusive and bullying identification schemes unleashed by the ID card cartels of big data companies.

Notably,the schedule for 17 February 2014 in Rajya Sabha had eight items listed for the legislative business. This list dated, 13 February 2014 was been signed by Shumsher K Sheriff, Secretary General, Rajya Sabha. The last item mentions The National Identification Authority of India (NIDAI) Bill to be re-introduced. It is meant to legalise biometric data collector, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI)'s work done since 28 January 2009. This Bill was trashed and rejected by Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance in its report to both the Houses of Parliament. This exercise

by this lame duck minority government led by Indian National Congress is manifestly insincere. The scheme is in limbo following electoral and defeat and differences within various ministries.

The item No8 in the legislative business reads "RAJEEV SHUKLA to move that Bill to provide for the establishment of The National Identification Authority of India for the purpose of issuing identification numbers to individuals residing in India and to certain other classes of individuals and manner of authentication of such individuals to facilitate access to benefits and services to such individuals to which they are entitled and for matters connected therewith or incidental thereto, be taken into consideration." Rajeev Shukla is the Minister of State in the Ministry of Parliamentary Affairs and Planning.

It is relevant to pay heed to the observations and recommendations, 25 member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology in its 88 page report on Cyber Crime, Cyber Security and Right to Privacy dated February, 2014 in this regard. It states, "the Committee is extremely unhappy to note that the Government is yet to institute a legal framework on privacy. When asked about the status of the above legislation, the Department has diverted the issue stating that the Department of Personnel and Training (DoPT) is still in the process of evolving legislation to address concerns of privacy, in general, and it is still at the drafting stage. The Committee seriously feels that in view of enormous data, very sensitive in nature, being consigned to cyber space each day particularly in the light of Government's visionary UIDAI programme, the Government should not jeopardise the privacy of citizens on the plea that the Department is concerned only with Section 43(A) which it is based on self-regulation." It refers to 43 (A) of Information Technology Act.

The realissue of unhappiness of citizens is why shouldUID/Aadhaar programme and National Population Register (NPR) be proposed and executed prior to the legal framework for safeguarding right to privacy? How can this Committee feign ignorance of the fact that far from UIDAI programme being "visionary", it lacks the legal mandate to be brought into operations? Perhaps, the word has been used to underline the irony.

The report aptly states, "The Committee observes that National e-Governance Programme (NeGP) is one of the ambitious projects of the Government and the Department is planning to use 'Cloud computing' for e-Governance Programmesand for storing its data. The Committee also note that the Government of India has recently published GI Cloud (Meghraj) – 'Strategic Direction Paper' and 'Adoption and implementation Roadmap' as a part of this Cloud initiative, which prescribes the precautions, standards and guidelines on security addressing the various challenges and risks and gives more clear dimension to the timelines of implementation. With regard to the usage of 'Cloud computing', the Committee in their Twenty-seventh Report (2011-12), had expressed apprehensions about technological and legal

challenges associated with the concept of 'shared platform' and had recommended the Department to conduct a study/survey to find out the existing scenario nationally and internationally and be prepared with a mechanism to deal with the risks associated with the usage of Cloud computing and be vigilant about such emerging technologies. However,

the Committee is surprised to note that though NeGP has entered seventh year of its implementation, the Department has neither conducted any study/survey in this regard nor has any data on instances of cyber security breaches encountered in e-Governance projects. The Committee feel that NeGP being a visionary project of the Government, the Department should not show any laxity. The Committee, therefore, recommend the Department to conduct a study/survey to find out the instances of cyber security breaches in NeGP projects. While cautioning the Department to be extra vigilant with the usage of the new technology 'cloud' which is still at a nascent stage, the Committee desire that the Department would stick to their assurance of keeping security issues on priority, particularly, in the implementation of e-Governance projects and make the programme foolproof."

The report has revealed that the Government has jeopardized the privacy of citizens through UIDAI's biometric identification exercise. In that case how is that the Committee mentions Government's UIDAI programme as "visionary". Given the fact that the UIDAI's data is admittedly stored on cloud, the fact that government ignored Committee's apprehensions on the usage of 'Cloud computing', the concept of 'shared platform' and the risks associated with the usage

of Cloud computing in the 5th year of the implementation of Aadhaar unmindful of cyber security breaches encountered in e-Governance projects, the government merited strong criticism. Instead of censuring the Government and making it accountable, the Committee only expresses surprise. But in its own mild way, this Committee has also trashed government's unpardonable callousness towards the security ramifications of storing UID/Aadhaar data on cloud and the failure to enact a legal framework for right to privacy. As has been done with right to privacy, although the government admitted the need of enacting a legal framework for UIDAI, its tenure is about to end without enacting it.

At page no. 46-47, the report Parliamentary Standing Committee on Information Technology that examined the work of Department of Electronics and Information Technology (DeitY), Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, asked about the surveillance by National Security Agency (NSA) of USA. It states that in the context of privacy of data, the Committee desired to know the Department's stand on the issue of surveillance by US and interception of data sent through e-mails. To this, J Satyanarayana, Secretary, DeitY, responded during the evidence as under:-

"Sir, about the US surveillance issue, there has been a debate, as you are aware, this morning in the Rajya Sabha itself and the hon. Minister has addressed this issue. He also emphasised that as far as the Government data and Government mails are concerned, the policy, the copy of which I have given to the Committee earlier, is going to address a large part of it. Hopefully, by the end of this year, if it is implemented, the things will be absolutely safe and secure…x.x.x.x…In the reply, the Hon. Minister also said that we have expressed our serious concern about the reported leakages and in the name of surveillance, the data that has been secured from various private sources, internet resources by the US Government. We have expressed it formally to the Government of the US and also during the Secretary of State's visit a few weeks ago in India, this has been reinforced on a person to person basis. We have been assured that whatever data has been gathered by them for surveillance relates only to the metadata. It has been reiterated and stated at the highest level of the US President that only the metadata has been accessed, which is, the origin of the message and the receiving point, thedestination and the route through which it has gone, but not the actual content itself. This has been reiterated by them, but we expressed that any incursion into the content will not be tolerated and is not tolerable from Indian stand and point of view. That has been mentioned very clearly and firmly by our Government."

In effect, the Indian National Congress-led government has formally communicated to Government of US that India has no problem if they conduct surveillance for metadata in fact it is acceptable and tolerable but "incursion into the content will not be tolerated and is not tolerable."

An Urdu couplet- hum woh hai jo khat ka mazmoon bhaap lete hai lifafa dekhkar (we are those who can assess the content of letter by merely looking at the envelop)-captures the message from USA what Congress party in particular and the political class in general have missed.

Such faith in Government of USA's empty words is akin to Jawaharlal Nehru's gullibility with regard to designs of Chinese government that led to the humiliating defeat of India in 1962 and Mir Jafar's touching 'innocence' about the deeper designs of British East India Company that compelled him to switch sides in the battle of Plassey in 1757.

The Parliamentary Committee observes,

"While taking note of the Department's stand on the recent instances of surveillance and interception of data (though only meta-data) by other countries, that incursion into the content of the country's data will not be tolerated, the Committee is of the strong opinion that the Department should have exercised enough caution so that such a situation was not allowed to occur at the first instance. Further, the Committee feels that the Department should be extremely vigilant and cautious in terms of safety as well as in terms of policy with different countries so as to avoid such leakage and interception of sensitive data in the name of surveillance. The Committee, therefore, strongly recommends the Department to take remedial measures and come out with a policy which should be implemented stringently so as to obviate recurrence of such instances."

This report was presented to both the Houses of Parliament on 12 February 2014. It reveals that Indian Computer Emergency Response Team (CERT-In) has signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Computer Emergency Response Team, US (US-CERT), Japanese Computer Emergency Response Team Coordination Centre (JP-CERT/CC), National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC), South Korea, Computer Emergency Response Team, Mauritius (CERT Mauritius, Computer Emergency Response Team, Kazakhstan (CERT Kazakhstan) and Government of Finland for international cyber security cooperation arrangements. Department of Electronics and Information Technology have signed a MoU with Canada in ICT and Electronics sector. The Department, with the help of Ministry of External Affairs, is having engagement dialogue with several countries such as Malaysia, Israel, Egypt, Canada and Brazil on cyber security incidents and vulnerabilities in IT products and systems.

Edward Snowden has disclosed that several of the countries like Canada, South Korea and others, with whom the MoU has been signed, are in the intelligence bartering/sharing alliance with the US, prior to India's independence.

While presenting the Union Budget 2009-10, the then Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee had announced the setting up of the UIDAI by the Government to "establish an online data base with identity and biometric details of Indian residence and provide enrolment and verification services across the country." He had allocated Rs120 crore for this project as "a major step in improving governance with regard to delivery of public services."

The Minister did not inform the Parliament that UIDAI "was created during 2009-10 and a modest start with an expenditure of Rs30.92 crore was made." Parliament has been kept in dark about how Unique Identification (UID) /Aadhaar Numbers to every resident in India started unfolding without sharing "the linkages of various welfare schemes steered by different Ministries/departments of Government of India".

The Parliament remains unaware about how UIDAI selected the "Managed Service Provider" for the Central Identity Data Repository (CIDR) of biometric UID/Aadhaar numbers. For this, a budget of Rs1900 crores was allocated in the Union Budget 2010-11 by the Finance Minister. It is admitted that "CIDR will be handed over to the Managed Service Provider (MSP) on a long term contract basis."

Economic Survey 2011-12 claimed,

"The Aadhaar project is set to become the largest biometric capture and identification project in the world." It is admitted by UIDAI that there are "ownership risks (Ownership of the project by stakeholders), Technology risks (nowhere in the world a project of this size has been implemented) and privacy concerns (there may be groups raising privacy issues – many ID Projects in western countries have been stalled due to the opposition of privacy groups)."

The UIDAI claims that it is "putting into place the risk mitigation strategies to minimize some of these risks" but this has never been shared with the Parliament and the citizens.

Union Budget speech 2012-13 under the heading Growth, Fiscal Consolidation and Subsidies reads:

"23. The recommendations of the task force headed by Shri Nandan Nilekani on IT strategy for direct transfer of subsidy have been accepted…This step will benefit 12 crore farmer families, while reducing expenditure on subsidies by curtailing misuse of fertilizers." Such claims of benefits from direct transfer of subsidy has been debunked in the past, but government remains

adamant to pursue this path under the influence of vested interests. The Ministry of Planning, in their Action Taken Reply has been quoted as having stated that "UIDAI has been authorized to enroll 60 crore residents by March 2014 through the multiple registrar approach. As against this, UIDAI has enrolled 36.58 crore residents and a further 10.94 crore residents have been enrolled by RGI. Total enrolments by the end of June 2013 is 47.52 crore. The total Aadhaar generation up to the end of June 2013 is 37.37 crore……The average cost per card is estimated to range between Rs100 to Rs157″ in October 2013 report of PSC to the Parliament. The total budgetary allocations made for UIDAI since its inception up to 31 March 2014 is Rs5, 440.30 crore, as per details given below:

S.No Financial Year Amount (Rs. crore)

1. 2009-10 25.65*

2. 2010-11 268.41*

3. 2011-12 1187.52*

4. 2012-13 1338.72*

5. 2013-14 2620.00^

TOTAL 5440.30

*Actual Expenditure, ^ Budget Estimates

The budget of this project comes under the ministry of planning. The budgetary support to Aadhaar was increased by 47% to Rs1,758 crore in 2012-13 from Rs1,200 crore in 2011-12 for UIDAI to enroll Indian

residents for their unique IDs/Aadhaar to 60 crore from 20 crore. A provision of Rs2,620 crore has been allocated in Budget Estimate (2013-14) for UIDAI and a major part of the budget provision for Rs1,040 crore is earmarked for 'Enrolment Authentication and Updation', out of which Rs1,000 crore has been earmarked under the head 'other charges'. What is this "other charges"? Besides this what is the justification of Planning Commission undertaking enrolment of 60 crore Indian residents under UID and

Ministry of Home Affairs enrolling 61 crores under NPR. Is the Congress-led government running two similar projects with public money to merely satisfy the anonymous donors of the party? The 31-member Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance examined and censured on numerous occasions. In its April 2013 report on UIDAI (Sixty-Ninth Report) observes, "The Committee is concerned to note that during the last three financial years (up to January, 2013), a huge sum of Rs2,342 crore has been spent on the Scheme and Rs2,620 crore has been allocated in BE 2013-14, out of which Rs1,040 crore is earmarked for 'Enrolment Authentication and Updation' pending legislative sanction of the Scheme. The Committee strongly feels that in the absence of legislation, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is discharging its functions without any legal basis."

As of 1 February 2014, the members of the Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (CCUIDAI) related issues that oversee the project include Dr Manmohan Singh, Sharad Pawar, P Chidambaram, Sushilkumar Shinde, Kapil Sibal, Girija Vyas and Jairam Ramesh. After it came to light in a cabinet meeting that these ministers themselves were not clear as to whether biometric identifier number branded as Aadhaar refers to a card or a number, the Group of

Ministers (GoM) regarding 'Issue of Resident Identity Cards' to all usual residents of the country of age 18 years and above under the scheme of National Population Register (NPR) was constituted to look for an answer, it seems. The Terms of Reference of this GoM is to "examine all aspects relating to the proposal for issuing Resident Identity Cards to the usual residents of the country, keeping in view all relevant issues and finalize its recommendations at an early date." This GoM on Resident Identity Cards has an ulterior motive of outwitting opposition parties because during Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) regime, the same was proposed. It is an exercise to create an illusion of bipartisan support.

It is quite astounding that none of the members of CCUIDAI or the GoM members, be it AK Antony, P Chidambaram, Ghulam Nabi Azad, Sushilkumar Shinde, Ajit Singh, Kapil Sibal, Praful Patel, V Kishore Chandra Deo or Jairam Ramesh have got themselves enrolled for either UID/Aadhaar or NPR. Notably, Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi, the political patrons of the project have chosen not to enroll and baptize themselves with so-called right to identity to them. Pranab Mukheree, who fathered the project and declares how he set it rolling in his bio-data is also conspicuous by refraining from enrolment like LK Advani, Mayawati, Mamata Banerjee, Mulayam Singh Yadav, Prakash Karat, Nitish Kumar or

Arvind Kejriwal. None of the known editors of print and electronic media have enrolled themselves for it. No known social worker, be it Medha Patkar, Aruna Roy or Sandeep Pandey have endorsed it. No known judges, lawyers, jurists or academicians of the country have got themselves biometrically profiled under the project. In fact acclaimed scholars like Ashis Nandy have referred to UID number as prison number. Likes of whistleblowers such as AK Jain and Press Council of India member, Arun Kumar have debunked it. This demonstrates that the project does not enjoy the confidence of the senior most politicians, judges, scholars, activists and the legal fraternity of the country.

From among the political class only those who appear innocent of deeper politics like Raj Thackeray, Arjun Munda and Narendra Modi have been conned into it.

The Supreme Court is hearing the case challenging the constitutionality of UIDAI for collection of biometric data and

demographic data of residents of Indian in order to create a Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) of 12 digit biometric unique identification (UID)/aadhaar number on a regular basis.

Be it Delhi, Maharashtra, Assam, Tamil Nadu or Gujarat, State's failure to tame violence based on parochial regionalism, casteism and communalism does not inspire confidence. The plight of migrant students and workers across the country is a chilling reminder. In such a context, State cannot be trusted with the centralized database

of personal sensitive information of residents and citizens of India. This entails end of privacy and security of sovereign citizens in the way Nazi party of Germany had envisaged. State has failed to stop violence against compatriots from North-Eastern states in Delhi and north Indians in Assam. Chidambaram's crocodile tears for "poor, migrant workers, the homeless, and the oppressed" is one of the least convincing statement he ever made in his political career.

The Contempt Petition (Civil) No. 144/2014 besides Writ Petition (Civil) No. 494 of 2012, W.P(C) No. 829 of 2013, W.P. (C) No. 932/2013, T.C. (C) No. 152/2013, T.C. (C) No. 151/2013 and W.P. (C) No. 833/2013 is being heard in the Supreme Court. Ministry of Petroleum, its oil companies and Congress ruled States have committed contempt by making aadhaar mandatory despite Court's order of September 23, 2013 and November 26, 2013.

In such a scenario, any further allocation for UIDAI in the interim budget, 2014-15 which "is discharging its functions without any legal basis" will be yet another act of contempt towards Parliament and citizens' democratic rights. The proposal to re-introduce the NIDAI Bill is a disingenuous exercise mocking parliamentary process at the fag end of the 5-year term after the execution of the project, which seems aimed at creating a charade of trying to create a legal basis

for indefensible UIDAI.

For Details: Gopal Krishna, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), Mb: 08227816731, 09818089660, Email:gopalkrishna1715@gmail.com