Unique objections to UID

Concerns about the legality of collecting personal identification for issuing unique identification numbers has not abated even a year after the Aadhaar project was launched.

“There is no mandate for the project. The bill is pending. There has been no discussion in the Parliament,” argued citizens at a discussion on Friday.

Apprehensions notwithstanding, the government is ramping up the enrolment drive, promising to cater to a million people a day by October.

Citizens present at the discussion on ‘Unique ID System: Pros and Cons’, attended by Ashok Dalwai, deputy director UIDAI, said the government had failed to justify spending thousands of crores on a project that was not even justified with a project report. “Where is the law that says one should submit to this data collection?” they asked Dalwai, who explained that a government notification was sufficient to carry out the project. This has to be questioned in a court of law, he added. “The demand is so high, far beyond our expectations. We are unable to attend to everyone who walks in. Why would so many people come forward if they were not convinced?” he said.

The explanations failed to convince the crowd.

“Your presentations were all within the box. We want answers. Don’t just state what has already been said,” said Jagadish, a member from the audience. He was referring to presentations by Dalwai and T Prabhakar, the PRO of e-governance, that covered the basics of the project.

“India is relying on biometrics when other developing countries have discarded it,” said Mathew Thomas, general secretary, Citizens’ Action Forum.

“If others are abandoning it, it does not mean we have to do the same,” Dalwai countered, “We have our own constitution, our own laws, and systems. Students from Japan come here to study our systems and our applications of IT. We are far ahead. No other country has achieved this pace,” he said.

Using biometrics to identify people would lead to exclusion of a huge chunk of the population. Also, one cannot be sure of the safety of the data in the system, others argued. Dalwai replied that no system is 100% fool-proof. “We need to stop duplication of ration cards. We need technology to do so, we need systems which are more important than individuals,” he argued, making a case that benefits far outweigh the perils.

About 10 crore people are mobile today; it is not just the uneducated. Their identity in electronic form has made this essential today, Dalwai said. Also, there is a need to stop duplication of ration cards as there are those with over a 100 of them and those with none, he said. The cost of ensuring this is high but even if it involves tens of thousands of crores of rupees, we should go ahead with it as the returns justify it, he said.