Bro, just got aadhaar fingerprint auth rejected two days in a row. Don't think i'll get it to work anytime soon. Local states' aadhaar auth rejection seems to be 30% rejection rate. (For first 3 months of 2017).
Those changes have little to do with Aadhaar. Efficiency in delivery could be achieved despite Aadhaar. If you look at the savings figures and all the analysis put in by many people, you'd understand that the government is publishing bogus figures. In the case of cooking gas (LPG), even the CAG (Comptroller and Auditor General of India) disproved the claims of huge savings.
Does the author mean, biometric details have been leaked? I think he last 3 paragraphs, it looks like she's kind of using the numbers leak (aadhar numbers are not meant to be private, like SSN in the US) and the biometrics leak interchangeably.
The whole purpose of the project was to provide means of identification of people that didn't have any kind of document – passport, driving license, etc.
Identification of people is crucial in regions where some people receive subsidies as ensures it reaches the right people.
It's a shame this platform is being potentially used to violate citizen's privacy. Maybe a EU GDPR-esque regulation would balance the control on where private information is used back to the citizen.
> The whole purpose of the project was to provide means of identification of people that didn't have any kind of document – passport, driving license, etc.
That was just the guise under which it was launched. Aadhaar has been a poorly thought out and poorly implemented solution that's still looking for problems. Responses to RTI (Right to Information) queries have shown that 99.7% of people who enrolled for Aadhaar did so using existing identification documents. Only 0.3% enrolled without identity documents using the "introducer" system. [1]
I hope they don't. Do you even realize what you are talking about! If they did that, it is easy to conceive a system that can determine whom you voted for (at a certain level of confidence). That kind of information can have potentially harmful consequences for many.
Why don't they create a system like UIDAI Payments where you can generate different aliases that all link to your actual aadhaar profile with permission based access and access history features. Seems like an issue that can be remedied with technology IMO.
To clarify, instead of submitting his actual aadhar details, the user submits a generated token that can be used by the information-requesting party to pull details of the user from the aadhaar database. This transaction is logged and the user gets to see the details of the party who requested it.
This is actually one of the long term plans. Like another comment said it's very difficult to identify who's a citizen and who's not, so people are likely to give up some privacy for getting other benefits. In fact most people outside of the urban areas don't even give a fk about privacy and are merely looking forward to getting food for the next meal. So in India the people's priorities are very different than that in US/EU.
Indian left wing has been calling the current ruling party and the government "Fascist"[1] for a while now. So there is quite a bit of fear mongering regarding Adhar, as left suspects that govt. will eventually use this to crack down on the dissenting voices. But for those who don't share that opinion, this is part that needs attention,
"The guidelines could have come earlier, and given large data leaks in the past may also be redundant. Nevertheless, it is reassuring to see practices for keeping information safe and the idea of positive informed consent being reinforced for government departments."ie, Though delayed, corrective measures are being taken.
And it is the current party that was parading the dangers of Aadhar when they were in opposition. I like how you gave a completely one-sided view of the story. There have been documented cases of Aadhar misuse and personal information being leaked, but of course none of this bothers you.
It's real and existential threat, given Indian govt is lousy when it comes to data protection. Indeed all aadhaar data is floating in many corporations especially the one supporting current govt. No laws on its misuse and govt cannot be taken to court. Indeed by blaming and divisive politics current govt is very capable to divert attention from real issue and blame left and calls all those opposing it enemies.
> However, unlike countries where similar schemes have been implemented, invasive bio-metric collection is being imposed as a condition for basic entitlements in India
Remember: India has a unique set of challenges to overcome if it has to survive and prosper as a nation. It is surrounded by not-so-amenable neighbors and with cross-border infiltration at a constant strategy used against India ("death by thousand cuts").[1]
And almost 20 million Bangladeshis have illegally crossed over from the eastern border [2] [3] and (unfortunately, reportedly getting Aadhar cards through whatever means, which defeats the purpose if it is true), for a country of a billion odd people at risk with such high uncertainty profile - the requirement to identify at least their own citizens vs the intruders/ offenders becomes a strategic and security action from the government perspective.
I think we would be in wrong to compare the "right to privacy" in this scenario to that of the more developed nations that are pretty much geographically blessed/ isolated, population wise less dense, religiously homogenous and technologically advanced as such that they can track covertly vis-a-vis getting biometric details directly. In fact, the Supreme Court of India has observed that [4] "Supreme Court asks if right to privacy is absolute?"
> Remember: India has a unique set of challenges to overcome if it has to survive and prosper as a nation.
Every country has unique challenges, and India does too. But throwing technology, and that too unreliable technology with almost non-existent infrastructure (like connectivity in rural areas where the poor really have to have an Aadhaar for benefits), is a very naive way to handle it.
> And almost 20 million Bangladeshis have illegally crossed over from the eastern border [2] [3] and (unfortunately, reportedly getting Aadhar cards through whatever means,
Aadhaar is for any resident in India, and not just for citizens. Since Aadhaar is also provided through the "introducer" system without any documents, it's not difficult to get. Plus, UIDAI has blacklisted 34,000 enrollment agencies so far over the years. That's one rogue private agency every two hours, on average!
In the state of Assam (bordering Bangladesh), Aadhaar enrollment is not being done. The same is the case in a few other border states too.
Any assumption of Aadhaar identifying legal aliens vs. illegal aliens/non-citizens defies the very fundamental definition and implementation of Aadhaar. There is no way, currently, for Aadhaar to be used to identify citizens or even to be provided only to citizens!
> I think we would be in wrong to compare the "right to privacy" in this scenario to that of the more developed nations that are pretty much geographically blessed/ isolated, population wise less dense, religiously homogenous and technologically advanced as such that they can track covertly vis-a-vis getting biometric details directly.
I completely disagree. A country like India with lower awareness about privacy, identity theft, etc., actually needs privacy as a fundamental right more than other countries where such awareness is more. Now Indians are just being fooled and coerced into submission to get an Aadhaar number. Also, it's important to remember that privacy is not just about one person alone. Without privacy and safeguards, the very foundations of democracies will crumble when there can no longer be any kind of dissent or disagreement with respect to those in power (because they can use their means to find out who the dissenters are, where they go, who they communicate with, etc.).
Dismissing privacy as not a requirement is very dangerous for humans and societies. While it cannot be an absolute right, there certainly must be due process and safeguards against the state machinery misusing its powers against individual citizens. Currently India does not have any such safeguards.
Lastly, on your link on the Supreme Court asking if right to privacy is absolute, that case was heard and concluded last week. The court hasn't yet delivered its judgment. So taking piecemeal articles about the proceedings does not provide any meaningful way to understand what transpired.
One can only hope that the Supreme Court of India decides to declare privacy as a fundamental right subject to due process and considerations for different matters. If it doesn't declare so, the India of next century will likely be an authoritarian nation only because of Aadhaar and the lack of any consideration about privacy.
The pro: There have been significant fiscal benefits - fake personas have been completely eliminated in the welfare schemes that are aadhar linked, saving a lot for the taxpayers.
The con: Government has all your biometrics, and can technically mine data from connected services to build a very detailed profile of you (hypothetically).
IMO, both sides have valid points, and so it ends up being about which side the ruling government wants to fall towards.
Most (all?) savings claims by govt are at best projected numbers. For those interested in an analysis of the savings claim and some of the other myths propagated by govt, see the 3 part analysis by Anand (https://twitter.com/iam_anandv) linked below
> The pro: There have been significant fiscal benefits - fake personas have been completely eliminated in the welfare schemes that are aadhar linked, saving a lot for the taxpayers.
Sorry, you seem to be misinformed. If you look at Rethink Aadhaar [1] and its Twitter feed [2], you'd see how state governments were weeding out fake personas even without and before Aadhaar, and that Aadhaar by itself didn't make a big dent. All the claims of savings have reasons other than deduplication (including lies and excluding hundreds of thousands of genuine beneficiaries from welfare that they're legally entitled to).
What Aadhaar has really done is excluded poor people, manual laborers whose biometrics cannot be verified, those who live far from where their entitlements are given (forcing them to visit multiple times instead of working to earn money or live their lives), those who're in areas of poor network connectivity (which is really huge in India). People have literally died, because Aadhaar and the governments' blatant disregard of the Supreme Court orders to keep it optional have excluded them and treated them as non-persons and non-citizens.
Sorry, after reading up about all this for quite sometime, I feel so strongly about what's been happening that I'm going to be quite harsh here. Aadhaar is a genocide enabler that the government is using and turning a blind eye to. One cannot even take anybody to court for any failures or identity thefts on this matter, because that right is solely reserved for the UIDAI through the Aadhaar Act. And UIDAI would promptly respond or take action only if you're a famous cricketer (like Dhoni). The rest of them can keep trying the call center number 1947 and pray that the Gods listen and do something.
> There have been significant fiscal benefits - fake personas have been completely eliminated in the welfare schemes that are aadhar linked, saving a lot for the taxpayers.
I'm deeply suspicious of any unqualified statements. It is extremely hard, if not impossible to prove your proposition.
> There have been significant fiscal benefits - fake personas have been completely eliminated in the welfare schemes that are aadhar linked, saving a lot for the taxpayers.
Oh I didn't know that. I used to blame politicians for our sorry state.
[+] [-] acdjuiamadfn|8 years ago|reply
Sure there are problems to be fixed but lets fix basic problems first
[+] [-] aangjie|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wtmt|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] calvinbhai|8 years ago|reply
AFAIK, no biometric data has been leaked yet.
[+] [-] bdeorus|8 years ago|reply
Identification of people is crucial in regions where some people receive subsidies as ensures it reaches the right people.
It's a shame this platform is being potentially used to violate citizen's privacy. Maybe a EU GDPR-esque regulation would balance the control on where private information is used back to the citizen.
[+] [-] wtmt|8 years ago|reply
That was just the guise under which it was launched. Aadhaar has been a poorly thought out and poorly implemented solution that's still looking for problems. Responses to RTI (Right to Information) queries have shown that 99.7% of people who enrolled for Aadhaar did so using existing identification documents. Only 0.3% enrolled without identity documents using the "introducer" system. [1]
[1]: http://www.hindustantimes.com/india/very-few-indians-didn-t-...
[+] [-] rajadigopula|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jiraaya|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] calvinbhai|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] k_lander|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] k_lander|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] pushparajxa|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] jitix|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dhaneshnm|8 years ago|reply
1.http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-news-india/sita...
[+] [-] middleclick|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] dragonsh|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] thrawy67|8 years ago|reply
> However, unlike countries where similar schemes have been implemented, invasive bio-metric collection is being imposed as a condition for basic entitlements in India
Remember: India has a unique set of challenges to overcome if it has to survive and prosper as a nation. It is surrounded by not-so-amenable neighbors and with cross-border infiltration at a constant strategy used against India ("death by thousand cuts").[1]
And almost 20 million Bangladeshis have illegally crossed over from the eastern border [2] [3] and (unfortunately, reportedly getting Aadhar cards through whatever means, which defeats the purpose if it is true), for a country of a billion odd people at risk with such high uncertainty profile - the requirement to identify at least their own citizens vs the intruders/ offenders becomes a strategic and security action from the government perspective.
I think we would be in wrong to compare the "right to privacy" in this scenario to that of the more developed nations that are pretty much geographically blessed/ isolated, population wise less dense, religiously homogenous and technologically advanced as such that they can track covertly vis-a-vis getting biometric details directly. In fact, the Supreme Court of India has observed that [4] "Supreme Court asks if right to privacy is absolute?"
[1] https://www.pgurus.com/india-superpower-or-balkanized-war-zo... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Illegal_immigration_to_India#H... [3] http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Two-crore-Banglades... [4] http://www.thehindu.com/news/national/privacy-not-absolute-s...
[+] [-] kchoudhu|8 years ago|reply
[+] [-] wtmt|8 years ago|reply
Every country has unique challenges, and India does too. But throwing technology, and that too unreliable technology with almost non-existent infrastructure (like connectivity in rural areas where the poor really have to have an Aadhaar for benefits), is a very naive way to handle it.
> And almost 20 million Bangladeshis have illegally crossed over from the eastern border [2] [3] and (unfortunately, reportedly getting Aadhar cards through whatever means,
Aadhaar is for any resident in India, and not just for citizens. Since Aadhaar is also provided through the "introducer" system without any documents, it's not difficult to get. Plus, UIDAI has blacklisted 34,000 enrollment agencies so far over the years. That's one rogue private agency every two hours, on average!
In the state of Assam (bordering Bangladesh), Aadhaar enrollment is not being done. The same is the case in a few other border states too.
Any assumption of Aadhaar identifying legal aliens vs. illegal aliens/non-citizens defies the very fundamental definition and implementation of Aadhaar. There is no way, currently, for Aadhaar to be used to identify citizens or even to be provided only to citizens!
> I think we would be in wrong to compare the "right to privacy" in this scenario to that of the more developed nations that are pretty much geographically blessed/ isolated, population wise less dense, religiously homogenous and technologically advanced as such that they can track covertly vis-a-vis getting biometric details directly.
I completely disagree. A country like India with lower awareness about privacy, identity theft, etc., actually needs privacy as a fundamental right more than other countries where such awareness is more. Now Indians are just being fooled and coerced into submission to get an Aadhaar number. Also, it's important to remember that privacy is not just about one person alone. Without privacy and safeguards, the very foundations of democracies will crumble when there can no longer be any kind of dissent or disagreement with respect to those in power (because they can use their means to find out who the dissenters are, where they go, who they communicate with, etc.).
Dismissing privacy as not a requirement is very dangerous for humans and societies. While it cannot be an absolute right, there certainly must be due process and safeguards against the state machinery misusing its powers against individual citizens. Currently India does not have any such safeguards.
Lastly, on your link on the Supreme Court asking if right to privacy is absolute, that case was heard and concluded last week. The court hasn't yet delivered its judgment. So taking piecemeal articles about the proceedings does not provide any meaningful way to understand what transpired.
One can only hope that the Supreme Court of India decides to declare privacy as a fundamental right subject to due process and considerations for different matters. If it doesn't declare so, the India of next century will likely be an authoritarian nation only because of Aadhaar and the lack of any consideration about privacy.
[+] [-] anilgulecha|8 years ago|reply
The con: Government has all your biometrics, and can technically mine data from connected services to build a very detailed profile of you (hypothetically).
IMO, both sides have valid points, and so it ends up being about which side the ruling government wants to fall towards.
[+] [-] tryprasannan|8 years ago|reply
Part 1 - https://www.medianama.com/2017/04/223-nandan-nilekani-aadhaa...
Part 2 - http://www.medianama.com/2017/04/223-aadhaar-nandan-nilekani...
Part 3 - https://www.medianama.com/2017/06/223-aadhaar-lpg-scheme/
[+] [-] wtmt|8 years ago|reply
Sorry, you seem to be misinformed. If you look at Rethink Aadhaar [1] and its Twitter feed [2], you'd see how state governments were weeding out fake personas even without and before Aadhaar, and that Aadhaar by itself didn't make a big dent. All the claims of savings have reasons other than deduplication (including lies and excluding hundreds of thousands of genuine beneficiaries from welfare that they're legally entitled to).
What Aadhaar has really done is excluded poor people, manual laborers whose biometrics cannot be verified, those who live far from where their entitlements are given (forcing them to visit multiple times instead of working to earn money or live their lives), those who're in areas of poor network connectivity (which is really huge in India). People have literally died, because Aadhaar and the governments' blatant disregard of the Supreme Court orders to keep it optional have excluded them and treated them as non-persons and non-citizens.
Sorry, after reading up about all this for quite sometime, I feel so strongly about what's been happening that I'm going to be quite harsh here. Aadhaar is a genocide enabler that the government is using and turning a blind eye to. One cannot even take anybody to court for any failures or identity thefts on this matter, because that right is solely reserved for the UIDAI through the Aadhaar Act. And UIDAI would promptly respond or take action only if you're a famous cricketer (like Dhoni). The rest of them can keep trying the call center number 1947 and pray that the Gods listen and do something.
[1]: https://rethinkaadhaar.in/
[2]: https://twitter.com/no2uid
[+] [-] jiraaya|8 years ago|reply
I'm deeply suspicious of any unqualified statements. It is extremely hard, if not impossible to prove your proposition.
[+] [-] fractalb|8 years ago|reply
Oh I didn't know that. I used to blame politicians for our sorry state.
[+] [-] DarkKomunalec|8 years ago|reply
lol
P.S.: I'm sure replies such as 'lol' are frowned upon, but I think in this case it conveys the idea perfectly and concisely.
[+] [-] chrisjohn93|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] truemen|8 years ago|reply
[deleted]