STATEMENT OF CONCERN ON UNIQUE IDENTITY (UID)/AADHAAR NUMBER
The project that proposes
to give every resident a `unique identity number’ is a matter of great concern
for those working on issues of food security, NREGA, migration, technology,
decentralisation, constitutionalism, civil liberties and human rights. The process
of setting up the Authority has resulted in very little, if any, discussion
about this project and its effects and fallout. The documents on the UIDAI
website, and a recent draft law (the National Identification Authority Bill,
which is also on the website) do not provide answers to the many questions that
are being raised in the public domain. This project is intended to collect
demographic data about all residents in the country. It is said that it will
impact on the PDS and NREGA programmes, and plug leakages and save the
government large sums of money. It would, however, seem that even basic
procedures have not been followed before launching on such a massive project.
Before it goes any further,
we consider it imperative that the following be done:
• Do a feasibility study: There are claims made in relation to the project, about what it can do for PDS and NREGA, for instance, which does not reflect any understanding of the situation of the situation on the ground. The project documents do not say what other effects the project may have, including its potential to be intrusive and violative of privacy, who may handle the data (there will be multiple persons involved in entering, maintaining and using the data), who may be able to have access to the data and similar other questions.
• Do a feasibility study: There are claims made in relation to the project, about what it can do for PDS and NREGA, for instance, which does not reflect any understanding of the situation of the situation on the ground. The project documents do not say what other effects the project may have, including its potential to be intrusive and violative of privacy, who may handle the data (there will be multiple persons involved in entering, maintaining and using the data), who may be able to have access to the data and similar other questions.
• Do a cost:benefit
analysis: It is reported that the UIDAI estimates the project will costs Rs
45,000 crores to the exchequer in the next 4 years. This does not seem to
include the costs that will be incurred by Registrars, Enrollers, internal
systems costs that the PDs system will have to budget if it is to be able to
use the UID, the estimated cost to the end user and to the number holder.
• In a system such as this,
a mere statement that the UIDAI will deal with the security of the data is
obviously insufficient. How does the UIDAI propose to deal with data theft? If
this security cannot be reasonably guaranteed, the wisdom of holding such data
in a central registry may need to be reviewed.
• The involvement of firms
such as Ernst & Young and Accenture raise further questions about who will
have access to the data, and what that means to the people of India.
• Constitutionality of this
project, including in the matter of privacy, the relationship between the state
and the people, security and other fundamental rights.
Questions have been raised which have not been addressed so far, including those about –
• Undemocratic process: UIDAI was set-up via a GoI notification as an attached office of the Planning Commission without any discussion or debate in the Parliament or civil society. In the year and a half of its inception, the Authority has signed MoUs with virtually all states and UTs, LIC, Petroleum Ministry and many banks. In July, the Authority circulated the draft NIA Bill (to achieve statutory status); the window for public feedback was two weeks. Despite widespread feedback and calls for making all feedback public, the Authority has not made feedback available. Further in direct contravention to the process of public feedback, the NIA Bill was listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha 2010 monsoon session
Questions have been raised which have not been addressed so far, including those about –
• Undemocratic process: UIDAI was set-up via a GoI notification as an attached office of the Planning Commission without any discussion or debate in the Parliament or civil society. In the year and a half of its inception, the Authority has signed MoUs with virtually all states and UTs, LIC, Petroleum Ministry and many banks. In July, the Authority circulated the draft NIA Bill (to achieve statutory status); the window for public feedback was two weeks. Despite widespread feedback and calls for making all feedback public, the Authority has not made feedback available. Further in direct contravention to the process of public feedback, the NIA Bill was listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha 2010 monsoon session
• Privacy (It is only now
that the DoPT is said to be working on a draft of a privacy law, but nothing is
out for discussion even yet)
• Surveillance: where this
technology, and the existence of the UID number, and its working, could result
in increasing the potential for surveillance
• Profiling
• Tracking
• Convergence, by which
those with access to state power, as well as companies, could collate
information about each individual with the help of the UID number.
National IDs have been abandoned in the US, Australia and the newly-elected British government. The reasons have predominantly been: costs and privacy. If it is too expensive for the US with a population of 308 million, and the UK with 61 million people, and Australia with 21 million people, it is being asked why India thinks it can prioritise its spending in this direction. In the UK, the Home Secretary explained that they were abandoning the project because it would otherwise be `intrusive bullying’ by the state, and that the government intended to be the `servant’ of the people, and not their `master’. Is there a lesson in it for us? In the late nineties, the Supreme Court of Philippines struck down the President’s Executive Order A.O 308 which instituted a biometric based national ID system calling it unconstitutional on two grounds – the overreach of the executive over the legislative powers of the congress and invasion of privacy. The same is applicable in India – UIDAI has been constituted on the basis of a GoI notification and there is a fundamental risk to civil liberties with the convergence of UID, NATGRID etc.
National IDs have been abandoned in the US, Australia and the newly-elected British government. The reasons have predominantly been: costs and privacy. If it is too expensive for the US with a population of 308 million, and the UK with 61 million people, and Australia with 21 million people, it is being asked why India thinks it can prioritise its spending in this direction. In the UK, the Home Secretary explained that they were abandoning the project because it would otherwise be `intrusive bullying’ by the state, and that the government intended to be the `servant’ of the people, and not their `master’. Is there a lesson in it for us? In the late nineties, the Supreme Court of Philippines struck down the President’s Executive Order A.O 308 which instituted a biometric based national ID system calling it unconstitutional on two grounds – the overreach of the executive over the legislative powers of the congress and invasion of privacy. The same is applicable in India – UIDAI has been constituted on the basis of a GoI notification and there is a fundamental risk to civil liberties with the convergence of UID, NATGRID etc.
The UIDAI is still at the
stage of conducting pilot studies. The biometric pilot study has reportedly
already thrown up problems especially among the poor whose fingerprints are not
stable, and whose iris scans suffer from malnourishment related cataract and
among whom the incidence of corneal scars is often found. The project is
clearly still in its inception. The project should be halted before it goes any
further and the prelude to the project be attended to, the public informed and
consulted, and the wisdom of the project determined. The Draft Bill too needs
to be publicly debated. This is a project that could change the status of the
people in this country, with effects on our security and constitutional rights,
and a consideration of all aspects of the project should be undertaken with
this in mind.
We, therefore, ask that:
• The
project be halted
• A
feasibility study be done covering all aspects of this issue
• Experts
be tasked with studying its constitutionality
• The law
on privacy be urgently worked on (this will affect matters way beyond the UID
project)
• A cost:
benefit analysis be done
• A
public, informed debate be conducted before any such major change be brought
in.
Signatories
Signatories
Justice
VR Krishna Iyer, Retired Judge, Supreme Court of India
Prof
Romila Thapar, Historian
K.G.Kannabiran,
Senior Civil Liberties Lawyer
Kavita Srivastava,
PUCL and Right to Food Campaign
Aruna
Roy, MKKS, Rajasthan
Nikhil
Dey, MKKS, Rajasthan
S.R.Sankaran,
Retired Secretary, Government of India
Deep
Joshi, Independent Consultant
Upendra
Baxi, Jurist and ex-Vice Chancellor of Universities of Surat and Delhi
Uma
Chakravarthi, Historian
Shohini
Ghosh, Teacher and Film Maker
Amar
Kanwar, Film Maker
Bezwada Wilson,
Safai Karamchari Andolan
Trilochan
Sastry, IIMB, and Association for Democratic Reforms
Prof.
Jagdish Chhokar, ex- IIMA, and Association for Democratic Rights
Shabnam
Hashmi, ANHAD
Justice
A.P.Shah, Retired Chief Justice of High Court of Delhi
*Note: The statement was signed and released on 28th September,
2010.
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