Bio-metric data----"to be" or "not to be"

"Aadhar" refers to collection of bio-metric data (photo of iris, and fingerprints) of individual citizens, to identify them with a unique number given in their identification cards. When Aadhar was first started by the UPA-II regime(previous government), it was not accepted by all. What are the uses of this number, it enabled citizens to get subsidized LPG, enabled unemployment benefits, it enabled food subsidies and funds for student loans etc.While the poor got subsidies, the middle class and the upper classes did not like it as it revealed too much of their personal data. Thus, many did not like it at all. Their objection was that the Aadhar scheme could  give the common law abiding citizen to major danger – primarily because, to get the Aadhar card, one must first disclose his all personal details to the government which then holds on to it forever. Any acquisition of property or wealth would bring him under direct radar of the government.

This means that by using Aadhar number, the central government was in a position to hold virtually anybody in ransom if and when it had to. Add to that the threats emanating from the bad elements in the society including the mafia could always lay their hands on the income tax returns of individuals.Data security is not there at all. A private company makes the data and there are no laws which prevents it from sharing it. The private company could always say, "we did not know about data leakage" All personal details of the individuals applying for Aadhar card are all available to private companies involved in the UID scheme, include some foreign companies. Sometimes foreign government can acquire it too.

Keeping in view of all the looming threats, a petition was filed in the Supreme court  against the government move to make Aadhar a mandatory choice to take advantage of various government schemes and subsidies. It was argued that Aadhar, in essence, was a violation of the fundamental rights of the citizens in addition to being a threat to sovereignty of the nation. The petition was admitted by the apex court and the matter, as of now, is subjudice. It is still under consideration, but bio-metric data is being collected, before  having authorization to collect it. The law says that only fingerprints of criminals could be collected, ordinary citizens' finger prints cannot be collected.

The apex court also made it clear in an interim order that it was not mandatory to be in possession of the Aadhar card to avail government subsidies. Despite that, commoners are still being asked to furnish their Aadhar details in order to get subsidies on LPG cylinder, bank accounts etc. Despite its validity being a subjudice matter, the government has already spent INR 8000 crore for pushing the Aadhar card to the masses – that too without the sanction of the Parliament. Before lawfully collecting data, it is collected.Is this not un-lawful?It is perplexing to know that government is "for" collection of bio-metric data from Indian population or "not for" collection of such data. Supreme Court has ruled that giving bio-metric data by individuals is not mandatory. But if one wants  to get ones pension and state benefits, one needs to give Aadhar number. As per Supreme Court, to get LPG subsidies, Aadhar is not compulsory. This is  so contradictory.The Supreme Court is most hopeful to go for an early hearing of the application filed by the centre seeking directions to use Aadhar card as the means to identify target people for different social welfare schemes.

Earlier the 3-judge bench declined to elucidate its August 11 order limiting Aadhar card usage to avail ration and LPG subsidy from PDS shops stating it would be heard by a constitution bench. Reacting to the bench’s observation, attorney general Mukul Rohatgi including important organisations of the states pleaded for an urgent hearing before a bench headed by CJI, H L Dattu.

The CJI said he would soon take a decision about constituting the 5-judge constitution bench. However, he made it clear that he was not in favor of setting a nine-judge constitution bench as pleaded by some parties involved in the case. The constitution of nine judges for Aadhaar would seriously affect the proceedings of other cases scheduled in the Apex Court.

The central governmant has made a representation before the Apex court that more than 90 crore people in India hold Aadhar card, and it would be easier to follow a one window identification mechanism to ensure the benefits of social welfare schemes reaching the target population.

 The Madhya Pradesh state government got orders from central government to make Aadhar number mandatory for people who want to take their provident fund and pension. The decision was made mandatory in three districts from January 1 which were Harda, Khandwa and Hoshangabad. The government is soon going to implement the scheme in all over the state. EPFO has already notified the people who come under these three districts that Aadhaar is mandatory if they wanted to get their pension and provident fund. Central government gave orders to the state government to collect the information of all the EPFO members and the pensioners and to link the bank accounts of the beneficiaries by December 31. The central government has asked the officials to setup new camps for collecting all this information.

Unique Identification Authority of India has decided to setup permanent Aadhaar enrollment centers in the state of Andhra Pradesh within a month. As per the reports it is estimated that near about 1400 camps will be set up in the entire state. The control of these centers is given to the IT department of Andhra Pradesh and the central common service will also support in smooth running of these enrollment centers. With the setting up of these enrollment centers people will be able to facilitate all the aadhaar card based services easily without any problem.

Recently a report was published which told that the details of the individuals which are collected through the enrollment process of Aadhaar are leaked to various third party companies without prior knowledge to the enrolled persons. Individual's data can be miss used. 
The photo above is not related to the topic. It is picture of a "step well" in the historic Red Fort in New Delhi