It is 5th Jan 2011 today and Aadhaar which means "Foundation" is shaping up more and more as as a comedy of errors like "Fawlty Towers" . (Fawlty Towers (1975–1979) was a BBC television sitcom about hotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance that form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.)
The Latest news is that the nation is full of touts selling Aadhaar forms, and helping poor people complete them for a fee and act as referees providing details of false residential addresses that get accepted by Aadhaar Registrars, perhaps for a small fee. There is nothing the NIAI Chief sitting in his Fawlty Towers can do to rectify such practices.
After all UIDAI or NIAIs responsibility is only issuing an identity number called Aadhaar and all responsibility to gather information and biometrics falls on State Governments not UIDAI.
Aadhaar is an expensive joke to say the least.
Aadhaar is an expensive joke to say the least.
Ram
______________________________________
authored by Ram Krishnaswamy
29th September 2010, will go down in history as a sad day, when poor and illiterate masses will be herded in like cattle in Nandurbar in Maharashtra to be “BRANDED” for life and issued a Unique number and a Barcode that is not so Unique anymore called “Aadhaar”.
This will be followed by branding 600 million voiceless poor and illiterate masses in the next four years with IT companies & American Consultants raking in as much as Rs 45000 crores or US $ 9 Billion that could have been used to boost primary education and health services.
Not only the poor, Aadhaar numbers will be forcefully issued to school children from first class to 10th standards..
How could something that is meant to be optional be forced on children is a question that we have to ask ? Do the children, citizens of tomorrow have a choice ? Do we as parents have a choice to decide if our school going children should register for Aadhaar or not ? I see this as a cunning ploy by UIDAI to make what is touted as optional as a compulsory registration.
Aadhaar is based on a false premise marketed through “Imagining India” by Nandan Nilekani, that has very very weak foundations such as, giving the poor the identity that the Govt lacks to provide its services through PDS and NREGA.
If you are reading this you have to be educated. Please ask yourself the question if you as an educated Indian will queue up for Aadhaar. If not why not ?
Would you like to have all your pieces of identity like Passport, Driving Licence, PAN Card, Ration Card, Mobile Phone numbers, Bank account number etc etc all linked up by one common number called Aadhaar. Would you like your tax man to know details of all your bank accounts and savings ? If the answer is yes, I have nothing to say.
If your answer is no, then if it is not good for you and me why is it being forced on the poor and illiterate and innocent school children who do not have a clue about consequences, where this very Aadhaar can be abused by people in power and law enforcers.
On the other hand if Aadhaar was to be compulsorily issued to all central and state public servants and is to be used to weed out corruption it makes sense as it will save the nation billions that can be used for the betterment of society. No we do not want to touch corrupt officials who swindle thousands of crores yet we want to use Aadhaar for de duplication to ensure that no poor man can get twice the amount of the 35 Kg rice he is allotted per month.
Aadhaar is based on a false premise marketed through “Imagining India” by Nandan Nilekani, that has very very weak foundations such as, giving the poor the identity that the Govt lacks to provide its services through PDS and NREGA.
If you are reading this you have to be educated. Please ask yourself the question if you as an educated Indian will queue up for Aadhaar. If not why not ?
Would you like to have all your pieces of identity like Passport, Driving Licence, PAN Card, Ration Card, Mobile Phone numbers, Bank account number etc etc all linked up by one common number called Aadhaar. Would you like your tax man to know details of all your bank accounts and savings ? If the answer is yes, I have nothing to say.
If your answer is no, then if it is not good for you and me why is it being forced on the poor and illiterate and innocent school children who do not have a clue about consequences, where this very Aadhaar can be abused by people in power and law enforcers.
On the other hand if Aadhaar was to be compulsorily issued to all central and state public servants and is to be used to weed out corruption it makes sense as it will save the nation billions that can be used for the betterment of society. No we do not want to touch corrupt officials who swindle thousands of crores yet we want to use Aadhaar for de duplication to ensure that no poor man can get twice the amount of the 35 Kg rice he is allotted per month.
The reality is that most poor cannot even afford to buy the full allocated quota of 35 kg per month as they do not have the money.. 35 KG at Rs 3 works out to Rs 105 and here is UIDAI that will issue bank accounts to people who cannot afford Rs 105 a month to avail their full quota of rice..and to make this possible all national banks have signed MOUs with UIDAI now NIAI to get a share of 600 million new bank accounts that will have no money in them
UIDAI which has now become NIAI and sounds like “Truth” is a Mega untruth & a swindle by the IT sector. The Cabinet and the PM are going along only to save face at this point of time. The resistance is mounting and UIDAI officials like Director General of UIDAI Mr.R.S.Sharma cannot tell NAC members that questions raised “reflects some fundamental misunderstandings on the objectives of the UIDAI”. Mr Sharma should realise that NAC members raising questions are better qualified than he is on socio economic matters
The FBI in USA has only 55 million records and 100 000 verifications each day and used only for security purposes and to track criminals or potential terrorists which is justified.
Aadhaar Computer on the other hand ( if successful) will contain at least 600 million records if not 1.2 Billion and will require 2 to 3 million authentications on a daily basis only to issue NREGA payments and PDS allocations.
Does India need this white elephant to care for the poor when we have simpler solutions staring us in the face like decentralisng PDS and empowering Panchayats ?
But then haw can we expect a billionaire who confesses he knows more about New York than Villages in India to know how to serve the poor in India ? Not long before citizens of the largest democracy in the world wake up and put an end to Aadhaar..
Quoting Rajiv Gandhi “Democracy was the greatest gift of our freedom struggle to the people of India. Independence made the nation free. Democracy made our people free. A free people are a people who are governed by their will and ruled with their consent. A free people are a people who participate in decisions affecting their lives and their destinies”.
The question is are we a free people who can participate in decisions afffecting our lives and destinies or should we allow self professed wizard & IT czar like Nandan Nilekani to make these decisions for 1.2 billion people ?
UIDAI which has now become NIAI and sounds like “Truth” is a Mega untruth & a swindle by the IT sector. The Cabinet and the PM are going along only to save face at this point of time. The resistance is mounting and UIDAI officials like Director General of UIDAI Mr.R.S.Sharma cannot tell NAC members that questions raised “reflects some fundamental misunderstandings on the objectives of the UIDAI”. Mr Sharma should realise that NAC members raising questions are better qualified than he is on socio economic matters
The FBI in USA has only 55 million records and 100 000 verifications each day and used only for security purposes and to track criminals or potential terrorists which is justified.
Aadhaar Computer on the other hand ( if successful) will contain at least 600 million records if not 1.2 Billion and will require 2 to 3 million authentications on a daily basis only to issue NREGA payments and PDS allocations.
Does India need this white elephant to care for the poor when we have simpler solutions staring us in the face like decentralisng PDS and empowering Panchayats ?
But then haw can we expect a billionaire who confesses he knows more about New York than Villages in India to know how to serve the poor in India ? Not long before citizens of the largest democracy in the world wake up and put an end to Aadhaar..
Quoting Rajiv Gandhi “Democracy was the greatest gift of our freedom struggle to the people of India. Independence made the nation free. Democracy made our people free. A free people are a people who are governed by their will and ruled with their consent. A free people are a people who participate in decisions affecting their lives and their destinies”.
The question is are we a free people who can participate in decisions afffecting our lives and destinies or should we allow self professed wizard & IT czar like Nandan Nilekani to make these decisions for 1.2 billion people ?
“Hi-tech without Panchayati Raj is just a bogus stunt for geeks and nerds.” says Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress leader
Ram Krishnaswamy, Sydney, Australia
http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com/
http://questioningaadhaar.blogspot.com/
ramrajah@optusnet.com.au
Please feel free to post your comments on the article in the blog.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. Edmund Burke
Ram Krishnaswamy, Sydney, Australia
http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com/
http://questioningaadhaar.blogspot.com/
ramrajah@optusnet.com.au
Please feel free to post your comments on the article in the blog.
“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. Edmund Burke
“Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist”. Edmund Burke
“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.” Mahatma Gandhi
“Democracy was the greatest gift of our freedom struggle to the people of India. Independence made the nation free. Democracy made our people free. A free people are a people who are governed by their will and ruled with their consent. A free people are a people who participate in decisions affecting their lives and their destinies”. Rajiv Gandhi
Hi-tech without Panchayati Raj is just a bogus stunt for geeks and nerds.” Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress leader
