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wikimedia.org or a postal letter to the
 UIDAI (Aadhaar UIDAI new logo) | |
| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Formed | February 2009 |
| Jurisdiction | Government of India (Union Government) |
| Headquarters | New Delhi |
| Annual budget | ₹30 billion (US$350 million) (2010) |
| Agency executives |
|
| Website | uidai.gov.in |
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), is an agency of the Government of India responsible for implementing the AADHAAR scheme, a unique identification project. The agency, which enjoys no legal backing, was established in February 2009, and will own and operate the Unique Identification Number database. The agency aims to provide a unique identification number to all persons residents in India, but not identity cards. The agency will maintain a database of residents containing biometric and other data, and is headed by a chairman, who holds a cabinet rank. The UIDAI is part of the Planning Commission of India. Nandan Nilekani, was appointed as the first Chairman of the authority in June 2009.
UIDAI operations
Aadhar programme
UIDAI's data collection programme is claimed to be the largest biometric data collection programme in the world, but is without any data protection law or data protection authority to provide any privacy safeguards. After the Supreme Court ruling on Aadhaar, the Government of India is looking for statutory cover for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which has been operating through an executive order for the past four years, which executive decision the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance had termed as “unethical and violative of Parliament prerogatives” in December 2011. The Ministry of Planning had also disclosed to the parliamentary panel that no committee had been constituted to study the financial implications of the Unique Identification Authority(UID) scheme and it was given a go-ahead without a detailed project report. The Intelligence Bureau (IB) has also slammed the UIDAI basis and said the Aadhar number is not credible proof of residence. The security establishment was severely critical of the UIDAI’s introducer system where anyone with an Aadhaar number can introduce others without any documentation to get the identity number. This means that a person can introduce someone, say a terrorist, with a fake name and address.
UIDAI Headquarter land allotment scam
The Delhi Development Authority’s statutory board of enquiry has accepted a prayer by India Against Corruption (IAC) to scrap change of land use (CLU) for the headquarter of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Sarbajit Roy, the national convenor of IAC, had alleged that the valuable piece of land in New Delhi, worth Rs. 900 crore, was leased to Nandan Nilekani-led UIDAI at throwaway price using the CLU. At present UIDAI functions from an office in Jeevan Bharti Building in New Delhi’s Connaught Circus. The UIDAI is not an authority. The Planning Commission, its nodal agency, is responsible for providing infrastructure. The disputed land is presently owned by 2 financially ailing telecoms BSNL and MTNL which are locked in a court dispute.
UIDAI launches website in five regional languages
The UIDAI launched its multi-lingual website to reach out to various sections of the society. The website, www.uidai.gov.in, will now appear in five regional languages: Bengali, Gujarati, Kannada, Marathi and Tamil in addition to Hindi and English". The second phase of the launch will include microsites in Assamese, Malayalam, Oriya, Punjabi and Telugu.
People's Reaction
Although the government has launched Aadhaar and Direct Benefit Transfer scheme with the intention of minimising corruption and bringing transparency in the transaction system, the decision of the government has not been welcomed by a majority of the people of the country.
Reactions of eminent persons to UID
- "I don't agree to Nandan Nilekeni and his madcap (UID) scheme which he is trying to promote", Jaswant Singh former Defence and External Affairs Minister.
Reactions of experts to UID
Anupam Saraph, who designed and implemented identity schemes for government and private organisations, has cautioned citizens thus:-
Safety
- Enrolment agencies, sub-registrars, registrars and UIDAI have no legal liability for any theft, fraud, crime, and compromise of your security or privacy that may be perpetuated through AADHAAR
- The use of AADHAR by various agencies will now expose all your IDs, information, properties, entitlements etc. to misuse in one go thus exposing you to unprecedented risk
- Citizens have neither control on who uses your AADHAR nor any way to know or verify its use by anyone
- Your entire data and biometric is handled by non-Indian companies.
- If your biometric verification fails, you will lose all benefits across the government till you re-establish your credentials and may be at the mercy of politicians and bureaucrats.
Enrollment Status
On 27 January 2012 The Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India related issues (CC-UIDA1) announced that the NPR and UIDAI enrollments should proceed simultaneously. UIDAI will be allowed to enroll additional 400 million residents beyond 200 million already approved. The remaining 600 million will be enrolled by NPR and Aadhaar number of these will be issued by UIDAI. On 30 January 2012 CC-UIDAI approved budget of phase III of the scheme that covers the cost creation, storage and maintenance of data and services for harnessing the uses of Aadhaar for the entire estimated population till March 2017.
Report of the Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance
In December 2011, Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance headed by Yashwant Sinha while considering the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (that was to give legal backing for the whole exercise), termed the project as directionless and conceptualised with no clarity of purpose. The committee also expressed its reservations on the technology used for the project calling it "untested, unproven, unreliable and unsafe".
According to the standing committee report the scheme is riddled with serious lacunae and concerns. “The UID scheme has been conceptualized with no clarity of purpose and leaving many things to be sorted out during the course of its implementation; and is being implemented in a directionless way with a lot of confusion.” The report continues “…The scheme which was initially meant for BPL families has been extended for all residents in India and to certain other persons. The Empowered Group of Ministers (EGoM), constituted for the purpose of collating the two schemes namely, the UID and National Population Register(NPR), and to look into the methodology and specifying target for effective completion of the UID scheme, failed to take concrete decision on important issues…” More importantly the committee has observed that the UID scheme lacks clarity on even the basic purpose of issuing “aadhaar” number.
Financial exclusion
Observation 3(f) of the standing committee reads: “The full or near full coverage of marginalized sections for issuing aadhaar numbers could not be achieved mainly owing to two reasons viz. (i) the UIDAI doesn’t have the statistical data relating to them; and (ii) estimated failure of biometrics is expected to be as high as 15% due to a large chunk of population being dependent on manual labour.” Even the Ministry of Planning in their written reply to the standing committee stated that “failure to enroll is a reality”.
The introducer system wont be of much use. How many introducers or GOs would be there to introduce millions of slum dwellers, tribal population, or in rural India where they hardly have electricity or internet connectivity? (friendly government school teachers who rang your door bell a year ago may perhaps know some of them) If they can find some introducers, why can’t some anti-social elements too can find out some others? The result would be disastrous for our national security for innumerable foreign national (including terrorists) would be enrolled in Aadhaar database with local addresses. Chances are that many more people in rural India where there is no electricity and internet connectivity will be excluded from social welfare schemes even if they acquire aadhaar number.
The committee in observation 3(d) notes: “Continuance of various existing forms of identity and the requirement of furnishing, other documents for proof of address, even after issue of aadhaar number, would render the claim made by the Ministry that Aadhaar number is to be used as a general proof of identity and proof of address meaningless”. UIDAI clearly says that UID is no substitutes for existing Ids and The Working Paper of the UIDAI which starts with a claim that UID will help the poor access various services ends with a caveat: “UID will only guarantee identity, not rights, benefits and entitlements”
Dependency on private players
“The National Informatics Centre (NIC) have pointed out that the issues relating to privacy and security of UID data could be better handled by storing in a Government data centre;” . Even then the UID project is dependent on private players. The committee further notes: “9. The Committee are afraid that the scheme may end up being dependent on private agencies, despite contractual agreement made by the UIDAI with several private vendors. As a result, the beneficiaries may be forced to pay over and above the charges to be prescribed by the UIDAI for availing of benefits and services, which are now available free of cost “ . UIADAI has entered into contracts with several government and non-government agencies for enrolment and data collection. The private companies include foreign companies like L1 Identity solutions (now MorphoTrust USA) and Accenture that have even ex-CIA officials on board and as staff.
National security
The committee has expressed concern over the implications of the Project Aadhaar on national security. It said: “The Committee are unable to understand the rationale of expanding the scheme to persons who are not citizens, as this entails numerous benefits proposed by the Government” “This will, they apprehend, make even illegal immigrants entitled for an aadhaar number”. The committee especially is concerned about the efficacy of introducer system on national security. As opined by many the introducer system could result in many anti-national and anti-social elements acquiring aadhaar numbers on false addresses.
Relationship with National Population Registry
UIDAI is using data collected by the Census authorities to prepare the National Population Register(NPR) for creating the UIDs. The NPR is not an exclusive database of Indian Citizens. It contains data on all residents of the country including foreigners. Therefore, issuing UIDs based on the data in the NPR would help illegal migrants get these IDs and would allow them access the government services and programs. Nationality of the individual is one of the variables being recorded during the enumeration of NPR. But the instruction to the Census personnel says:"Nationality of each person has to be asked from the respondent and recorded as declared by him". The officials have been asked to advise people to give correct nationality and that he/she can be penalised for giving false information. Such advise may not work with illegal migrants. The responsibility of proving the identity still lies on the shoulders of residents and not on UIDAI.
Privacy and civil liberty issues
Some activists have expressed concerns that Aadhaar has potentials for civil liberty and privacy violations, especially when registrars include non-government agencies. Many eminent personalities, including former Supreme Court Justice. V R Krishna Iyer, Historian Romila Thapar, Independent Law Researcher Dr. Usha Ramanathan, Magsaysay Award winner Aruna Roy, and Booker prize winner Arundhathi Roy have questioned the legal validity of the whole exercise. The standing committee on finance observes that: ”The clearance of the Ministry of Law & Justice for issuing aadhaar numbers, pending passing the Bill by Parliament, on the ground that powers of the Executive are co-extensive with the legislative power of the Government and that the Government is not debarred from exercising its Executive power in the areas which are not regulated by the legislation does not satisfy the Committee. The Committee are constrained to point out that in the instant case, since the law making is underway with the bill being pending, any executive action is as unethical and violative of Parliament‟s prerogatives.” The committee also observed that a National Data Protection Law is “a pre-requisite for any law that deals with large scale collection of information from individuals and its linkages across separate databases. Itwould be difficult to deal with the issues like access and misuse of personal information, surveillance, profiling, linking and matching of data bases and securing confidentiality of information etc.“ The UIDAI’s claim that it has incorporated data protection principles within its policy and implementation framework does not satisfy the committee.
In another observation that could raise many questions on the legalities of collections of biometrics even for NPR, the committee notes that “The collection of biometric information and its linkage with personal information of individuals without amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955 as well as the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, appears to be beyond the scope of subordinate legislation, which needs to be examined in detail by Parliament”.
The committee deliberated at length on the civil liberty perspective of the project and considered opinions from eminent personalities in the field of law and civil rights. And speaking on the possibilities of data misuse, it notes that “The Committee are at a loss to understand as to how the UIDAI, without statutory power, could address key issues concerning their basic functioning and initiate proceedings against the defaulters and penalize them.” The committee also notes that the scheme leads to ID fraud as prevalent in some countries.
Cabinet and parliamentary approval
The former chief minister of Kerala, V. S. Achuthanandan claimed in July 2011 that the UIDAI program was being launched without "proper debate" in parliament. Other activists have expressed similar concerns. In a letter to the Prime Minister in November 2011, home minister P. Chidambaram has also expressed discomfort about the fact that the project has no cabinet clearance, and hence, may be questioned at a later date.
On 17 December 2011 parliamentary standing committee on finance chaired by Yashwant Sinha rejected the proposed bill by saying: “…the Committee categorically convey their unacceptability of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010…The Committee would, thus, urge the Government to reconsider and review the UID scheme.…”
This was the conclusion of Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance (SCoF), which examined the Bill to convert the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) into a statutory authority. With this categorical rebuff, the SCoF dealt a body blow to the Aadhaar project, which is being implemented from September 2010 without Parliament's approval.
Economic risks
The projected costs of the Aadhaar project have been quoted between US$6 billion and US$30.42 billion. These costs may not be covered by future revenue produced from the project, which is estimated at US$1.32 billion. The benefits arising from reduction in leakages with modest assumptions are estimated to be 52.85% as mentioned in the cost and benefit analysis done by National Institute of Public Finance and Policy.
Parliaments standing Committee on Finance committee discussed at length on the financial implications of the project as evident from page 23-25 of their report. Till date Rs. 31703.2 million have been allotted for the project. More fund clearance is on the anvil. Rs. 88.61 billion has been approved for Phase III of the project. There are no clear figures available on the financial burden the project could incur while some independent estimates pegs the cost as high as Rs. 1,500 billion. As was the case with UK ID project, the cost will escalate for sure. Lets quote from the report of the standing committee on finance : “(a) no committee has been constituted to study the financial implications of the UID scheme; and (b) comparative costs of the aadhaar number and various existing ID documents are also not available. The Committee also note that Detailed Project Report (DPR) of the UID Scheme has been done much later in April, 2011. The Committee thus strongly disapprove of the hasty manner in which the UID scheme has been approved. Unlike many other schemes / projects, no comprehensive feasibility study, which ought to have been done before approving such an expensive scheme, has been done involving all aspects of the UID scheme including cost-benefit analysis, comparative costs of aadhaar number and various forms of existing identity, financial implications and prevention of identity theft, for example, using hologram enabled ration card to eliminate fake and duplicate beneficiaries."
Reliability of biometric methods
Using the UIDAI own data - UIDAI Model, Aadhaar is dependent on biometrics being reliable enough to guarantee that there is a one-to-one correspondence between real people and electronic identities on the CIDR (central ID repository).
In December 2010, UIDAI self-published a report on their proof of concept trial designed to test, among other things, whether biometrics are reliable enough to guarantee that every entry on the CIDR is unique. UIDAI's figures published show error rate at .01% using finger print and iris only, this low rate combined with photograph match can achieve the desired unique identification.
In December 2011, UIDAI conducted a study using the enrolment of 84 million (84 million) residents and obtained statistical results to measure the efficacy of use of biometrics for de-duplication of Indian population. The test was conducted on a production scale (comprising biometric data of 84 million residents in 32 States and Union Territories). The accuracy of actual recorded biometric was found to be several order higher than the accuracy achievable by the critics.
The enrolment process includes concept of exception that allows for enrolment of a person without collectible biometric. It is meant for persons with missing fingers or eyes. The enrolment agencies have exploited this feature to enroll fictitious identities. For example, a coriander plant in rural Andhra Pradesh received its unique identification number and of course a card for itself with the photo of a mobile phone. An Aadhaar card with number : 4991 1866 5246 was issued in the name of Mr Kothimeer (Coriander), Son of Mr Palav (Biryani), Mamidikaya Vuru (Village Raw Mango), of Jambuladinne in Anantapur district. As the card displayed the photo of a mobile phone, officials have no clue of the address where the card has to be delivered' or how over 30,000 UIDs were generated by using the fingerprint of a man who was exemployee. This is on top of the earlier snafus of identity proof being handed out without any verification at West Delhi MP Mahabal Mishra's residence., a wanted terrorist getting an UID under a false name, or even giving a man an UID card with the picture of a woman. UIDAI has promised to fix the loopholes in "ver 2" beginning June 2012.
Legal challenges
K S Puttaswamy, a retired judge of Karnataka High Court filed a Public Interest Litigation (PIL) in the Supreme Court challenging the legality of UIDAI. The petition, among other things, argued that:
- UIDAI and Adhaar are illegal as the bill that seeks to legalise them, National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 has been rejected by Parliament's Standing Committee on Finance. The bill is pending for further consideration.
- UID numbers and Aadhaar cards are being given to all residents, including non-citizens. This means, illegal migrants and foreigners residing in India could possibly get benefits based on Aadhaar cards. This is contradictory to the Citizenship Act, 1955, which does not recognise non-citizens at par with citizens.
- Collection of biometric data is an invasion of a citizen’s right to privacy which is guaranteed by the Constitution under the Fundamental Right to Life, and therefore requires Parliament’s sanction and is beyond the executive power.
A bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir and Justice Jasti Chelameswar agreed to examine the matter and issued notice to the Govt of India on 30 November 2012.
On 23 September 2013 the Supreme Court has castigated the AADHAR and said "Aadhar cards not compulsory, don’t give them to illegal immigrants". The Apex Court also trashed the Centre's claim of Rs 50,000 crore expenses on the UIDAI project and said that Aadhar card is not necessary for important services. A bench of Justices BS Chauhan and SA Bobde said, "The Centre and state governments must not insist on Aadhar cards from citizens before providing them essential services." The Central Government on 23 September 2013 informed the Supreme Court that securing Aadhar cards, being issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), was optional and it has not made it mandatory for the citizens.
See also
External links
References
- http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/india/Aadhaars-purpose-in-doubt-as-SC-says-its-not-mandatory/articleshow/22960981.cms
- ^ "Rs. 100 crore for Unique Identification Project", The Hindu, Chennai, India, 17 February 2009, retrieved 26 June 2009,
... The Unique Identification Authority of India is being established under the aegis of the Planning Commission for which a notification has been issued in January 2009. A provision of Rs. 100 crore has been made in the annual Plan 2009-10 for this ...
- "Nilekani to give numbers, ministries to issue cards", The Economic Times, 16 July 2009, retrieved 18 July 2009
- "Nilekani takes charge, says first set of IDs in 12-18 months". The Times of India. 24 July 2009.
- "India gets Info czar in Nilekani", The Statesman, 25 June 2009, retrieved 25 June 2009,
... Nandan M Nilekani ... will be the chairman of the Unique Identification Database Authority of India under the aegis of the Planning Commission ... Mr Nilekani will have the rank and status of a Cabinet minister ...
- "PIB Press Release". Pib.nic.in. Retrieved 1 October 2010.
- http://newindianexpress.com/nation/Central-government-seeks-statutory-cover-for-UIDAI/2013/09/25/article1802296.ece
- http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/IB-slams-Uidai-says-Aadhaar-not-credible-as-residence-proof/Article1-1126679.aspx
- http://www.moneylife.in/article/uidai-land-allotment-scam-dda-accepts-iac-prayer-to-scrap-the-deal/34513.html
- http://epaper.mailtoday.in/2292013/epaperimages/2292013/2292013-md-hr-2/135211578.jpg
- http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2013-09-20/news/42252490_1_uidai-website-new-delhi-five-regional-languages
- Aadhaar and DBT only for attracting voters: Poll, 1 June 2013,
...With less than a year to spare in the next Lok Sabha election...
- http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/indo-china-mistakes-in-understanding-border-issues-has-led-to-disputes_798198.html
- http://moneylife.in/article/aadhaar-the-number-that-makes-a-nation-niradhaar/34718.html
- Aadhaar enrolments beyond 20 crore, 27 January 2012,
...UIDAI will be allowed to enrol additional 40 crore residents beyond 20 crore already recommended by the EFC.
- "UID phase 3 approved for Rs 8,815 crore", Voice & Data, 30 January 2012,
...The Cabinet Committee on Unique Identification Authority of India (CC-UIDAI) has approved the commencement of Phase-Ill of the UID scheme at an estimated cost of Rs 8,814.75 crore.
- Why Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance rejected the UID Bill - India News - IBNLive. Ibnlive.in.com.
- ^ http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Finance/42%20Report.pdf
- Rajanish Dass, Unique Identification for Indians: A Divine Dream or a Miscalculated Heroism?, 2011
- Aadhaar data puts MHA in a spot. Deccanherald.com (20 November 2011).
- Ramanathan, Usha (4 April 2010). "Implications of registering, tracking, profiling". The Hindu. Chennai, India.
- Eight reasons why you should oppose the UID - An appeal to all citizens - South Asia Citizens Web. Sacw.net.
- Why Indians should fear the UID - Rediff.com India News. News.rediff.com (12 October 2010).
- "V S Achuthanandan voices misgivings about UID project". The Times of India.
- A Critical Primer on India’s UID: Simi Chacko and Pratiksha Khanduri « Kafila. Kafila.org.
- Chidambaram raises concerns about UID, say sources. NDTV.com (25 November 2011).
- Ramakumar, R. (16 December 2011). "Aadhaar: time to disown the idea". The Hindu. Chennai, India.
- Macro/Finance, NIPFP. Macro/Finance, NIPFP.
- ^ http://uidai.gov.in/images/FrontPageUpdates/role_of_biometric_technology_in_aadhaar_jan21_2012.pdf
- 'Coriander' has Aadhaar number. Deccanherald.com (12 April 2012).
- Aadhaar scam did not stop with kingpin - The Times of India. Timesofindia.indiatimes.com.
- Headlines Today exposes UID fraud in Delhi : North, News - India Today. Indiatoday.intoday.in (24 January 2012).
- Cities. Deccan Chronicle.
- Senior citizen faces a unique ID problem, News - City - Pune Mirror,Pune Mirror. Punemirror.in (5 August 2011).
- ^ "Supreme Court notice to govt on PIL over Aadhar". The Times of India. 1 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- "Aadhaar on what basis, SC notice questions govt". 1 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- ^ "'Collecting biometric data for Aadhaar worse than phone tapping'". Firstpost. 7 December 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2012.
- http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/aadhar-cards-not-compulsory-dont-give-them-to-illegal-immigrants-sc_878540.html
- "Obtaining Aadhar card optional, not mandatory: Centre tells SC". The New Indian Express. 23 September 2013. Retrieved 23 September 2013.
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