Aadhaar has prompted fears of state surveillance on individual privacy, violating human rights: Amnesty, HRW

By Our Representative
Two of the world's top human rights organizations, Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch (AI and HRW) , in a joint statement, have thrown their weight behind those opposing aadhaar, saying, the Government of India’s "mandatory biometric identification project, aadhaar, could lead to millions of people being denied access to essential services and benefits in violation of their human rights."
Especially referring to the Tribune expose, which said that "unrestricted access to the personal details of people enrolled in Aadhaar could be purchased for Rs 500 (less than US$10) from racketeers", in a joint statement, the two organizations demand, "The government should order an independent investigation of the concerns raised about aadhaar, and cease targeting journalists and researchers who expose vulnerabilities in security, privacy, and protection of data."
The statement, which comes ahead of a five-judge bench scheduled to initiate final arguments on the legality of aadhaar on January 17, says, "The large-scale collection of personal and biometric data, and linking it to a range of services, raises serious concerns about violations of the right to privacy", underlining, the aadhaar project, begun in 2009, "was initially meant to be voluntary, aimed at eliminating fraud in government welfare programmes and giving people a form of identification".
They regret, the Aadhaar Act, 2016 and subsequent government notifications have "dramatically increased the scope of the project, making aadhaar enrollment mandatory for people to access a range of essential services and benefits, including government subsidies, pensions and scholarships. It has also been linked to services such as banking, insurance, telephone, and the internet."
AI and HRW note, "Shops providing subsidized foodgrains as part of the government’s public distribution system to people living in poverty have denied supplies to eligible families because they did not have an aadhaar number, or because they had not linked it to their ration cards – which confirm their eligibility, or because the authentication of their biometrics such as fingerprints failed."

Giving the example Rajasthan, the two organisations say, "Between September 2016 and June 2017, after aadhaar authentication was made mandatory, at least 2.5 million families were unable to get food rations", adding, though in October 2017, the Central government instructed states not to deny subsidized food grains to eligible families merely because they did not have an aadhaar number, or had not linked their ration cards to it, "reports of denied benefits continue."
"Hospitals in Haryana state insist on newborn babies being enrolled in Aadhaar before giving them birth certificates. Aadhaar numbers are also demanded to issue death certificates... Many persons with disabilities have been denied benefits because they were unable to obtain aadhaar numbers", they note.
Raising the privacy issue, quoting experts, AI and HRW say, "Companies could store biometric data at the time of enrollment or authentication for a transaction, and biometric data once stolen is compromised forever", insisting, the government’s push for mandatory enrollment for aadhaar has "prompted fears of increased state surveillance, with the convergence of various databases making it easier for the government to track all information about specific individuals, and to target dissent".
Alleging the government has not even set up "an adequate or effective grievance redressal system", they say, "Aadhaar regulations allow the government to deactivate an aadhaar number for various reasons including for 'any other case requiring deactivation as deemed appropriate' by the UIDAI, leaving the broad wording open to misuse."
"Also", AI and HRW say, "The government is not required to give any prior notice before deactivating an aadhaar number, which could violate natural justice principles and also put access to essential services at risk... Between 2010 and 2016, the government deactivated 8.5 million aadhaar numbers, saying it was for reasons provided for under the law."

Comments

World Bank clarifies: Its 26th rank to India not for universal access to power but for ease of doing business

By Our Representative
In a major embarrassment to the Government of India, the World Bank has reportedly clarified that it has not ranked India 26th out of 130 countries for providing power to its population. The top international banker’s clarification comes following Union Power Minister Piyush Goyal’s claim that India has “improved to 26 position from 99” in access to electricity in just one year.

"Misleading" satellite images being shared on Balakot surgical strike on Jaish camp

By Dr Vinay Kate*
With every passing day more questions are being raised about the surgical strike India did in Balakot as a response to Pulwama attacks. So far the Indian media has claimed mass casulaty of 300+ terrorists of Jaish-e-Mohammad in this surgical strike, but there is hardly any report from foreign media about the same.

Extreme repression, corporate loot, cultural genocide "characterise" India's tribal belt

Counterview Desk
As Lok Sabha polls approach, there is considerable ferment in one section of the population -- India's Adivasis, forming about 8.6 per cent of India's population. Things became particularly critical following the February 14, 2019 Supreme Court order, allegedly seeking to evict lakhs of tribals from their forest lands.

Industry in India "barely growing", export growth 0%, whither moral anchors?

Counterview Desk
In a sharp critique of the Modi government, the Indian Institute of Management-Ahmedabad (IIM-A), one of world renowned economist Prof Kaushik Basu, who is Professor of Economics and Carl Marks Professor of International Studies at Cornell University, has told students at the IIM-A’s 54th Annual Convocation on March 16, 2019 that they have a “special responsibility” on their shoulders, “the responsibility to reject narrow sectarianism, uphold scientific thinking, openness to new ideas, and freedom of speech.”

Gujarat model? Industrial effluents "invade" borewells, discharge coloured water in farms

By Rajiv Shah
In a major embarrassment for Gujarat model, of the 21 samples taken by officials of the state government's environmental watchdog Gujarat Pollution Control Board (GPCB) in two villages of Vadodara district and analyzed by its laboratory in Gandhinagar, the state capital, to find out pollution level in groundwater, 16 were assessed as highly contaminated – these were, in fact, found to be discharging reddish, brownish, reddish, or yellowish water.

Refugees as criminals? US govt report blames Amit Shah for calling Bangladeshis termites

Counterview Desk
The chapter “Freedom of Movement” of the US State Department’s “India 2018 Human Rights Report”, released recently, has criticized BJP chief Amit Shah for terming alleged Bangladeshis who may be in Assam as “termites”, because their names were struck down from the list of National Register of Citizens, under preparation in the state.
Pointing out that four million residents were excluded from Assam’s final draft list, leading to “uncertainty over the status of these individuals, many of whose families had lived in the state for several generations”, the report regrets, the Indian law does not even contain the term “refugee,” treating refugees like Rohingiyas as “any other foreigners.”
“Undocumented physical presence in the country is a criminal offense. Persons without documentation were vulnerable to forced returns and abuse”, the report says.
Text of the Freedom of Movement chapter: The law provides for freedom of internal movement, foreign travel, emigration, a…

Congress would win just 9 of 26 Lok Sabha seats: Gujarat Assembly segment-wise analysis

By Rajiv Shah
Even as the Congress plans its first working committee meet in Gujarat on February 28 after an almost 58 year gap, there is reason to wonder what is in store for India’s grand old party in a state which has been long been a BJP bastion – in fact ever since mid-1990s. Ahead of the then assembly polls in late 2012, talking with me, a senior Gujarat Congress leader, currently Rajya Sabha MP, frankly said he saw no reason why Congress would win.

"Pro-corporate" Supreme Court order on FRA would further marginalize Adivasis

By VS Roy David, JP Raju*
For millions of Adivasis and other traditional forest dwellers February 13, 2019 will go down in history as the day of apocalypse. This is like the proverbial Black Friday where millions of most marginalized people of India were ordered by malicious anti-people draconian Supreme Court order depriving them the life and livelihood by evicting them from their habitats.

Financial inclusion? Not micro-loans; India's poor "need" investment in health, education

By Moin Qazi*
India has grown into a global powerhouse. Its economy is soaring but the picture on the ground is still quite arid. The green shoots that you see are only a patch of its landscape. Most Indians are hapless victims of inequity. India is one country where intense poverty abounds in the shadow of immense wealth.

India, Pakistan told to eliminate nuclear weapons: N-war "would kill" 2 billion

Counterview Desk
The International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War (IPPNW), a non-partisan federation of national medical organizations in 64 countries, representing tens of thousands of doctors, medical students, other health workers, and concerned citizens, claiming to share the common goal of creating a more peaceful and secure world freed from the threat of nuclear annihilation, has warned that “an unprecedented global catastrophe” awaits the globe against the backdrop of warmongering in India and Pakistan.

Counterview

Search This Blog