Wednesday, December 21, 2011

Aadhar Project Of India Is Unconstitutional Says Praveen Dalal

Aadhar project of India or unique identification project of India (UID project of India) is a project that is a classic example of lack of management and planning. Aadhar project has been launched despite numerous shortcomings and deficiencies and as a futile project. Techno legal experts of India have been warning against the continuance of Aadhar project and have suggested that it should be scrapped.

The futility of Aadhar project and UIDAI was very apparent from the very beginning but Indian government and unique identification authority of India (UIDAI) kept on wasting crores of public money without any benefit. Finally, Aadhar project of India may be scrapped.

According to experts like Praveen Dalal, managing partner of techno legal ICT law firm Perry4Law and a Supreme Court lawyer, there is no second opinion about the fact that Aadhar Project and UIDAI are “Unconstitutional” in the absence of a “Constitutionally Sound Law” in this regard. This is more so when there are no dedicated Privacy Laws in India and Data Protection Laws in India, opines Praveen Dalal.

Even after the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 (NIDAI Bill 2010) would have become an applicable law, both Aadhar and UIDAI would have remained “Unconstitutional”. This is so because the “Constitutional Safeguards” that are required to make Aadhar/UIDAI Constitutional were still missing from the proposed Bill.

In fact, a parliamentary committee has rejected the NIDAI Bill 2010, inflicting a severe blow to UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani and raising doubts about Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's pet project. This decision of parliamentary committee seems to be an acceptance of suggestions of experts like Praveen Dalal.

The parliamentary committee has recommended that the government should review or reconsider the project by a bringing in a fresh Bill. The committee has said that the Bill and the project are not acceptable in the present form.

Privacy laws in India and privacy rights in India have always been ignored. We have no national privacy policy in India as well. Data protection laws in India are missing and so are data privacy laws in India. Privacy, data protection and India seem to be separable and unrelated concepts.

Indian government launched projects like Aadhar, National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), Central Monitoring System (CMS), Centre for Communication Security Research and Monitoring (CCSRM), etc. None of them are governed by any Legal Framework and none of them are under parliamentary scrutiny. It must be appreciated that intelligence gathering is not above privacy rights in India.

In reality, Aadhar project and UIDAI are booty sharing mechanisms meant for few companies. Praveen Dalal has been constantly suggesting that Aadhar project must be supported by a Techno Legal Framework that must be supplemented by robust Cyber Security, Privacy Protection and Data Protection.

Indian government, Aadhar project and UIDAI are hiding truth from Indian citizens and are fooling them. However, sooner or later the truth was bound to be revealed. Besides experts in India now even the home ministry of India has been opposing the Aadhar project and UIDAI.

Aadhar project is the most evil project of India that aims at strengthening illegal and unconstitutional privacy violation and e-surveillance in India. Internet censorship in India has already increased multifold. Censorship of Internet in India is a hint towards the growing hunger for e-surveillance by Indian government.

The truth of Aadhar project and UIDAI is too frightening to elaborate. Aadhar project and UIDAI have evil intentions that are executed under the façade of welfare and social good. Both Indian government and UIDAI are fooling Indians by using the façade of benefits and welfare. Aadhar project and UIDAI are big troubles. Still the PMO is supporting the unconstitutional Aadhar project and UIDAI.

Aadhar project and UIDAI are big brother project. Nandan Nilekani is wrong regarding Aadhar project. It is high time that Aadhar project of India and UIDAI must be scrapped. There is no sense in wasting any more time and money on a project like Aadhar that has no legal and constitutional basis to continue.