Letter to Chairman, PCI on Aadhaar number for journalists

We submit that IMA’s support for an exercise like biometric identification is akin to German Medical Association’s decision to support medical atrocities committed during the 1930s and 1940s while under Nazi rule for which they have apologized after 75 years. IMA may have to regret in the same way. ( Reference: The Lancet, Volume 380, Issue 9852, Page 1472, 27 October 2012)http://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736%2812%2961842-X/fulltext

We submit that Dr Mohan Rao, Professor at the Centre of Social Medicine and Community Health, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) has underlined that “the claim that the Unique Identification project will facilitate the delivery of basic health services is dishonest.” www.frontline.in/static/html/fl2824/stories/20111202282401900.htm

It is noteworthy that aadhaar/UID is a biometric identifier number of 12 digits and not a card. Such schemes have been abandoned by countries like Australia, UK, France and China because it raised concerns about indiscriminate surveillance. 

We submit that history is testimony to misuse of such systems by despotic forces. German rulers used IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine in the census of the country in 1933 and since there was a provision for identifying race and ethnicity, the Nazi rulers with the help of IBM could conveniently count and identify the Jews whom they savagely butchered out of racial hatred. One, therefore, cannot rule out the possibility of this power being misused by persons in power to access private details such as religious, racial, caste or even political profiling from Aadhaar data base to serve undemocratic, illegal and unethical purposes for use in ways that may pose a risk to the life or security of the person concerned. It is noteworthy that when quizzed on how they would prevent Aadhaar data base from falling in wrong hands or enabling unscrupulous politicians to misuse for their benefit and against the interest of the Indian people, Nandan Nilakeni who eulogizes Aadhaar number as “ubiquitous” and even advised people to “tattoo it somewhere,” lest they should forget it, was caught napping.”

We submit that it is admitted that Governments of France and South Korea and transnational companies like Gemalto, IBM, L-1 Identity Solutions, Microsoft and Pfizer are part of the World Bank’s eTransform Initiative (ETI).

We submit that what is least talked about is that the E-identity and UID/aadhaar related projects are part of World Bank’s eTransform Initiative formally launched on April 23, 2010 and Interpol’s e-identity database project. This along with the then Union Finance Minister, Pranab Mukherjee’s announcement in January 2011 for voluntarily seeking fullfledged  Financial Sector Assessment Programme by IMF and the World Bank merits attention of the legislatures. In April, 2010 L-1 Identity Solutions Inc. (which has now been purchased by biometric technology company Safran group), a French corporation signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the World Bank as part of the launch of the initiative at a World Bank Spring Meeting event attended by many developing country Ministers of Finance and Communications. It claimed that this collaborative relationship with the World Bank is meant to improve the way governments in developing countries deliver services to citizens as part of the launch of the World Bank eTransform Initiative (ETI). The World Bank’s ETI seeks to leverage Information and Communication Technology (ICT) to build a knowledge sharing network that helps governments of developing nations to leverage the best practices of practitioners like L-1 and others to improve the delivery of social and economic services. The knowledge sharing network will focus on areas such as electronic Identification (eID), e-Procurement, e-Health and e-Education; areas vital to promoting the participation of citizens in democratic processes, such as voting, and helping undocumented citizens get access to health and welfare programmes. The World Bank is currently funding 14 projects related to e-government and e-ID around the world. Are citizens supposed to believe that the World Bank Group is working to ensure that India’s national interest and its citizens’ rights are protected?

We wish to draw your attention towards the article by Shri Arun Jaitley, Leader of Opposition in Rajya Sabha made available in Urdu, Gujarati, Hindi and English that raises grave concerns about UID/aadhaar. The article is at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/india/my-call-detail-records-and-a-citizen-s-right-to-privacy-arun-jaitley-355448

We wish to draw your attention towards ‘Why the UID project poses a danger to our sovereignty’ available at http://www.rediff.com/news/slide-show/slide-show-1-why-the-uid-project-poses-a-danger-to-our-sovereignty/20130702.htm
We wish to submit that ‘Legislatures fail to save citizens from their biometric profiling by World Bank Group and its partners’ (http://www.toxicswatch.org/2013/05/legislatures-fail-to-save-citizens-from.html)
We wish to draw your attention criticism of DJA, IPCI असंवैधानिक और अलोकतांत्रिक आधार कार्ड बनवाने के लिए शिविर लगातीं कूपमंडूक पत्रकार यूनियनें at http://bhadas4media.com/article-comment/13503-2013-08-02-18-35-39.html

We wish to share how biometric UID/Aadhaar entails “नागरिक की निजता पर सबसे बड़ा डाका” http://visfot.com/index.php/current-affairs/9582-adhar-card-story-gopal-krishna-1307.html
Kindly find attached the notification appointing NN, Chairman, Infosys Ltd as Chairman UIDAI, the RTI reply refusing information about UID enrolment of Prime Minister, cabinet ministers and others, RTI reply denying information about the contracts given to foreign companies that work with intelligence agencies of France and USA and World Bank Policy paper ‘Use of biometric technology in developing countries’. Central Information Commission is seized with the issue of denial of information and had heard the matter on June 24, 2013. 

We demand immediate audit of the activities of the UID Authority of India since January 2009 till date;

We recommend to all the State governments, government departments and voluntary organisations to boycott the UID related projects with immediate effect.

Office bearers and members of Indian Medical association (IMA)
Office bearers and members of NUJ
Office bearers and members of DJA