SHOCKING TRUTH The UID project, the flagship programme of the UPA is a waste of crores of rupees of public money. The programme has costed the taxpayers thousands of crores so far—but with little thinking on specifics, consequnces, and with extraordinary amounts of hype and rhetoric.
Aadhar, in its current form, is a house of cards and resting primarily on hype, and is not achieving any of the laudable objectives of eradicating corruption. This will become obvious to many, as the layers of hype are peeled off revealing the reality. An abridged dose of reality was unraveled when a investigation news site reporter who posed as a benefactor of refugees from Nepal, Bangladesh, and Pakistan, and approached a dozen Aadhar offices.
He tells the officers that the immigrants have no proof of identity or proof of address but need help in getting an Aadhar card. The convenience, with which almost each of the Aadhar enrolment officers gave assurances to not only provide the Aadhar Card but also a proof of Indian identity, wasn’t appalling. Without a prescribed rulebook for the fraud it was up to these officers to make their demands. Most of them were reluctant initially, but gave in when the applicant agreed to the prescribed fees.
The negotiations happened and a time was fixed for the applicant to come. Almost in all cases, the Aadhar officers asked for a photograph and address written on a piece of paper for the purpose of making an affidavit, as proof of identity. The affidavit had to be countersigned by the local MLA or a gazetted officer thus making it valid. No one bothered to check the antecedents of the immigrant applicants.
From charges as high as Rs. 2500 to as low as Rs. 500, the ‘Aadhar officers’ agreed to make Aadhar Cards for applicants without any proof of identification or proof of address. These are the same people who have been entrusted to securely collect and send the biometric and demographic data of an individual to UIDAI’s data collection centre in Bangalore, Karnataka.
Election bugle has been sounded and rush was seen at camps put up by the Election commission for the voters to get their voter-id cards. But the loopholes in UID programme which has been used to issue voter ID card has raised pertinent questions. Aadhar is a national security risk, it’s being issued to non-citizens and illegal immigrant.
If Aadhar cards have been issued without any identification proof then the authenticity of the votes being cast will come under question. Aadhar started with good intentions, but it is mystifying why it has morphed into this. It could have been a demonstration of technology being deployed in a cost-effective way to improve governance, and deliver benefits through a robust diligent citizen identification process and highly reliable database, instead it has become a programme that can pose a threat to national security.
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