Say No to UID

Among the many socialist atrocities commited by the UPA govt on the hapless people of India, UID project is the one least talked about.

I mean, NREGA, massive increase in indirect taxes, expansion of central govt by encroaching state subjects like education, banning 100 million male citizens from contesting elections etc have received some attention in the media. UID hasn't received the scrutiny due to it.

However there are folks concerned about the violation of civil liberties likely to come from the UID project. There is one such meeting in Bengaluru this Friday. Details here.

In the meanwhile, here's some prep material. The reasons for our (Right Conservative/Liberal) oppostion to UIDs are viz,

1. Its a massive waste of tax payers money. Especially considering the ultimate objective of UID is to properly identify 'beggers' whom the socialist govt can humor with more freebies, paid for ofcourse by hardworking tax payers like you and me.

2. Waste of government resources. Even after working for more than a decade, Electoral Photo ID cards are not in the possession of many voters. And having worked in polls, I have found the accuracy of both the cards and the voter list they are based upon, to be laughable.

Nandan Nilekani's daughter herself is listed four times in the Electoral rolls! While there is likely to be more enthusiam to get a begger's card, the entire effort is still a massive diversion of govt resources from critical public services.

3. UID project's claims on security are laughable. We can be rest assured that all terrorists and illegal immigrants will receive UID numbers before you and I get hold of one. Infact to prove a point, I'm gonna try to get two UIDs with my two voter id cards. (My name has still not been removed from the voter list in Tamilnadu thou I have mentioned all the details and asked for removeal while enrolling here in Bangalore.)

4. The biometric component of UID project is in a pilot stage. Even if it gets the go ahead, it'll be a further monstrous waste of tax payers money and a logistical nightmare. I challenge any govt to handover one 10 rupee note each to 1 billion citizens let alone issue bio-metric cards to them.

5. Ofcourse there is much graver issue of privacy violation. But from a Indian perspective where we out even British NHS records outsourced here, security of

the data given to the govt, is expecting a little too much. Nevetheless please follow the links below to get yourself abreast of that angle.

Incidentally Richard M Stallman, coming from the other end of the political spectrum, also wishes to live in a country where citizens are not reduced to a mere number.

1. The Fantasy Of Dataveillance - a blistering attack on the UID project especially from a Security stand point.
2. Stop the database state NO2ID - how British conservatives are opposing IDs in their country.