Sunday 14 October 2018

All About Aadhaar (UID) And Supreme Court Rulling

What is Aadhaar ?

Aadhaar is a 12 digit unique identification number generated by taking biometric information of 3 components photograph, fingerprint and IRIS scan of a particular person, it also records the demographic details of the person.

Who is Eligible ?

Any person who resides in India for 182 days in the preceding year from the date of application is eligible for applying for Aadhaar. This is NOT CONSIDERED AS A PROOF OF CITIZENSHIP or DOMICILE.

Conception of Aadhaar.

India which adheres to the 'socialistic pattern of society', believes in distribution of resources fairly among its citizens through welfare schemes. Where majority are in poverty, it is important to see that the welfare schemes like public distribution of cereals, pulses, edible oil, kerosene, sugar etc; work for money, pensions are delivered to the beneficiaries without any leakages, so that the constrained resources of government are distributed efficiently.

The delivery of welfare schemes often uses identities like ration card to identify the beneficiaries and these identifications varies from state to state, and are subjected to duplication and fake identities being created. These inefficiencies in identification of beneficiaries and delivery of services leads to diversion of scarce states resources to black market and deprives the original beneficiaries their rights.

To tackle such corrupt practices and leakages the concept of Aadhaar was conceived. Aadhaar tackles this problem at two levels. One at identification level where biometrics are collected which does not allow duplicacy, and second at the level of service delivery where the intended beneficiary receives the service as his biometric data is used to authenticate the beneficiary.

Implementation Of Aadhaar Scheme.

To issue Aadhaar numbers government established UIDAI(Unique Identification Authority of India) in January 2009 under the supervision of Planing Commission, under the jurisdiction of Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology via notification in the Gazette of India as a statutory body to lay down plans and policies to implement UID's

Aadhaar was used as pilot basis in 51 districts for direct benefit transfer during UPA II government. Later it's scope of implementation was widened. Later when Aadhaar was used to directly transfer LPG subsidies to the consumers, the exchequer was able to weed out duplicate connections and the savings witnessed by the government were quite encouraging. This DBT(direct benefit transfer) scheme was gradually applied to PDS(public distribution system), MNREGA,etc through linking to bank accounts by JAM (Jan Dhan - Aadhaar - Mobile) scheme.

Why Aadhaar's validity was beeing quetioned?

Though the Aadhaar bill ' The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016' has gained legality in march 2016, its implementation was being carried out since 2013 with out any legal backing. This led to many litigations.

The litigation's were on the concerns of security of data collected and right to privacy, as the data was being shared with private sector like the telecom companies, which were mandated to authenticate their subscribers using the data of aadhaar, failing which the services provided to the subscriber would be deactivated. While such compelling terms were imposed, there was no legal protection for protecting the personal data of the people from being misused. As the Aaadhaar had important information like demographics. People started to perceive that it was a government policy which was implemented for commercial exploitation by private sector and the data was within reach of private sector irrespective of individuals consent.

Also the possession of Aadhaar was made mandatory for the receiving of benefits for welfare schemes, and other identifications like ration card were no longer being accepted, which lead to rejection of benefits to people without Aadhaar enrollment, defeating the very purpose of objective of aadhaar scheme. Initial technical glitches in authentication of biometrics raised many questions on feasibility of the scheme.

So what are the fundamental objectives of Aadhaar.

The Summary of Aadhaar bill(from prsindia.org)

Eligibility: Every resident who resides in India for at least 182 days in preceding 1 year prior to the application of Aadhaar.

Information to be submitted: (i) biometric (photograph, finger print, iris scan) and (ii) demographic (name, date of birth, address) information

Use of Aadhaar number : To verify the identity of a person receiving subsidy. If someone does not have aadhaar number they are required to apply for it and in meanwhile other identity will accepted temporarily. Any public or private entity can accept the Aadhaar number as a proof of identity.

Functions and composition of authority:
(i) specifying demographic and biometric information to be collected during enrolment,
(ii) assigning Aadhaar numbers to individuals,
(iii) authenticating Aadhaar numbers, and
(iv) specifying the usage of Aadhaar numbers for delivery of subsidies and services.

Authentication: The UID authority will authenticate the Aadhar number of an individual, if an entity makes such a request on obtaining the consent of an individual before collecting his information. The agency can use the disclosed information only for purposes for which the individual has given consent.

Response to authentication query: The UID authority shall respond to an authentication query with a positive, negative or other appropriate response. However, it is not permitted to share an individual’s finger print, iris scan and other biological attributes.

Authentication record maintained by UID authority: The UID authority shall record the entity requesting verification of a person’s identity, the time of request and the response received by the entity. The purpose for which an individual's identity needs to be verified will not be maintained.

Protection of information: Biometric information such as an individual’s finger print, iris scan and other biological attributes (specified by regulations) will be used only for Aadhaar enrolment and authentication, and for no other purpose. Such information will not be shared with anyone, nor will it be displayed publicly, except for purposes specified by regulations.

Cases when information may be revealed: In two cases, information may be revealed:

i. In the interest of national security, a Joint Secretary in the central government may issue a direction for revealing,
(i) Aadhaar number,
(ii) biometric information,
(iii) demographic information, and
(iv) photograph.
Such a decision will be reviewed by an Oversight Committee (comprising Cabinet Secretary, Secretaries of Legal Affairs and Electronics and Information Technology) and will be valid for six months.

ii. On the order of a court,
(i) an individual’s Aadhaar number,
(ii) photograph, and
(iii) demographic information, may be revealed.

Offences and penalties: A person may be punished with imprisonment upto three years and minimum fine of Rs 10 lakh for unauthorized access to the centralized data-base, including revealing any information stored in it. If a requesting entity and an enrolling agency fail to comply with rules, they shall be punished with imprisonment upto one year or a fine upto Rs 10,000 or Rs one lakh (in case of a company), or with both.

Cognizance of offence: No court shall take cognizance of any offence except on a complaint made by the UID authority or a person authorized by it.

How Supreme Court Upheld the Constitutional validity of Aadhaar.

Recent verdict in Justice K.S. Puttaswamy vs Union of India case, a nine judge bench ruled unanimously that privacy is a fundamental right . This has put validity of UID in a conundrum. The question of validity of Aadhaar and its use was contested on the grounds of protection of privacy.

The Supreme Court in its verdict of bench of five upheld the constitutionality of Aadhaar, but not without corrections. It had struck down few provisions which could not hold the test of reasonability.

The verdict struck down section 57 of the act:

57. Nothing contained in this Act shall prevent the use of Aadhaar number for establishing the identity of an individual for any purpose, whether by the State or any body corporate or person, pursuant to any law, for the time being in force, or any contract to this effect

Also stated that Aadhaar authentication data cannot be retained for more than 6 months.

It did also opined that private sector using Aadhaar details would lead to profiling of UID subscribers which can be used for influencing political views of people.

As per the SC verdict, linking of the Aadhaar number will not be mandatory for the following services.

Employee pension;
Re-verification of mobile number;
Bank accounts;
Mutual fund investments;
Insurance policies;
Credit cards;
New or existing post office schemes;
New or existing NSC accounts;
New or existing PPF accounts; or
New or existing Kisan Vikas Patra

But however UID is mandatory for income tax fillings and for acquiring PAN card.

Validity of Aadhaar being passed as MONEY BILL .

Supreme Court upheld the decision as being passed as money bill under Article 110(3) of the constitution based on section 7 of the bill which states that
"UID for the purpose of establishing identity of an individual as a condition for receipt of a subsidy, benefit or service for which the expenditure is incurred from, or the receipt therefrom forms part of, the Consolidated Fund of India"

In dissent note of 4-1 judgement in favor of Aadhaar, it was pointed out that passing Aadhaar as money bill was fraud "Passing of bill as Money bill when it does not qualify as a Money bill is a fraud on Constitution and violates its basic structure"

Conclusion:

Supreme Court could not reject the usefulness of Aadhaar in delivering good governance. At the same time the government also has the responsibility to protect the privacy and personal data of its citizens. It should make sure that data is leakproof and protect it from falling into hands of anyone who would abuse it.

Though government feels that Aadhaar would be essential for national security in fighting terrorism, money laundering, it should make sure that its power is not abused, and become overreaching violating the individual rights.

It should also increase the efficiency in delivering its services, not just issuing UID's. It should make sure that every beneficiary especially the vulnerable like old, sick and physically challenged people are receiving these services, even may be at their doorstep.

The working of legislative institutions should raise above their weight and works towards constructing better laws, keeping aside obstructive politics, so that the laws are not necessitated to be rectified by courts. The tactics to bypass Rajyasabha or passing ordinances should be avoided, and the parties in power and opposition should work towards strengthening democracy.

UNDERSTANDING MOB LYNCHING IN INDIA

What is Mob Lynching ?

It is an act of extrajudicial killing by a group of people to condemn or punish a person or persons without a chance for free and fair trail.

There is always an element of prejudice involved, where the victims are believed to have committed a crime.
The social background of the victim is more often the reason for the prejudice.
Lynching involves acts of violence. The victims may be hanged, beaten many a times leading to death, and subjected to other acts of violence like stone pelting to punish the victims. Some times the victims are also shamed by being stripped and humiliated.

Why Lynching happens ?

The mob lynchings often happens on the pretext of safeguarding the values of the social group or protecting their members or properties from outsiders.

The values can be religious based, caste based, race based any thing which is considered sacred to the social group.

The breach of these values upsets the community as a whole and the action against them is seen through mob violence and rage.

Who are the Victims of Lynching ?

When a member of the same social group commits a crime which is considered detrimental to their belief systems, he may be boycotted from from the community, but will be given a chance for representation, even if the punishment is of violent nature would rarely involve killing and mob rage.

But when the victim is of different social group, often lying lower in social hierarchy, his act of crime would be seen as a collective threat by the most or whole community, and the community members would take a collective action against the victim which involves violence like tying up the victim, striping and beating him up.

There would be very less effort shown to investigate whether the victim really had the intention to commit such an act, he would not be given any fair trail.

Let's See Some Examples.

Religion based :

The Cow is a sacred animal for Hindus in Indian society. But at the same time there are other communities which consume the meat of cow. The communities like Muslims, dalits have meat in their dietary habits. Where one community has religious significance of cow sacrifice and other community were/are scavengers for food and had practice of consuming meat from dead carcass as part of scavenging when untouchability was practiced. And the cattle are also a source of income for many in India(irrespective of social and religious background), where income is generated through selling milk and allied products.

These communities are often seen with suspicion of cow slaughter. And also these communities belong to minority groups and are marginalized. They rarely have any access to justice system for redressal of their grievances and bureaucratic authorities may be less keen to help them due to popular, political pressure and in many cases the crime will not be recognized as a lynching or extrajudicial killing.

Security based :

The communities generally have little trust on outsiders. They see the outsiders as an imminent danger to the community. They may be suspected to be child abductors, thieves, people with ulterior motive to change the religious, political views of the group.

Some times the social background of the outsiders may be the reason for the prejudice. Like a person of African origin may be seen as a drug dealer or a thief, similarly laborer from a specific state may be suspected to be a thief or child abductor.

Person belonging to particular caste may be suspected as performing witchcraft, which they believe is the reason for the unfortunate incidents happening in a community or in a family or to an individual.

Is Social Media Aiding Lynching ?

The recent lynchings witnessed in India are aided by the technology i.e by social media. There have been false rumors spread through the social media applications which have ignited sentiments of the people, and there were no efforts put into finding the authenticity of the news especially when the news has been approved by their local political leaders.

In many parts of the country the rumors that the child abductors are active in their regions have led to suspecting and beating up of outside strangers seen in their locality.

Also the opinions which are not in favor of authoritarian groups are challenged openly and threatened with violence, which are circulated in social media putting in danger the lives of dissidents.

Few use the communal and polarizing agenda to gain political mileage, spreading culture of intolerance and prejudice. This is done effectively through social media where their supporters are easy to reach.

What Should be Done ?

There is no simple solution for this problem, especially when a democracy like India is seeing rise in such cases.

There is a need for behavioral change, inducing culture of tolerance, strengthening democratic institutions so that individual rights are given primacy.

We need laws which punish the perpetrators of such barbarous crime and punish those who take laws into their hands.

Also there is a need for a system where people who justify such acts are identified and punished or censored. The culture of glorifying the perpetrators as heroes need to be checked.
There is need to promote awareness among the people about fake news circulated in the social media, and bureaucracy need to work closely with communities spreading awareness.

Bureaucracy, especially police need to act quickly on complaints and establish the truth as soon a possible, so that people gain confidence regarding maintenance of law and order in the community.

The government has asked NCRB to register cases of mob lynchings, which will provide the demographic details of the victims like their caste, religion, age, sex, race which would help the government in shaping the policies.

The social media and the government collectively should be able to tackle such fake news using AI's or algorithms. There is a need to study the patterns and identify them so that such outward incidents may be predicted early and such incidents be stooped.

CONCLUSION.

The mob lynching is not just a by product of social media, but is rather an amalgamation of intolerance, political interests, behavioral aspects, lack of clear laws which are leading towards extrajudicial killings, which is highly undesirable for unity and diversity of our country. To solve this problem efforts are needed by both the government and the society.

Panel on Lynching- HT

Local Authorities must show good faith- The Hindu

Data on Hate crimes - How to count? - Indian Express

What is a civil society?

Civil society is communion or a collective group of people who have common interests, ideologies, and their collaboration is for attainment of the goals they believe in.

They can be of versatile nature of groups like family, religion, social activists, professionals or people of certain profession like trade unions, even social media communities, judicial activists, political groups. When these groups are well organised they are refereed to as Civil Society Organisations. These organisations exclude Government and its institutions, and for profit organisations, thus the synonymous phrase Non Governmental Organisation (NGO). These organisations can be at local(ex: Self Help Groups), national, and international level(ex: Reporters Without Borders)

Understanding Civil Society.

Civil society in its nascent form can be understood by comparing how early humans formed into a tribe of small group living in small hamlet, this association to form a tribe is to achieve the goal of surviving. It was later that humans evolved were able to form governments that run on certain rules,procedures and protocols. So civil societies are formed when people who believe in a cause come together willing to take collective action. This action may be to protect their rights or rights of the disadvantaged or environment or to promote health, education, economic interests or to promote awareness among people about certain issues.

Is there a need for Civil Society?

Humans have established institutions to govern themselves like in democracies or being governed by autocracy like in middle eastern countries. These institutions by themselves are not enough to cater for the specific needs of the people as a group or nation or world as a whole. The policies, laws may not be suitable for all as there is no one size fits all solutions available with governments. These civil societies may be categorized broadly into 4 orientations

Charitable Orientation : mostly towards helping poor to meet their needs.

Service Orientation : people receive services like education, health, etc.

Participatory Orientation : mostly involves self help groups where people not only receive benefits but also contribute to attain these benefits

Empowering Orientation :help people understand social, political and economic factors affecting their lives, and to strengthen their awareness of their own potential power to control their lives.

Role of Civil Society.

Civil society plays important role in development and is expected to take the responsibility of socio economic political development such as seeking transformation of an authoritarian rule into democratic and further strengthening existing democracy. Help improving equity, and living conditions of the poor. Let us see how civil societies help in governance.

They help in shaping public policy and decision making:

this may be done by mobilizing people or by representing the interests of marginalized people like poor and socially disadvantages people, farmers, disabled people, urban slum dwellers, etc.

Transparency and information:

asking for information on implementation of policies, scrutinizing the propriety of government spending, etc.

Social change through social activism:

promoting awareness among the people about the need for social change, like women's safety in public and office spaces, fighting against social evils like untouchability, dowry , etc.

Supplementing government efforts:

helping govt in implementing schemes. Akshaya Patra role in providing food in mid day meal program of govt Sarva Siksha Abhiyaan is a classic example. Another example is Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation helping government in tackling diseases through providing medicines and logistics.

Working for social justice:

this is where civil societies come in aid for the vulnerable sects of the society and try to defend their rights. Like the rights of the Tribal people whose lands come into constant conflict with the quest for resources.

Environmental Activism:

one of the most active and contributing action of civil society is protecting the environment. These range from International to local groups.

Civil society activists act as check against government excess, protects the moral conscience of the society. They question the indifference shown to the plight of common man. They try to protect the rights of individuals which are infringed by authorities, corporate's and majoritarian dominance.

Challenges faced by Civil Society .

These are internal and external.

Internal challenges.

The Civil society organisations receive funding for carrying out their operations. This may leave them vulnerable to promote narrow goals of promoters rather than broader goals. This challenge of power imbalances within throws up fundamental question of whose voices are heard, how resources are accessed, distributed and who is speaking for whom. This brings into the question of legitimacy of the organisation and related issues of transparency, representation and accountability. (To understand better lets suppose there is nuclear power project approved by the government in collaboration with a country, but there may be a competing vested interest which may artificially promote protests by funding the protests in lieu of delaying the project.)

External Challenges.

The civil societies need to be registered and they are regulated under the laws of the land especially on receiving foreign funds. Authorities also under the suspicion of influence of foreign countries may cause roadblocks for them to carry out their operations, like instigating laws such as treason on such organisations.

Conclusion.

Strong democracy needs strong and active civil society, they contribute to the political, social and economic development. Yet their legitimacy can't be taken for granted and at the same time their operations should not be hindered by pro vigilance and suspicion by authorities. The civil society needs to evolve themselves and self regulate themselves and innovate to contribute to the society more efficiently.

Recent Issues

The crackdown on civil society
the Hindu editorial

A few more trivial Facts.

CSO in India are regulated under Societies Registration Act, 1860 regulated by states adopted central act.

As Section 8 Companies Act 2013 as non profit organisation.

Can also be registered as Trust.

Funding is regulated under Foreign Contribution Regulation Act (FCRA), 2011. Intelligence Bureau, in a report accused "foreign-funded" NGOs of "serving as tools for foreign policy interests of western governments" by sponsoring agitations against nuclear and coal-fired power plants and anti-GMO agitation across the country. The NGOs, are said to be working through a network of local organisations to negatively impact GDP growth by 2–3%.

It alleged that Greenpeace was leading a "massive effort to take down India's coal-fired power plant and coal mining activity" by using foreign funds to "create protest movements under 'Coal Network' umbrella at prominent coal block and coal-fired power plant locations in India".^[3] The Intelligence Bureau said the foreign NGOs and their Indian arms were serving as tools to advance Western foreign policy interests.^[4] "Greenpeace aims to fundamentally change the dynamics of India's energy mix by disrupting and weakening the relationship between key players," the IB report said.