Now Home Ministry Of India Is Opposing UIDAI

The unique identification project of India (UID project of India) or Aadhar project of India is one of the projects that are openly violating the provisions of Indian constitution. Techno legal experts of India have even declared Aadhar project of India as illegal and unconstitutional.

Even on the non legal side, Aadhar project is not supported by any project analysis and management. Hard earned public money is literally wasted by Indian government without any parliamentary oversight. Surprisingly, the unique identification authority of India (UIDAI), led by Nandan Nilekani, is openly operating to the great detriment of Indian constitution and civil liberties.

Now even the Home Ministry of India has raised concerns that a fresh proposal of the UIDAI to independently collect biometric details could lead to duplication of effort and lead to wastage of public funds.

The Cabinet had earlier mandated the census commissioner to create the national population register (NPR), a biometrics-based identity system. This required the census commissioner to create a data-base of all residents through door-to-door enumeration and pass this database to UIDAI that will take care of duplication and issue number of each unique resident.

In a proposal set to come up before the Cabinet soon, the UIDAI had asked for over Rs.14, 840 crore to fund the authority's effort to independently create its own database of all residents over five years. Asked, home minister P Chidambaram said the UIDAI had been given permission by the Cabinet to collect biometrics of a limited number of cases till the NPR was completed.

"Now I think UIDAI is bringing paper to the Cabinet Committee of UID. The home ministry, the Planning Commission and others have given their comments," Chidambaram said, adding that no decision had been taken so far by the Cabinet Committee. "When the Cabinet Committee takes a decision, I will tell you what the decision is," he said.

Government officials said the census commission has already completed the task of collecting forms from all residents. So far, biometrics of 30 lakh people have been captured, the home minister announced in his monthly report to the people. Officials said the law did not permit them to use the data collected by the UID for its NPR.

Unaccountable Natgrid Is Not A Panacea For Intelligence Failures Of India

Intelligence Failures in India are in abundance. This is not necessarily due to the fault of Intelligence Agencies of India but in majority of cases this happen due to non sharing of intelligence information among themselves in a timely manner. Overall, Intelligence Infrastructure of India is in a bad shape.

This is the reason why Projects like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID), National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC), etc assume significance. These are ambitious Projects that must be implemented in a Constitutional and Planned manner. Here lies the real problem.

While NCTC is out of picture for some more years yet NATGRID Project is based upon “Faulty Premises” and “Improper Management”.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram is pressing hard for the NATGRID Project upon the premises that it would solve all the Intelligence and Terrorism related problems. This is not true. NATGRID Project cannot and would not stop terrorist attacks and it would play almost no role in the absence of good Intelligence Gathering and Analysis Capabilities. It can supplement intelligence capabilities but never supplant the same.

Secondly, NATGRID Project of India is badly implemented. There is no sign of any sort of “Accountability and Transparency” in the dealing of NATGRID Project. Even Parliamentary Scrutiny is missing and in an environment where E-Surveillance has already gripped India, this is a bad news.

There is no “Public Information” about NATGRID Project nor are there any “Procedural Safeguards” that can prevent the possible misuse of this E-Surveillance Project. Civil Liberties are at stake as there is no protection of Human Rights in Cyberspace.

Home Minister P. Chidambaram must understand that NATGRID Project of India is “Not a Panacea” for all National Security problems in India. If at all NATGRID Project would work, it must be made more “Systematic and Planned”. Of course, it must also be “Constitutional”. Presently NATGRID Project is not meeting any of the abovementioned requirements.

National Intelligence Grid Of India In Doldrums

National intelligence grid (Natgrid) is a pilot project of Home Ministry of India. Natgrid has been launched to tackle growing terrorist attacks and terrorism cases in India. Besides, Natgrid can also be used to prevent serious crimes and cyber crimes.

Natgrid project is accompanies by national counter terrorism centre (NCTC) of India. However, till now neither Natgrid nor NCTC has been able to see the light of the day. Bureaucratic hurdles and lack of proper planning is the main reason why these crucial projects are not even able to take a start.

After 26/11, India vowed it would never be caught napping again and the ambitious idea of National Intelligence Grid was born. It was widely believed to be Home Minister P. Chidambaram's visionary plan, a powerful real-time 24X7 networking of 21 databases to stitch all information and raise alarm. It has now been almost two years and there is no sign of any implementation of Natgrid project.

There seems to be two main reasons for non functional Natgrid and NCTC projects. The first is the fear that Home Ministry would become all powerful Ministry to deal with intelligence related works. If sensitive information is left at the disposal of Home Ministry other Ministries may not like the idea. Further, this is the reason why NCTC project has not moved an inch forward.

The second reason for the failure of Natgrid and NCTC projects is absence of privacy, data security and data protection safeguards in these projects. In a zeal to deal with terrorism related cases, Home Minister P Chidambaram ignored the civil liberties requirements altogether. To make the matter worst we have no e-surveillance policy in India and our intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies are practically governed by no law and without any Parliamentary oversight. Thus, fears of privacy violations have also plagued Natgrid and NCTC projects.

Although the intentions of Home Ministry are good yet they have not been executed in a planned and coordinated manner. In these circumstances the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) may not clear these much needed projects. I wish the Home Ministry would take care of all these issues so that both Natgrid and NCTC may be operational in India.

Natgrid Project Of India Is Still In Troubled Waters

National intelligence grid (Natgrid) project of India is in trouble from the very beginning. With absolute secrecy and no regard for the civil liberties of Indians, this was definitely a controversial project. Home Minister of India P Chidambaram also did not bother to do the needful. Instead he tried his level best to get Natgrid project of India cleared from the Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) of India.

However, it seems CCS does not agree with the idea and implementation mechanism of Natgrid project. Lack of privacy safeguards has stalled Natgrid project for the time being and Home Ministry is trying hard to get it functional. Even the term of Raghu Raman, project coordinator of Natgrid, is expiring no 31st May, 2011. Till now there are no positive developments and signs that CCS would approve Natgrid project of Home Ministry. CCS may consider the feasibility of Natgrid project next month.

Meanwhile, a 900 page Detailed Project Report (DPR) has been sent to the CCS members to study the feasibility, implications and requirements of Natgrid project. The DPR claims that Natgrid project would be finally and fully put in place in four phases extending between 24 to 36 months. Extension of the term of Raghu Raman may also be considered.

Many experts in India have been questioning the way Natgrid project has been ignoring civil liberties in India. Further, experts have also been demanding that a balance must be maintained between civil liberties and national security requirements. Although the Natgrid project has been granted in principle clearance yet it failed to satisfy the CCS regarding the civil liberty protection requirements.

Another factor that is going against the Natgrid project is that intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies of India are practically governed by no law. There is no Parliamentary oversight over these agencies. Even Natgrid project is also not supported b by any legal framework. To make the matter worst we have no privacy, data security and data protection laws in India. Even the cyber law of India has conferred unregulated and unreasonable e-surveillance, Internet censorship and website blocking powers in the hands of Indian government and its agencies.

These are very serious constitutional issues that cannot be taken lightly by Home Ministry, Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) and CCS. The CCS must consider the inputs and suggestions of various techno legal experts of India before clearing Natgrid project.