Group decries Centre's Aadhaar biometric project

Panaji: While the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is busy implementing Aadhaar, the unique identification project across India, Bharat Mukti Morcha (BMM) has petitioned president of India Pratibha Patil through the North Goa collector, objecting to the implementation of the biometric project.

Alleging that the UID is a conspiracy to put private citizens under surveillance, BMM has urged the Union government to scrap the unique identification project as it is a violation of the privacy of citizens.

"Through UID, tracking of individuals becomes easy. All information collected by UIDAI will be easily accessible to intelligence agencies such as the Intelligence Bureau (IB) and the Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) through the National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID)," said Goa convener of BMM Sebastian Rodrigues. "This may lead to suppression of democratic liberties," he said.

The BMM has noted that while the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, is yet to be passed by Parliament, biometric enrolment for the National Population Register ( NPR)) is being carried out under Citizenship Act 1955 and Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules 2003.

Unlike the Census Act 1948, which declares in Section 15 that census records 'will not be open to inspection or admissible as evidence', these other laws do not have such safeguards.

"Biometric cards invade privacy and as such are a violation of the fundamental right to life with dignity guaranteed by the constitution. Even developed nations such as Britain, USA and Australia which tried to enforce such cards were forced to scrap them after public protests," Rodrigues added.

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has already begun issuing unique numbers to residents in different parts of India. The numbers will be stored in a centralized database and linked to biometric information such as photographs, fingerprints and iris scans of citizens.

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