To
Sri.Oommen Chandy
Chief Minister
Government of Kerala
Thiruvananthapuram
Subject- Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar Number, National Population Register (NPR) and National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) questionable
Sir,
This is with reference to a news item dated Oct 25, 2011 about “Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) Systems for homes” (http://www.yentha.com/news/view/1/14123) costing around Rs 15 per unit. This has reference also to the attached MoU signed between Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Government of Kerala on May 28, 2010. It is noteworthy that the US Military’s huge supplies and equipment around the world was tracked using IBM punch cards during World War II, now radio frequency identification (RFID) tags are used to do the same. RFID tags work like “wireless bar codes” which perform the task of recording, tracking, and managing.
Earlier, State Bank of Travancore (SBT) has the entered into agreement an with the Kudumbashree Mission to facilitate the extension of its financial services to villages in Kerala. The SBT is to issue smart cards with RFID facility to the customers in villages to act as yet another Identity Card.
Coincidentally, RFID technology help keep track of supplies and equipment to the battlefield at the right time and place and to secure supplies in the military operations of US Department of Defense’s (DoD) and its troops in Iraq and Afghanistan. The US Navy’s combat casualty care unit uses RFID technology to track combat casualties in Iraq through RFID chips sewn into the wristbands of naval personnel. The US Department of Defense announced the establishment of a Radio Frequency Identification Policy (RFID) on October 23, 2003. Document attached
In a similar way, India’s Unique Identification (UID)/Aadhaar Number, National Population Register (NPR) and the report of the Shri Nandan Manohar Nilekani headed Technology Advisory Group on Unique Projects (TAGUP) seems inspired by US Department of Defense Guide to Uniquely Identifying Items dated April 16, 2004 (its 1.3 version was prepared in December 2003). Document attached
We submit that installing of RFID seems to be an exercise in surveillance system. It appears to be linked with Planning Commission’s UID and Union Home Ministry’s, NPR and Capt. Raghu Raman’s National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID).
It is germane to note that a Cabinet note on NPR, UID feud (a recent news report) is under preparation Registrar-General of NPR who also happens to be the Census Commissioner, Dr C Chandramouli has refused to use the data collected by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) because it has been using multi-point sources to collect the biometric details, which does not mandate presence of a government nominated person at the time of collection, it would not be advisable for the NPR to use them” although UIDAI claims that it will provide 200 million UID Numbers by March 2012. Both NPR which is aimed at identifying Indian citizens and UID which is aimed at Indian residents have the potential to profile minorities and political adversaries of all ilk. This apprehension is supported by National Human Rights Commission (NHRC).
In the Human Rights Newsletter (Vol. 18 No.8, August 2011) of NHRC, its submission to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance is published. It reveals that UID/Aadhaar Number has dangerous ramifications. We have also presented my views in person as well as in writing to the Parliamentary Standing Committee. We agree with the NHRC's view that UID/Aadhaar Number will lead to discrimination. Document Attached
We are in complete agreement with NHRC's views on "biometric information" that includes finger prints, iris scan, DNA and voice which has not been disclosed. Without the passage of the NIAI Bill, this information is being collected with impunity. The view of NHRC has been endorsed by the Leader of opposition in the Kerala Assembly and former Chief Minister of Kerela and Government of Gujarat besides groups that work on civil liberties.
We submit that as per Prisoner Identification Act, 1920, fingerprints of prisoners are taken with the permission of Magistrate and these records of the prisoners are destroyed on acquittal. It appears that the UID/Aadhaar Number is making all residents and citizens of India subordinate to even a prisoner's status. The Prisoner Identification Act, 1920 is available on internet.
We are attaching a seemingly strange reply from Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) in response to a RTI application which is related to the issue of "need for protection of information", "the possibility of tampering with stored biometric information" in paragraph 5 (page no. 7 of the newsletter) and "disclosure of information in the interest of national security" mentioned in paragraph 9 (page no.8 of the newsletter). Documents Attached
We wish to draw your attention towards the notice issued by NHRC to the Ministry of External Affairs in the matter of Indian students being tagged with RFID or Radio Collars by the US authorities. Both our External Affairs Minister and the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs had termed such acts as unacceptable.
We submit that recently the former head of International Monetary Fund was also made wear RFID or radio collars when he was arrested on charges of sexual assault.
We submit that RFID appears to be linked to Islamabad based National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) which was established in March 2000 to provide integrated homeland security solutions in Pakistan. NADRA has developed solutions based on Biometrics and RFID technology and has the largest IT infrastructure in Pakistan with highly qualified technical and managerial resources enabling NADRA to provide customized solutions to any country, as per its website. In Pakistan, RFID is being used for e–tolling in Motorways, implemented by NADRA.
We submit that like Shri Nilekani, Deputy Chairman NADRA, Tariq Malik too was awarded in Milan, Italy at the ID WORLD International Congress, the Global Summit on Automatic Identification in 2009. Shri Nilekani was given ID Limelight Award at the ID WORLD International Congress in 2010 held in Milan from November 16 to 18, 2010. One of the two Platinum Sponsors was Morpho (Safran group), a French high-technology company with three core businesses: Aerospace, Defense and Security.
Shri Nilekani was given the award "For being the force behind a transformational project ID project in India...and "to provide identification cards for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various programs and schemes of the Government." The 10th edition of the ID WORLD International Congress is planned in Milan on November 2-4, 2011. Its key sponsors include Morpho (Safran group), a world leader in secure ID credentials solutions incorporating biometrics application in passports, visas, ID documents, health and social benefits, elections, etc. Its subsidiary, Sagem Morpho Security Pvt. Ltd has been awarded contract for the purchase of Biometric Authentication Devices on February 2, 2011 by the UIDAI. On July 30, 2010, in a joint press release, it was announced that “the Mahindra Satyam and Morpho led consortium has been selected as one of the key partners to implement and deliver the Aadhaar program by UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India).” This means that at least two contracts have been awarded to the French conglomerate led consortium. Is it a coincidence that Morpho (Safran group) sponsored the award to Chairman, UIDAI and the former got a contract from the latter? Is it a quid pro quo?
We submit that UIDAI awarded contracts to three companies namely, Satyam Computer Services Ltd. (Mahindra Satyam), as part of a “Morpho led consortium”, L1 Identity Solutions Operating Company and Accenture Services Pvt. Ltd of USA for the “Implementation of Biometric Solution for UIDAI” on July 30, 2010. In Aadhaar Enrolment Form, Column 9 reads: "I have no objection to the UIDAI sharing information provided by me to the UIDAI with agencies engaged in delivery of welfare services". In front of this column, there is a "Yes" and "No" option. Irrespective of what option residents of India exercise (which is being ticked automatically by the enroler in any case as of now), the fact is this information being collected for creating Centralized Identity Data Register (CIDR) and National Population Register (column 7) will be handed over to biometric technology companies like Satyam Computer Services/Sagem Morpho, L1 Identities Solutions and Accenture Services of all shades who have already been awarded contracts.
We wish to draw your attention towards what Davinder Kumar, Deputy Director General of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) will have residents/ citizens of India believe that about the three transnational biometric technology companies working with foreign intelligence agencies namely:1) Satyam Computer Services/Sagem Morpho, 2) L1 Identities Solutions and 3) Accenture Services who have been awarded contracts by UIDAI that “There are no means to verify whether the said companies are of US origin or not” in a reply to Right to Information (RTI) application dated 21st July, 2011. This is quite an alarming omission that is likely to put residents of India under surveillance using delivery of public services as fish bait for ever. The RTI reply is attached.
We wish to draw your attention towards the protest against RFID during the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) between the 16th to 18 November 2005 by the founder of the free software movement, Richard Stallman who protested the use of RFID security cards.
We submit that with the objective of unified Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) technology for National Highways in India, had set up a Shri Nilekani headed Committee to examine all technologies available for ETC and recommend the most suitable one for implementation throughout India. The 28 page report of the Committee refers to RFID, saying, “RFID tags are used for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves.” After examining these and several other technologies, Shri Nilekani headed Committee headed Committee recommended passive RFID tags although there is only one microchip manufacturer for this kind of application stating that “It is extremely simple to use and administer, requiring no actions on the part of the user (the sticker itself can be stuck on the vehicle by the auto vendor or the manufacturer).
We recollect that similar stickers were recently detected in the office of our Finance Minister, which was widely reported in the media. It was reported (June 21, 2011, Indian Express) that on September 7, 2010, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister wrote to Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh asking him to order a 'secret inquiry' into what he called a “serious breach of security” in his office: the presence of “planted adhesives” in 16 key locations as a possible surveillance act. These locations included the office of the Finance Minister himself, the office of his Advisor Ms Omita Paul, the office of his Private Secretary Shri Manoj Pant, and two conference rooms used by the Finance Minister, including the main conference hall on the ground floor of the heavily guarded North Block. This gotrevealed through counter-surveillance operation of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that the adhesives were “planted” at critical places in the Finance Ministry which on closer examination showed grooves on the surface which indicate some “plantable adhesive substances” could have been pasted. The proposed RFID tags appear to be similar to the “plantable adhesive substances” as stickers being proposed for vehicles as part of implementation of ETC technology.
We also wish to bring a book SpyChips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre to your notice. The authors forewarn us of how we are being made to "imagine a world of no privacy. Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought. What's more, they can be tracked and monitored remotely". The 270 page book has been published by Thomas Nelson Inc in 2005. It has been contended that RFID will impact our civilization in a deeper way than printing press, industrial revolution, light bulb, Internet and personal computers. The introduction of RFID marks the beginning of a world where everything and every place gets imbedded with RFID or spying micro chips.
We submit that RFID and UID projects are going to do almost exactly the same thing which the predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.
We submit that the history of RFID can be traced to 1945 when Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool as a covert listening device which retransmitted radio waves with audio information. In the recent times, the largest deployment of active RFID has been done by the US Department of Defense. In 2009 researchers at Bristol University successfully glued RFID micro-transponders to live ants in order to study their behavior. RFID tags for animals represent one of the oldest uses of RFID technology.
We submit that RFID Tags, which are world-readable, pose a risk to both personal location, privacy, national and military security of the country.
Therefore, biometric data based RFID and related identification exercises like UID and NPR must be rejected.
In this regard, we would like to meet you to apprise you of the ramifications of this and other related projects and programmes.
Thanking You
Yours Faithfully
Gopal Krishna
Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)
ToxicsWatch Alliance (TWA)
New Delhi
Tel:91-11-65663958, Fax: 91-11-26517814, Mb: 9818089660,
Email:krishna2777@gmail.com, Web: toxicswatch.blogspot.com
Cc
Chief Secretary, Government of Kerala
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
Intrusion plus Retreat: Questions on the Unique ID Project in India
Information Systems Research Forum, The London School of Economics and Political Science, UK organised a talk on "Intrusion plus Retreat: Questions on the Unique ID Project in India" by Ram Ramakumar, an Associate Professor at the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai on October 20, 2011.
In this seminar, Ramakumar discusses certain social and ethical aspects of a new national project to supply unique ID (UID) numbers to Indian residents. The UID project is presented as a “technology–based solution” that would change the face of governance in India. He argues that the UID project, given its origins in the idea of national security, would lead to the violation of a large number of the freedoms of Indian people. No amount of assertion vis-à-vis improved service delivery can justify the violation of citizen’s freedoms and liberties.
Next, he argues that there is a misplaced emphasis on the benefits of technology in this project, when the robustness of that technology to handle large populations remains largely unproven. Further, he argues that no detailed cost–benefit analysis of the project has yet been carried out. Finally, he shows, with illustrations, that the roots of inefficiency in public welfare schemes in India do not lie in the absence of identity proofs. The project represents an effort to transform the role of the state from a direct provider to an indirect provider, leaving the citizen unmarked in the “market” for social services.
The video of my LSE seminar is up:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/informationSystems/newsAndEvents/2011events/ramakumar.htm
In this seminar, Ramakumar discusses certain social and ethical aspects of a new national project to supply unique ID (UID) numbers to Indian residents. The UID project is presented as a “technology–based solution” that would change the face of governance in India. He argues that the UID project, given its origins in the idea of national security, would lead to the violation of a large number of the freedoms of Indian people. No amount of assertion vis-à-vis improved service delivery can justify the violation of citizen’s freedoms and liberties.
Next, he argues that there is a misplaced emphasis on the benefits of technology in this project, when the robustness of that technology to handle large populations remains largely unproven. Further, he argues that no detailed cost–benefit analysis of the project has yet been carried out. Finally, he shows, with illustrations, that the roots of inefficiency in public welfare schemes in India do not lie in the absence of identity proofs. The project represents an effort to transform the role of the state from a direct provider to an indirect provider, leaving the citizen unmarked in the “market” for social services.
The video of my LSE seminar is up:
http://www.lse.ac.uk/collections/informationSystems/newsAndEvents/2011events/ramakumar.htm
Friday, October 14, 2011
Citizens Forum Opposes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for Vehicles
Press Release
Citizens Forum Opposes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for Vehicles
Implantable Spychips to be used for unique identification (UID)
New Delhi/14/10/2011: After animals and human beings Government has now proposed to tag even vehicles with unique identification (UID) using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) expresses its strong opposition to permission for the implementation of RFID based Electronic Toll Collection as per the recommendation of a committee headed by Shri Nandan Nilkeni, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Planning Commission. The report is attached. In effect, this amounts to tagging all the vehicles with RFID and tracking their movement. It will enable spying on us without our consent.
It has been reported that the scheme is expected to commence either on New Delhi-Chandigarh-Parwanu National Highway (NH) or New Delhi- Jalandhar NH. We wish to express our strong opposition against this surveillance scheme.
RFID appears linked to Unique Identification (UID), which is unfolding without legislative approval and without the passage of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010. The Bill is pending with Parliamentary Standing on Finance which is yet to invite public comments on teh Bill and visit the UID enrollments sites in the country.
It is relevant to note that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued a notice to the Union Ministry of External Affairs in the matter of Indian students being tagged with RFID or Radio Collars by the US authorities. Both our External Affairs Minister and the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs had termed such acts as unacceptable.
Recently the former head of International Monetary Fund was also made wear RFID or radio collars when he was arrested on charges of sexual assault.
Like UID, RFID too is linked to Islamabad based National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) which was established in March 2000 to provide integrated homeland security solutions in Pakistan. NADRA has developed solutions based on Biometrics and RFID technology and has the largest IT infrastructure in Pakistan with highly qualified technical and managerial resources enabling NADRA to provide customized solutions to any country, as per its website. In Pakistan, RFID is being used for e–tolling in Motorways, implemented by NADRA.
And like Shri Nilekani, Deputy Chairman NADRA, Tariq Malik too was awarded in Milan, Italy at the ID WORLD International Congress, the Global Summit on Automatic Identification in 2009. Shri Nilekani was awarded at the ID WORLD International Congress in 2010. He was given the award "For being the force behind a transformational project ID project in India...and "to provide identification cards for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various programs and schemes of the Government." It is now clear that these various programs and schemes include ETC based on RFID.
It may be noted that there was protest against RFID during the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) between the 16th to 18 November 2005 by the founder of the free software movement, Richard Stallman who protested the use of RFID security cards.
With the objective of unified Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) technology for National Highways in India, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways vide Order No. NH-12037/33/2010-PIC dated 20.04.2010 had set up a Shri Nilekani headed Committee to examine all technologies available for ETC and recommend the most suitable one for implementation throughout India. The 28 page report of the Committee refers to RFID, saying, “RFID tags are used for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. There are generally three types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery and can transmit signals autonomously, passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require external source to provoke signal transmission, and battery assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags, which require an external source to ‘wake up’ but have significantly higher read range.” After examining these and several other technologies, Shri Nilekani headed Committee headed Committee recommended passive RFID tags although there is only one microchip manufacturer for this kind of application stating that “It is extremely simple to use and administer, requiring no actions on the part of the user (the sticker itself can be stuck on the vehicle by the auto vendor or the manufacturer).
It may be recollected that similar stickers were recently detected in the office of our Finance Minister, which was widely reported in the media. It was reported that on September 7, 2010, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister wrote to Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh asking him to order a 'secret inquiry' into what he called a “serious breach of security” in his office: the presence of “planted adhesives” in 16 key locations as a possible surveillance act. These locations included the office of the Finance Minister himself, the office of his Advisor Ms Omita Paul, the office of his Private Secretary Shri Manoj Pant, and two conference rooms used by the Finance Minister, including the main conference hall on the ground floor of the heavily guarded North Block. This got revealed through counter-surveillance operation of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that the adhesives were “planted” at critical places in the Finance Ministry which on closer examination showed grooves on the surface which indicate some “plantable adhesive substances” could have been pasted. The proposed RFID tags appear to be similar to the “plantable adhesive substances” as stickers being proposed for vehicles as part of implementation of ETC technology.
A book SpyChips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre to your notice. The authors forewarn us of how we are being made to "imagine a world of no privacy. Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought. What's more, they can be tracked and monitored remotely". The 270 page book has been published by Thomas Nelson Inc in 2005. It has been contended that RFID will impact our civilization in a deeper way than printing press, industrial revolution, light bulb, Internet and personal computers. The introduction of RFID marks the beginning of a world where everything and every place gets imbedded with RFID or spying micro chips.
CFCL apprehends that RFID and UID projects are going to do almost exactly the same thing which the predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.
The history of RFID can be traced to 1945 when Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool as a covert listening device which retransmitted radio waves with audio information. In the recent times, the largest deployment of active RFID has been done by the US Department of Defense. In 2009 researchers at Bristol University successfully glued RFID micro-transponders to live ants in order to study their behavior. RFID tags for animals represent one of the oldest uses of RFID technology.
Even a cursory reading of the Committee’s report reveals that another technology namely, ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Reader) mentioned at page no. 17 which has been used in London is more suitable and easier to adopt in the Indian conditions “since this type of ETC technology solely relies upon the number plates of the vehicles”. It only relies on “standardization of number plates” and appears quite doable quite comfortable but the Committee has recommended a costlier, difficult and intrusive technology.
It must be noted that RFID Tags, which are world-readable, pose a risk to both personal location privacy and corporate/military security. In view of the above facts, CFCL demands that the recommendation of Shri Nilekani headed Committee to adopt RFID for ETC must be rejected in favour of Automatic Number Plate Reader, which seems a cheaper and comfortable option.
For Details: Gopal Krishna, Member, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), New Delhi
Tel:91-11-65663958, Fax: 91-11-26517814, Mb: 9818089660, Email:krishna2777@gmail.com
Citizens Forum Opposes Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) for Vehicles
Implantable Spychips to be used for unique identification (UID)
New Delhi/14/10/2011: After animals and human beings Government has now proposed to tag even vehicles with unique identification (UID) using Radio Frequency Identification (RFID). Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) expresses its strong opposition to permission for the implementation of RFID based Electronic Toll Collection as per the recommendation of a committee headed by Shri Nandan Nilkeni, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), Planning Commission. The report is attached. In effect, this amounts to tagging all the vehicles with RFID and tracking their movement. It will enable spying on us without our consent.
It has been reported that the scheme is expected to commence either on New Delhi-Chandigarh-Parwanu National Highway (NH) or New Delhi- Jalandhar NH. We wish to express our strong opposition against this surveillance scheme.
RFID appears linked to Unique Identification (UID), which is unfolding without legislative approval and without the passage of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010. The Bill is pending with Parliamentary Standing on Finance which is yet to invite public comments on teh Bill and visit the UID enrollments sites in the country.
It is relevant to note that National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) had issued a notice to the Union Ministry of External Affairs in the matter of Indian students being tagged with RFID or Radio Collars by the US authorities. Both our External Affairs Minister and the Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs had termed such acts as unacceptable.
Recently the former head of International Monetary Fund was also made wear RFID or radio collars when he was arrested on charges of sexual assault.
Like UID, RFID too is linked to Islamabad based National Database & Registration Authority (NADRA) which was established in March 2000 to provide integrated homeland security solutions in Pakistan. NADRA has developed solutions based on Biometrics and RFID technology and has the largest IT infrastructure in Pakistan with highly qualified technical and managerial resources enabling NADRA to provide customized solutions to any country, as per its website. In Pakistan, RFID is being used for e–tolling in Motorways, implemented by NADRA.
And like Shri Nilekani, Deputy Chairman NADRA, Tariq Malik too was awarded in Milan, Italy at the ID WORLD International Congress, the Global Summit on Automatic Identification in 2009. Shri Nilekani was awarded at the ID WORLD International Congress in 2010. He was given the award "For being the force behind a transformational project ID project in India...and "to provide identification cards for each resident across the country and would be used primarily as the basis for efficient delivery of welfare services. It would also act as a tool for effective monitoring of various programs and schemes of the Government." It is now clear that these various programs and schemes include ETC based on RFID.
It may be noted that there was protest against RFID during the UN World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS) between the 16th to 18 November 2005 by the founder of the free software movement, Richard Stallman who protested the use of RFID security cards.
With the objective of unified Electronic Toll Collection (ETC) technology for National Highways in India, Ministry of Road Transport & Highways vide Order No. NH-12037/33/2010-PIC dated 20.04.2010 had set up a Shri Nilekani headed Committee to examine all technologies available for ETC and recommend the most suitable one for implementation throughout India. The 28 page report of the Committee refers to RFID, saying, “RFID tags are used for the purpose of identification and tracking using radio waves. There are generally three types of RFID tags: active RFID tags, which contain a battery and can transmit signals autonomously, passive RFID tags, which have no battery and require external source to provoke signal transmission, and battery assisted passive (BAP) RFID tags, which require an external source to ‘wake up’ but have significantly higher read range.” After examining these and several other technologies, Shri Nilekani headed Committee headed Committee recommended passive RFID tags although there is only one microchip manufacturer for this kind of application stating that “It is extremely simple to use and administer, requiring no actions on the part of the user (the sticker itself can be stuck on the vehicle by the auto vendor or the manufacturer).
It may be recollected that similar stickers were recently detected in the office of our Finance Minister, which was widely reported in the media. It was reported that on September 7, 2010, Shri Pranab Mukherjee, Union Finance Minister wrote to Prime Minister, Dr Manmohan Singh asking him to order a 'secret inquiry' into what he called a “serious breach of security” in his office: the presence of “planted adhesives” in 16 key locations as a possible surveillance act. These locations included the office of the Finance Minister himself, the office of his Advisor Ms Omita Paul, the office of his Private Secretary Shri Manoj Pant, and two conference rooms used by the Finance Minister, including the main conference hall on the ground floor of the heavily guarded North Block. This got revealed through counter-surveillance operation of the Central Board of Direct Taxes (CBDT) that the adhesives were “planted” at critical places in the Finance Ministry which on closer examination showed grooves on the surface which indicate some “plantable adhesive substances” could have been pasted. The proposed RFID tags appear to be similar to the “plantable adhesive substances” as stickers being proposed for vehicles as part of implementation of ETC technology.
A book SpyChips: How Major Corporations and Government Plan to Track Your Every Move with RFID by Katherine Albrecht and Liz McIntyre to your notice. The authors forewarn us of how we are being made to "imagine a world of no privacy. Where your every purchase is monitored and recorded in a database and your every belonging is numbered. Where someone many states away or perhaps in another country has a record of everything you have ever bought. What's more, they can be tracked and monitored remotely". The 270 page book has been published by Thomas Nelson Inc in 2005. It has been contended that RFID will impact our civilization in a deeper way than printing press, industrial revolution, light bulb, Internet and personal computers. The introduction of RFID marks the beginning of a world where everything and every place gets imbedded with RFID or spying micro chips.
CFCL apprehends that RFID and UID projects are going to do almost exactly the same thing which the predecessors of Hitler did, else how is it that Germany always had the lists of Jewish names even prior to the arrival of the Nazis? The Nazis got these lists with the help of IBM which was in the 'census' business that included racial census that entailed not only count the Jews but also identifying them. At the US Holocaust Museum in Washington, DC, there is an exhibit of an IBM Hollerith D-11 card sorting machine that was responsible for organising the census of 1933 that first identified the Jews.
The history of RFID can be traced to 1945 when Léon Theremin invented an espionage tool as a covert listening device which retransmitted radio waves with audio information. In the recent times, the largest deployment of active RFID has been done by the US Department of Defense. In 2009 researchers at Bristol University successfully glued RFID micro-transponders to live ants in order to study their behavior. RFID tags for animals represent one of the oldest uses of RFID technology.
Even a cursory reading of the Committee’s report reveals that another technology namely, ANPR (Automatic Number Plate Reader) mentioned at page no. 17 which has been used in London is more suitable and easier to adopt in the Indian conditions “since this type of ETC technology solely relies upon the number plates of the vehicles”. It only relies on “standardization of number plates” and appears quite doable quite comfortable but the Committee has recommended a costlier, difficult and intrusive technology.
It must be noted that RFID Tags, which are world-readable, pose a risk to both personal location privacy and corporate/military security. In view of the above facts, CFCL demands that the recommendation of Shri Nilekani headed Committee to adopt RFID for ETC must be rejected in favour of Automatic Number Plate Reader, which seems a cheaper and comfortable option.
For Details: Gopal Krishna, Member, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), New Delhi
Tel:91-11-65663958, Fax: 91-11-26517814, Mb: 9818089660, Email:krishna2777@gmail.com
Tuesday, October 11, 2011
Hissar candidates asset increases by 182-383 %
Note: It is interesting that two of the three leading candidates have asset increases of 182 and 383 %. They are into businesses, trade or miracles or something else.
adr@adrindia.org wrote:
Dear Friends,
Many of you had requested for information on candidates contesting Hisar bye-elections. There are a total of 40 candidates contesting. Due to some technical problems CEO Haryana website does not have the affidavits but you may access them from our website:
http://myneta.info/lsbyelection/index.php?action=hisar2011ByeElectionOrignalAffidavit&sort=default
Out of the 40 candidates contesting we have analysed the affidavits of 15 candidates. Main points of this analysis have been provided below:
8 candidates out of the 15 analysed have pending criminal cases against them. The candidate with highest pending criminal cases, i.e. 13, is Ved Pal S/o Bije Singh (IND).
Kuldeep Bishnoi (HJC (BL)) has the highest assets worth 48.85 crores followed by Ajay Singh Chautala with assets worth 40.16 crores. Jai Prakash of INC has declared assets worth 3.16 crores.
We had affidavits of 3 candidates who had contested elections in 2009. The assets of Kuldeep Bishnoi of HJC (BL) have increased by over 31.5 crores while that of Ajay Singh Chautala (INLD) has increased by 10.19 crores during the last 2 years. Jai Prakash (INC) has shown an asset increase of 2.5 crores.
A brief summary based on analysis of affidavits of candidates from the 3 major parties is provided below:
S. No. Name of Candidate Party No. Pending Criminal Cases Total Assets Assets in 2009 Asset Increase % of Assets increase
1 Kuldeep Bishnoi HJC(BL) 1 48,85,98,245 48 Crore+ 17,30,86,289 17 Crore+ 31,55,11,956 31 Crore+ 182%
2 Ajay Singh Chautala INLD 2 40,16,68,149 40 Crore+ 29,97,16,920 29 Crore+ 10,19,51,229 10 Crore+ 34%
3 Jai Parkash INC 0 3,16,54,301 3 Crore+ 65,58,644 65 Lacs+ 2,50,95,657 2 Crore+ 383%
The comparison of these candidates can be accessed from the links provided below-
http://myneta.info/lsbyelection/comparisonchart.php?constituency_id=1
http://myneta.info/lsbyelection/index.php?action=show_candidates&constituency_id=1
Contact Details:
Jaskirat Singh, Haryana Election Watch, +91-9316084953, jaskirats@gmail.com
Anil Bairwal, National Coordinator, 011-40817601 Ext-30, +91- 80103-94248, 9999-310-100 adr@adrindia.org
Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, Founder Member, +919999620944 jchhokar@gmail.com
Prof Trilochan Sastry, Founder Member, +919448353285, trilochans@iimb.ernet.in
adr@adrindia.org wrote:
Dear Friends,
Many of you had requested for information on candidates contesting Hisar bye-elections. There are a total of 40 candidates contesting. Due to some technical problems CEO Haryana website does not have the affidavits but you may access them from our website:
http://myneta.info/lsbyelection/index.php?action=hisar2011ByeElectionOrignalAffidavit&sort=default
Out of the 40 candidates contesting we have analysed the affidavits of 15 candidates. Main points of this analysis have been provided below:
8 candidates out of the 15 analysed have pending criminal cases against them. The candidate with highest pending criminal cases, i.e. 13, is Ved Pal S/o Bije Singh (IND).
Kuldeep Bishnoi (HJC (BL)) has the highest assets worth 48.85 crores followed by Ajay Singh Chautala with assets worth 40.16 crores. Jai Prakash of INC has declared assets worth 3.16 crores.
We had affidavits of 3 candidates who had contested elections in 2009. The assets of Kuldeep Bishnoi of HJC (BL) have increased by over 31.5 crores while that of Ajay Singh Chautala (INLD) has increased by 10.19 crores during the last 2 years. Jai Prakash (INC) has shown an asset increase of 2.5 crores.
A brief summary based on analysis of affidavits of candidates from the 3 major parties is provided below:
S. No. Name of Candidate Party No. Pending Criminal Cases Total Assets Assets in 2009 Asset Increase % of Assets increase
1 Kuldeep Bishnoi HJC(BL) 1 48,85,98,245 48 Crore+ 17,30,86,289 17 Crore+ 31,55,11,956 31 Crore+ 182%
2 Ajay Singh Chautala INLD 2 40,16,68,149 40 Crore+ 29,97,16,920 29 Crore+ 10,19,51,229 10 Crore+ 34%
3 Jai Parkash INC 0 3,16,54,301 3 Crore+ 65,58,644 65 Lacs+ 2,50,95,657 2 Crore+ 383%
The comparison of these candidates can be accessed from the links provided below-
http://myneta.info/lsbyelection/comparisonchart.php?constituency_id=1
http://myneta.info/lsbyelection/index.php?action=show_candidates&constituency_id=1
Contact Details:
Jaskirat Singh, Haryana Election Watch, +91-9316084953, jaskirats@gmail.com
Anil Bairwal, National Coordinator, 011-40817601 Ext-30, +91- 80103-94248, 9999-310-100 adr@adrindia.org
Prof Jagdeep Chhokar, Founder Member, +919999620944 jchhokar@gmail.com
Prof Trilochan Sastry, Founder Member, +919448353285, trilochans@iimb.ernet.in
Tuesday, September 27, 2011
Is TOI Biased in Favour of Nilekani's Aadhaar/UID Project
Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) notes that in "his September 3, 2004 memorandum, Mr. (Michael) Wynne, Acting Under Secretary of Defense, Acquisition, Technology & Logistics directed the Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) to work with US Department of Defense’s largest contractors on their strategies for implementing Unique Identification (UID). Based on that direction, Major General Scott sent letters notifying defense industry leaders that DCMA will facilitate proposals for company initiated Single Process Initiatives to enable UID implementation across all Military Services/DLA."
Source: http://guidebook.dcma.mil/17/dc05-021.htm, www.dau.mil/pubscats/PubsCats/atl/2004_01_02/Wynne-jf04.pdf
It is the same Unique Identification (UID) hwich being pursued as Aadhaar in India without disclosure of its real motives.
Major General (Dr) S.G.Vombatkere who served Indian military for 35 years says, "No serious security assessment can fail to overlook possible misuse of the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA)’s cyber security strengths to infiltrate into the UID data base for civil and social control." He adds, "A similar scheme in Britain was rejected by the British government because it would lay people open to e-surveillance, compromising privacy and civil liberties in the name of national security." Source: http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article2338.html
In such backdrop, if one looks at the opinion poll of The Times of India on whteher or not Indians need Aadhaar, it seems stage managed.
The poll results are given below with its URL:
Do all Indians need an Aadhaar card?
2011-09-26, 13:14:28.0
yes (66.0%) 34 Votes no (34.0%) 17 Votes [Till 2011-09-27, 8.30 pm]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/speak-out/Do-all-Indians-need-an-Aadhaar-card/debateshow/10125316.cms
Source: http://guidebook.dcma.mil/17/dc05-021.htm, www.dau.mil/pubscats/PubsCats/atl/2004_01_02/Wynne-jf04.pdf
It is the same Unique Identification (UID) hwich being pursued as Aadhaar in India without disclosure of its real motives.
Major General (Dr) S.G.Vombatkere who served Indian military for 35 years says, "No serious security assessment can fail to overlook possible misuse of the Communications Interoperability and Security Memorandum of Agreement (CISMOA)’s cyber security strengths to infiltrate into the UID data base for civil and social control." He adds, "A similar scheme in Britain was rejected by the British government because it would lay people open to e-surveillance, compromising privacy and civil liberties in the name of national security." Source: http://www.mainstreamweekly.net/article2338.html
In such backdrop, if one looks at the opinion poll of The Times of India on whteher or not Indians need Aadhaar, it seems stage managed.
The poll results are given below with its URL:
Do all Indians need an Aadhaar card?
2011-09-26, 13:14:28.0
yes (66.0%) 34 Votes no (34.0%) 17 Votes [Till 2011-09-27, 8.30 pm]
http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/speak-out/Do-all-Indians-need-an-Aadhaar-card/debateshow/10125316.cms
America and Europe: Saving the Rich and Losing the Economy
Economic policy in the United States and Europe has failed, and people are suffering.
Economic policy failed for three reasons: (1) policymakers focused on enabling offshoring corporations to move middle class jobs, and the consumer demand, tax base, GDP, and careers associated with the jobs, to foreign countries, such as China and India, where labor is inexpensive; (2) policymakers permitted financial deregulation that unleashed fraud and debt leverage on a scale previously unimaginable; (3) policymakers responded to the resulting financial crisis by imposing austerity on the population and running the printing press in order to bail out banks and prevent any losses to the banks regardless of the cost to national economies and innocent parties.
Jobs offshoring was made possible because the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in China and India opening their vast excess supplies of labor to Western exploitation. Pressed by Wall Street for higher profits, US corporations relocated their factories abroad. Foreign labor working with Western capital, technology, and business know-how is just as productive as US labor. However, the excess supplies of labor (and lower living standards) mean that Indian and Chinese labor can be hired for less than labor’s contribution to the value of output. The difference flows into profits, resulting in capital gains for shareholders and performance bonuses for executives.
As reported by Manufacturing and Technology News (September 20, 2011) the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages reports that in the last 10 years, the US lost 54,621 factories, and manufacturing employment fell by 5 million employees. Over the decade, the number of larger factories (those employing 1,000 or more employees) declined by 40 percent. US factories employing 500-1,000 workers declined by 44 percent; those employing between 250-500 workers declined by 37 percent, and those employing between 100-250 workers shrunk by 30 percent. http://www.manufacturingnews.com/
These losses are net of new start-ups. Not all the losses are due to offshoring. Some are the result of business failures.
US politicians, such as Buddy Roemer, blame the collapse of US manufacturing on Chinese competition and “unfair trade practices.” However, it is US corporations that move their factories abroad, thus replacing domestic production with imports. Half of US imports from China consist of the offshored production of US corporations.
The wage differential is substantial. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2009, average hourly take-home pay for US workers was $23.03. Social insurance expenditures add $7.90 to hourly compensation and benefits paid by employers add $2.60 per hour for a total labor compensation cost of $33.53.
In China as of 2008, total hourly labor cost was $1.36, and India’s is within a few cents of this amount. Thus, a corporation that moves 1,000 jobs to China saves saves $32,000 every hour in labor cost.These savings translate into higher stock prices and executive compensation, not in lower prices for consumers who are left unemployed by the labor arbitrage.
Republican economists blame “high” US wages for for the current high rate of unemployment. However, US wages are about the lowest in the developed world. They are far below hourly labor cost in Norway ($53.89), Denmark ($49.56), Belgium ($49.40), Austria ($48.04), and Germany ($46.52). The US might have the world’s largest economy, but its hourly workers rank 14th on the list of the best paid. Americans also have a higher unemployment rate. The “headline” rate that the media hypes is 9.1 percent, but this rate does not include any discouraged workers or workers forced into part-time jobs because no full-time jobs are available.
The US government has another unemployment rate (U6) that includes workers who have been too discouraged to seek a job for six months or less. This unemployment rate is over 16 percent. Statistician John Williams (Shadowstats.com) estimates the unemployment rate when long-term discouraged workers (more than six months) are included. This rate is over 22 percent.
Most emphasis is on the lost manufacturing jobs. However, the high speed Internet has made it possible to offshore many professional service jobs, such as software engineering, Information Technology, research and design. Jobs that comprised ladders of upward mobility for US college graduates have been moved offshore, thus reducing the value to Americans of many university degrees. Unlike former times, today an increasing number of graduates return home to live with their parents as there are insufficient jobs to support their independent existence.
All the while, the US government allows in each year one million legal immigrants, an unknown number of illegal immigrants, and a large number of foreign workers on H-1B and L-1 work visas. In other words, the policies of the US government maximize the unemployment rate of American citizens.
Republican economists and politicians pretend that this is not the case and that unemployed Americans consist of people too lazy to work who game the welfare system. Republicans pretend that cutting unemployment benefits and social assistance will force “lazy people who are living off the taxpayers” to go to work.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
To deal with the adverse impact on the economy from the loss of jobs and consumer demand from offshoring, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan lowered interest rates in order to create a real estate boom. Lower interest rates pushed up real estate prices. People refinanced their houses and spent the equity. Construction, furniture and appliance sales boomed. But unlike previous expansions based on rising real income, this one was based on an increase in consumer indebtedness.
There is a limit to how much debt can increase in relation to income, and when this limit was reached, the bubble popped.
When consumer debt could rise no further, the large fraudulent component in mortgage-backed derivatives and the unreserved swaps (AIG, for example) threatened financial institutions with insolvency and froze the banking system. Banks no longer trusted one another. Cash was hoarded. Treasury Secretary Paulson, browbeat Congress into massive taxpayer loans to financial institutions that functioned as casinos. The Paulson Bailout (TARP) was large but insignificant compared to the $16.1 trillion (a sum larger than US GDP or national debt) that the Federal Reserve lent to private financial institutions in the US and Europe.
In making these loans, the Federal Reserve violated its own rules. At this point, capitalism ceased to function. The financial institutions were “too big to fail,” and thus taxpayer subsidies took the place of bankruptcy and reorganization. In a word, the US financial system was socialized as the losses of the American financial institutions were transferred to taxpayers.
European banks were swept up into the financial crisis by their unwitting purchase of the junk financial instruments marketed by Wall Street. The financial junk had been given investment grade rating by the same incompetent agency that recently downgraded US Treasury bonds.
The Europeans had their own bailouts, often with American money (Federal Reserve loans). All the while Europe was brewing an additional crisis of its own. By joining the European Union and (except for the UK) accepting a common European currency, the individual member countries lost the services of their own central banks as creditors. In the US and UK the two countries’ central banks can print money with which to purchase US and UK debt. This is not possible for member countries in the EU.
When financial crisis from excessive debt hit the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) their central banks could not print euros in order to buy up their bonds, as the Federal Reserve did with “quantitative easing.” Only the European Central Bank (ECB) can create euros, and it is prevented by charter and treaty from printing euros in order to bail out sovereign debt.
In Europe, as in the US, the driver of economic policy quickly became saving the private banks from losses on their portfolios. A deal was struck with the socialist government of Greece, which represented the banks and not the Greek people. The ECB would violate its charter and together with the IMF, which would also violate its charter, would lend enough money to the Greek government to avoid default on its sovereign bonds to the private banks that had purchased the bonds. In return for the ECB and IMF loans and in order to raise the money to repay them, the Greek government had to agree to sell to private investors the national lottery, Greece’s ports and municipal water systems, a string of islands that are a national preserve, and in addition to impose a brutal austerity on the Greek people by lowering wages, cutting social benefits and pensions, raising taxes, and laying off or firing government workers.
In other words, the Greek population is to be sacrificed to a small handful of foreign banks in Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The Greek people, unlike “their” socialist government, did not regard this as a good deal. They have been in the streets ever since.
Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the ECB, said that the austerity imposed on Greece was a first step. If Greece did not deliver on the deal, the next step was for the EU to take over Greece’s political sovereignty, make its budget, decide its taxation, decide its expenditures and from this process squeeze out enough from Greeks to repay the ECB and IMF for lending Greece the money to pay the private banks.
In other words, Europe under the EU and Jean-Claude Trichet is a return to the most extreme form of feudalism in which a handful of rich are pampered at the expense of everyone else.
This is what economic policy in the West has become–a tool of the wealthy used to enrich themselves by spreading poverty among the rest of the population.
On September 21 the Federal Reserve announced a modified QE 3. The Federal Reserve announced that the bank would purchase $400 billion of long-term Treasury bonds over the next nine months in an effort to drive long-term US interest rates even further below the rate of inflation, thus maximizing the negative rate of return on the purchase of long-term Treasury bonds. The Federal Reserve officials say that this will lower mortgage rates by a few basis points and renew the housing market.
The officials say that QE 3, unlike its predecessors, will not result in the Federal Reserve printing more dollars in order to monetize US debt. Instead, the central bank will raise money for the bond purchases by selling holdings of short-term debt. Apparently, the Federal Reserve believes it can do this without raising short-term interest rates, because back during the recent debt-ceiling-government-shutdown-crisis, the Federal Reserve promised banks that it would keep the short-term interest rate (essentially zero) constant for two years.
The Fed’s new policy will do far more harm than good. Interest rates are already negative. To make them more so will have no positive effect. People aren’t buying houses because interest rates are too high, but because they are either unemployed or worried about their jobs and do not see a recovering economy.
Already insurance companies can make no money on their investments. Consequently, they are unable to build their reserves against claims. Their only alternative is to raise their premiums. The cost of a homeowner’s policy will go up by more than the cost of a mortgage will decline. The cost of health insurance will go up. The cost of car insurance will rise. The Federal Reserve’s newly announced policy will impose more costs on the economy than it will reduce.
In addition, in America today savings earn nothing. Indeed, they produce an ongoing loss as the interest rate is below the inflation rate. The Federal Reserve has interest rates so low that only professionals who are playing arbitrage with algorithm programmed computer models can make money. The typical saver and investor can get nothing on bank CDs, money market funds, municipal and government bonds. Only high risk debt, such as Greek and Spanish bonds, pay an interest rate that is higher than inflation.
For four years interest rates, when properly measured, have been negative. Americans are getting by, maintaining living standards, by consuming their capital. Even those with a cushion are eating their seed corn. The path that the US economy is on means that the number of Americans without resources to sustain them will be rising. Considering the extraordinary political incompetence of the Democratic Party, the right-wing of the Republican Party, which is committed to eliminating income support programs, could find itself in power. If the right-wing Republicans implement their program, the US will be beset with political and social instability. As Gerald Celente says, “when people have have nothing left to lose, they lose it.”
———————————–
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is the father of Reaganomics and the former head of policy at the Department of Treasury. He is a columnist and was previously an editor for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “How the Economy Was Lost: The War of the Worlds,” details why America is disintegrating.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Prisonplanet.com
Sept 26, 2011
URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/america-and-europe-saving-the-rich-and-losing-the-economy/
Economic policy failed for three reasons: (1) policymakers focused on enabling offshoring corporations to move middle class jobs, and the consumer demand, tax base, GDP, and careers associated with the jobs, to foreign countries, such as China and India, where labor is inexpensive; (2) policymakers permitted financial deregulation that unleashed fraud and debt leverage on a scale previously unimaginable; (3) policymakers responded to the resulting financial crisis by imposing austerity on the population and running the printing press in order to bail out banks and prevent any losses to the banks regardless of the cost to national economies and innocent parties.
Jobs offshoring was made possible because the collapse of the Soviet Union resulted in China and India opening their vast excess supplies of labor to Western exploitation. Pressed by Wall Street for higher profits, US corporations relocated their factories abroad. Foreign labor working with Western capital, technology, and business know-how is just as productive as US labor. However, the excess supplies of labor (and lower living standards) mean that Indian and Chinese labor can be hired for less than labor’s contribution to the value of output. The difference flows into profits, resulting in capital gains for shareholders and performance bonuses for executives.
As reported by Manufacturing and Technology News (September 20, 2011) the Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages reports that in the last 10 years, the US lost 54,621 factories, and manufacturing employment fell by 5 million employees. Over the decade, the number of larger factories (those employing 1,000 or more employees) declined by 40 percent. US factories employing 500-1,000 workers declined by 44 percent; those employing between 250-500 workers declined by 37 percent, and those employing between 100-250 workers shrunk by 30 percent. http://www.manufacturingnews.com/
These losses are net of new start-ups. Not all the losses are due to offshoring. Some are the result of business failures.
US politicians, such as Buddy Roemer, blame the collapse of US manufacturing on Chinese competition and “unfair trade practices.” However, it is US corporations that move their factories abroad, thus replacing domestic production with imports. Half of US imports from China consist of the offshored production of US corporations.
The wage differential is substantial. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, as of 2009, average hourly take-home pay for US workers was $23.03. Social insurance expenditures add $7.90 to hourly compensation and benefits paid by employers add $2.60 per hour for a total labor compensation cost of $33.53.
In China as of 2008, total hourly labor cost was $1.36, and India’s is within a few cents of this amount. Thus, a corporation that moves 1,000 jobs to China saves saves $32,000 every hour in labor cost.These savings translate into higher stock prices and executive compensation, not in lower prices for consumers who are left unemployed by the labor arbitrage.
Republican economists blame “high” US wages for for the current high rate of unemployment. However, US wages are about the lowest in the developed world. They are far below hourly labor cost in Norway ($53.89), Denmark ($49.56), Belgium ($49.40), Austria ($48.04), and Germany ($46.52). The US might have the world’s largest economy, but its hourly workers rank 14th on the list of the best paid. Americans also have a higher unemployment rate. The “headline” rate that the media hypes is 9.1 percent, but this rate does not include any discouraged workers or workers forced into part-time jobs because no full-time jobs are available.
The US government has another unemployment rate (U6) that includes workers who have been too discouraged to seek a job for six months or less. This unemployment rate is over 16 percent. Statistician John Williams (Shadowstats.com) estimates the unemployment rate when long-term discouraged workers (more than six months) are included. This rate is over 22 percent.
Most emphasis is on the lost manufacturing jobs. However, the high speed Internet has made it possible to offshore many professional service jobs, such as software engineering, Information Technology, research and design. Jobs that comprised ladders of upward mobility for US college graduates have been moved offshore, thus reducing the value to Americans of many university degrees. Unlike former times, today an increasing number of graduates return home to live with their parents as there are insufficient jobs to support their independent existence.
All the while, the US government allows in each year one million legal immigrants, an unknown number of illegal immigrants, and a large number of foreign workers on H-1B and L-1 work visas. In other words, the policies of the US government maximize the unemployment rate of American citizens.
Republican economists and politicians pretend that this is not the case and that unemployed Americans consist of people too lazy to work who game the welfare system. Republicans pretend that cutting unemployment benefits and social assistance will force “lazy people who are living off the taxpayers” to go to work.
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
To deal with the adverse impact on the economy from the loss of jobs and consumer demand from offshoring, Federal Reserve chairman Alan Greenspan lowered interest rates in order to create a real estate boom. Lower interest rates pushed up real estate prices. People refinanced their houses and spent the equity. Construction, furniture and appliance sales boomed. But unlike previous expansions based on rising real income, this one was based on an increase in consumer indebtedness.
There is a limit to how much debt can increase in relation to income, and when this limit was reached, the bubble popped.
When consumer debt could rise no further, the large fraudulent component in mortgage-backed derivatives and the unreserved swaps (AIG, for example) threatened financial institutions with insolvency and froze the banking system. Banks no longer trusted one another. Cash was hoarded. Treasury Secretary Paulson, browbeat Congress into massive taxpayer loans to financial institutions that functioned as casinos. The Paulson Bailout (TARP) was large but insignificant compared to the $16.1 trillion (a sum larger than US GDP or national debt) that the Federal Reserve lent to private financial institutions in the US and Europe.
In making these loans, the Federal Reserve violated its own rules. At this point, capitalism ceased to function. The financial institutions were “too big to fail,” and thus taxpayer subsidies took the place of bankruptcy and reorganization. In a word, the US financial system was socialized as the losses of the American financial institutions were transferred to taxpayers.
European banks were swept up into the financial crisis by their unwitting purchase of the junk financial instruments marketed by Wall Street. The financial junk had been given investment grade rating by the same incompetent agency that recently downgraded US Treasury bonds.
The Europeans had their own bailouts, often with American money (Federal Reserve loans). All the while Europe was brewing an additional crisis of its own. By joining the European Union and (except for the UK) accepting a common European currency, the individual member countries lost the services of their own central banks as creditors. In the US and UK the two countries’ central banks can print money with which to purchase US and UK debt. This is not possible for member countries in the EU.
When financial crisis from excessive debt hit the PIIGS (Portugal, Ireland, Italy, Greece, and Spain) their central banks could not print euros in order to buy up their bonds, as the Federal Reserve did with “quantitative easing.” Only the European Central Bank (ECB) can create euros, and it is prevented by charter and treaty from printing euros in order to bail out sovereign debt.
In Europe, as in the US, the driver of economic policy quickly became saving the private banks from losses on their portfolios. A deal was struck with the socialist government of Greece, which represented the banks and not the Greek people. The ECB would violate its charter and together with the IMF, which would also violate its charter, would lend enough money to the Greek government to avoid default on its sovereign bonds to the private banks that had purchased the bonds. In return for the ECB and IMF loans and in order to raise the money to repay them, the Greek government had to agree to sell to private investors the national lottery, Greece’s ports and municipal water systems, a string of islands that are a national preserve, and in addition to impose a brutal austerity on the Greek people by lowering wages, cutting social benefits and pensions, raising taxes, and laying off or firing government workers.
In other words, the Greek population is to be sacrificed to a small handful of foreign banks in Germany, France and the Netherlands.
The Greek people, unlike “their” socialist government, did not regard this as a good deal. They have been in the streets ever since.
Jean-Claude Trichet, head of the ECB, said that the austerity imposed on Greece was a first step. If Greece did not deliver on the deal, the next step was for the EU to take over Greece’s political sovereignty, make its budget, decide its taxation, decide its expenditures and from this process squeeze out enough from Greeks to repay the ECB and IMF for lending Greece the money to pay the private banks.
In other words, Europe under the EU and Jean-Claude Trichet is a return to the most extreme form of feudalism in which a handful of rich are pampered at the expense of everyone else.
This is what economic policy in the West has become–a tool of the wealthy used to enrich themselves by spreading poverty among the rest of the population.
On September 21 the Federal Reserve announced a modified QE 3. The Federal Reserve announced that the bank would purchase $400 billion of long-term Treasury bonds over the next nine months in an effort to drive long-term US interest rates even further below the rate of inflation, thus maximizing the negative rate of return on the purchase of long-term Treasury bonds. The Federal Reserve officials say that this will lower mortgage rates by a few basis points and renew the housing market.
The officials say that QE 3, unlike its predecessors, will not result in the Federal Reserve printing more dollars in order to monetize US debt. Instead, the central bank will raise money for the bond purchases by selling holdings of short-term debt. Apparently, the Federal Reserve believes it can do this without raising short-term interest rates, because back during the recent debt-ceiling-government-shutdown-crisis, the Federal Reserve promised banks that it would keep the short-term interest rate (essentially zero) constant for two years.
The Fed’s new policy will do far more harm than good. Interest rates are already negative. To make them more so will have no positive effect. People aren’t buying houses because interest rates are too high, but because they are either unemployed or worried about their jobs and do not see a recovering economy.
Already insurance companies can make no money on their investments. Consequently, they are unable to build their reserves against claims. Their only alternative is to raise their premiums. The cost of a homeowner’s policy will go up by more than the cost of a mortgage will decline. The cost of health insurance will go up. The cost of car insurance will rise. The Federal Reserve’s newly announced policy will impose more costs on the economy than it will reduce.
In addition, in America today savings earn nothing. Indeed, they produce an ongoing loss as the interest rate is below the inflation rate. The Federal Reserve has interest rates so low that only professionals who are playing arbitrage with algorithm programmed computer models can make money. The typical saver and investor can get nothing on bank CDs, money market funds, municipal and government bonds. Only high risk debt, such as Greek and Spanish bonds, pay an interest rate that is higher than inflation.
For four years interest rates, when properly measured, have been negative. Americans are getting by, maintaining living standards, by consuming their capital. Even those with a cushion are eating their seed corn. The path that the US economy is on means that the number of Americans without resources to sustain them will be rising. Considering the extraordinary political incompetence of the Democratic Party, the right-wing of the Republican Party, which is committed to eliminating income support programs, could find itself in power. If the right-wing Republicans implement their program, the US will be beset with political and social instability. As Gerald Celente says, “when people have have nothing left to lose, they lose it.”
———————————–
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts is the father of Reaganomics and the former head of policy at the Department of Treasury. He is a columnist and was previously an editor for the Wall Street Journal. His latest book, “How the Economy Was Lost: The War of the Worlds,” details why America is disintegrating.
Dr. Paul Craig Roberts
Prisonplanet.com
Sept 26, 2011
URL to article: http://www.infowars.com/america-and-europe-saving-the-rich-and-losing-the-economy/
Monday, August 15, 2011
गैर सरकारी संस्थानों से आज़ादी, गुलामी पहचान अंक और तीसरी बात आम जन लोकपाल की
गैर सरकारी संस्थानों से आज़ादी, गुलामी पहचान अंक और तीसरी बात आम जन लोकपाल की
आज के दिन आमजन लोकपाल के अलावा संसद और राज्य के विधान सभाओ से यह मांग कर रहा है की देश को गैर सरकारी संस्थानों के जनमदाता १८६० के और १९२७ के ब्रिटिश संसद द्वारा पारित कानून से आज़ाद किया जाए. अधिकतर गैर सरकारी संसथान की ऐतिहासिक और राजनितिक समझ का अनदाज़ा इस बात से ही लगाया जा सकता है की उन्होंने यूनिक आइडेन्टटी नंबर/आधार संख्या/नेशनल पोपुलेसन रजिस्टर जैसी गुलामी की बेडी को देश के हुक्मरानों और कंपनियो के आश्वासन पर इमानदारी की जादुई ताबीज मान लिया है. अभी-अभी विकिलिकस से पता चला है की मिश्र के पूर्व तानाशाह होस्नी मुबारक ने अपने देशवासियों का यूनिक आइडेन्टटी (पहचान) पत्र का संग्रह (डेटाबेस), संयुक्त राष्ट्र अमेरिका की गुप्तचर संस्था फेडेरल ब्यूरो ऑफ़ इन्वेस्टीगेशन को सौप दिया था. जून २९, २०११ को मनमोहन सिंह ने ६ संपादको से बातचित मे 'लोकपाल' के बजाये यूनिक आइडेन्टटी नंबर/आधार संख्या से भ्रस्टाचार मिटाने की बात की है. हैरानी की बात है की गैर सरकारी संस्थानों को यह नजर क्यों नहीं आया.
सत्ता परिवर्तन के बजाये अगर व्यवस्था परिवर्तन अगर लक्ष्य है तो केवल लोकपाल से तो ये होने से रहा. आपातकाल के दौरान हुए आन्दोलन से जुड़े अधिकतर लोग अपनी-अपनी गैर सरकारी संस्थान की दूकान खोल कर क्यों बैठ गए. इससे पहले की वे सन्यास ले ले या विस्मृति के गर्त मे चले जाये हमे जबाब चाहिए. उन्होंने अपने आन्दोलन को विश्व इतिहास के सन्दर्भ मे क्यों नहीं खंगाला और 'संपूर्ण क्रांति' शब्द को क्यों अर्थहीन किया. अब वो और उनसे जुड़े लोग बताये की क्या लोकपाल से 'संपूर्ण क्रांति' होगी.
इसमें भी एक बात तो सरकारी लोकपाल की है. दूसरी अन्ना जी की सदारत में जन लोकपाल की है. तीसरी बात है आम जन लोकपाल की.
इन तीनो में शायद एक बात की सहमती है की देश की राजनितिक और प्रशासनिक व्यवस्था में जहर घोल दिया है कम्पनी के मालिको ने. और अब बड़ी चालाकी से इन तीनो को आमने-सामने कर दिया है. इन तीनो में मेरी सहमती आम जन लोकपाल से है. अभी पिछले दिनों संसद के पुस्तकालय में मेरी नज़र ९ मई १९६८ के 'लोकपाल और लोकायुक्त विधेयक पर पड़ी जिसे तत्कालीन गृह मंत्री Yashwantrao Balwantrao चवन ने लोक सभा में पेश किया था. उसी के पास लोकपाल विधेयक, १९७७ भी रखा हुआ था जिसे राजनितिक बदलाव के बाद तत्कालीन गृह मंत्री चरण सिंह ने पेश किया था जब शांति भूषण कानून मंत्री हुआ करते थे. सन १९७१ में भी 'लोकपाल और लोकायुक्त विधेयक तत्कालीन गृह राज्य मंत्री राम निवास मिर्धा ने लोक सभा में पेश किया था. लोकपाल विधेयक को १९८५ में कानून मंत्री अशोक कुमार सेन ने, १९८९ में कानून मंत्री दिनेश गोव्स्वामी ने, १९९६ में कार्मिक, लोक शिकायत तथा पेनसन राज्य मंत्री S R बलासुब्रमानियन ने , १९९८ में कार्मिक, लोक शिकायत तथा पेनसन राज्य मंत्री Kadambur M R जनार्थानन ने और 2001 में कार्मिक, लोक शिकायत तथा पेनसन राज्य मंत्री वसुंधरा राजे ने लोक सभा में पेश किया था. इस सम्बन्ध मे संसदीय समिति गृह मंत्रालय ने १९९६, १९९८ और २००१ मे अपनी report भी संसद मे रखी थी. एक बार फिर चालीस पन्नो वाली लोकपाल विधेयक, २०११ को ४ अगस्त, २०११ को लोक सभा मे कार्मिक, लोक शिकायत तथा पेनसन राज्य मंत्री V. नारायणसामी ने पेश कर दिया गया है. अगस्त ८ को पीटीआई की एक खबर से पता चला की राज्य सभा के सभापति और उपराष्ट्रपति हामिद अंसारी इस बिधेयक को कांग्रेस प्रवक्ता और राज्य सभा सांसद अभिषेक मनु सिंघवी की अध्यक्षता वाली संसदीय समिति कार्मिक, लोक शिकायत तथा पेनसन को सौप दिया है. जिस सरकार ने इसे पेश किया है उसमे और जो संसदीय समिति इसकी पड़ताल करेगी 'संपूर्ण क्रांति' की बात करने वाले लोग भी शामिल है. इस संसदीय समिति मे ६ और सांसदों की भर्ती होना बाकी है. आनेवाले दिनों मे इसमें किस-किस की भर्ती होती है वह राजनितिक रूप से दिलचस्प होगा.
संसद मे और संसद के बहार क्या कोई है जो बतायेगा की ऐसा क्यों हुआ की १९६८ से १९७७ तक लोकपाल का मामला गृह मंत्रालय के तहत आता था, वह १९८५ मे कानून मंत्रालय मे चला गया और फिर कार्मिक, लोक शिकायत तथा पेनसन मंत्रालय के पास. समय के साथ सरकार की लोकपाल के सम्बन्ध मे तत्परता मे प्राथमिकता कम होती जा रही है. ऐसा क्यों है की जब यह स्पष्ट हो गया है की लोक सभा इस बिधेयक को पारित करने मे १९६८ से २००१ तक नाकामयाब रही है फिर भी विधेयक को लोक सभा मे ही क्यों पेश किया गया. ऐसे ऐतिहासिक और भरी भरकम विधेयक का बोझ लोक सभा के कंधे पे डाल कर येही साबित किया गया है की आम जन लोकपाल, जन लोकपाल की तो छोडिये, सरकार अपने विधेयक को लेकर भी थोड़ी सी भी गंभीर नहीं है अन्यथा इसे राज्य सभा मे पेश किया जाता जैसे की महिला आरक्षण विधेयक के सम्बन्ध मे किया गया. सरकार चाहती है की इस विधेयक का अंजाम भी वही हो जो अतीत मे पेश किये गए विधेयको का हुआ. सभी दल इस सरकार मे रहे है और उन्होंने बहुत कड़ी मेहनत की है. मगर उनमे इच्छा शक्ति इतनी नहीं थी की वह 'सरकारी लोकपाल' विधेयक संसद से पारित करा पाते.
राजनितिक दलों मे इच्छा शक्ति राष्ट्रीय पहचान प्राधिकरण विधेयक, २०१० को खंगालने की भी नहीं है जो की सरकार का आम नागरिक समाज के खिलाफ असली हथियार है जबकि बिना विधेयक के पारित हुए बिना ही १ करोड़ ९० लाख यूनिक आइडेन्टटी नंबर/आधार संख्या बना लिए गए है जो की नेशनल पोपुलेसन रजिस्टर (राष्ट्रीय जनसंख्या रजिस्टर) से जुदा हुआ है जिसे देशवासियों की आँखों की पुतलियो, उंगलियों के निशान और तस्वीर के आधार पर बनाया जा रही है जो की अमानवीय है.
राजनितिक दलों मे इच्छा शक्ति का अभाव कंपनी विधेयक, २००९ के सम्बन्ध मे भी दिख रहा है जिसे जे जे इरानी समिति की सिफारिसो पर बनाया गया है. इसके तहत केवल एक व्यक्ति भी कंपनी बना सकता है. भारत के Economic Census 2005 के अनुसार देश मे ४ करोड़ २० लाख लोग उद्योग धंधे मे है जबकि कमानियो की संख्या ३ लाख से भी कम है. इस कानून के जरिये ४ करोड़ २० लाख उद्योग धंधो का कम्पनीकरण किया जा रहा है मगर गैर सरकारी संस्थानों को इसे खंगालने की फुर्सत नहीं या नियत नहीं है. जबकि नए कानून मंत्री वीरप्पा मोइली इसे पारित करवाने को अपनी प्राथमिकता बता रहे है. कंपनी कानून को नजर अंदाज ऐसे देश मे किया जा रहा जो २३ जून को ब्रिटिश ईस्ट इंडिया कंपनी से अपने पराजित होने और शोषित होने का अपनी २५४वा वर्षगाठ मनाने से कतरा रहा है. इसी दिन की हार के कारण ब्रिटिश संसद को अवीभाजीत भारत के सम्बन्ध मे कानून बनाने का अधिकार मिला उसमे ब्रिटिश कम्पनी कानून भी शामिल है जिसे भारत ने बड़ी मासूमियत से अपना लिया. देश और सरकार का भी कम्पनीकरण किया जा रहा है. गैर सरकारी संस्थानों और कम्पनी आधारित अखबारों और चैनलों से यह उम्मीद करना की देश और सरकार के कम्पनीकरण को रोकेंगे कल्पना करने की क्षमता मे विकलांगता को दर्शाता है.
अन्ना जी की सदारत वाली जन लोकपाल 'सरकारी लोकपाल' को आइना दिखा रही है. आइना दिखाना तो ठीक है. मगर अन्ना जी गैर सरकारी संस्थानों के बड़े तबके और उन जनो की तरफ से बोल रहे है जो काले धन से तो पीड़ित है मगर काले धन पर आधारित राजनितिक और आर्थिक व्यवस्था को बदलने की पहल अब तक नहीं कर पाए है. गैर सरकारी संस्थानों का जनम १८६० के और १९२७ के ब्रिटिश संसद द्वारा पारित कानून से हुआ है. यह संस्थान, कानूनी तो है पर असल मे सामाजिक, लोकतान्त्रिक और शायद संवैधानिक भी नहीं है. उन्हें यह भी याद नहीं की महात्मा गाँधी ने असिअटिक रजिस्टरएशन एक्ट, १९०७ का विरोध इसलिए किया था क्योकि वह उंगलियों की निशानदेही पर आधारित था ठीक वैसे ही जैसा की यूनिक आइडेन्टटी नंबर/आधार संख्या और नेशनल पोपुलेसन रजिस्टर (राष्ट्रीय जनसंख्या रजिस्टर) मे हो रहा है. ब्रिटिश सर्कार के इस कानून जिसके तहत एशिया और भारत के लोगो को पहचान पत्र दिए जा रहे थे उसे कला कानून कहा था और उसे सरे आम जला दिया था. उन्होंने शोध किया और कहा की उंगलियों की निशानदेही से सम्बंधित वो किताब जिसे एक पुलीस अफसर ने लिखा था उससे ये पता चलता है की "उंगलियों की निशानदेही की जरुरत केवल अपराधियों के लिए होती है." अन्ना जी की सदारत वाली जन लोकपाल टीम को भी अपने विचार और अभियान को महात्मा गाँधी के आईने मे देखना होगा.
सच यह है की कुछेक को छोड़ कर गैर सरकारी संस्थानों मे सब गमले मे उगे हुए बरगद है. उनके होने मात्र से ब्रिटिश संसद की १८५७ के पहले आज़ादी की लड़ाई के बाद की कारिस्तानियो की याद ताजा रहती है. गैर सरकारी संस्थानों आम जन का प्रतिनिधित्व नहीं करते है. कंपनियों की तानाशाही, उनके अपराधो और राजनितिक दल की फंडिंग के बारे मे अगर वो खुल कर बोलते है तो हम उनका सम्मान तो कर सकते है मगर ऐसा नहीं कह सकते की वे आम जन का प्रतिनिधित्व करते है. बिभाजित भारत मे २००९ के एक अनुमान के मुताबिक ३३ लाख गैर सरकारी संसथान है. इतने तो अपने बिभाजित देश मे स्कूल और अस्पताल भी नहीं है. यदि यह सारे अन्ना जी के साथ आ भी जाये तो भी ऐसा नहीं कह सकते की वे सारे आम जनो की तरफ से बोल रहे है..
अबिभाजित भारत (पाकिस्तान और बंगलादेश सहित) पर जो असर १८६० के और १९२७ के ब्रिटिश संसद द्वारा पारित गैर सरकारी संस्थानों के निर्माण के कानून का पड़ा है उसी का ये नतीजा है की इस इलाके मे आम जन त्राहि-त्राहि कर रहे है मगर कोई पुख्ता सचमुच का आन्दोलन खड़ा नहीं हो पा रहा है. आम जन लोकपाल की मांग है की गैर सरकारी संस्थानों से जुड़े कानूनों को निरस्त किया जाए. और १८६० से लेकर अब तक जितने गैर सरकारी संसथान बने है उनपर एक श्वेत पत्र लाया जाये. गैर सरकारी संस्थानों से अनेक भले लोग विकल्पहीनता के कारण भी जुड़े है.
जहा तक जन लोकपाल और आम जन लोकपाल की है उसमे संवाद की गुंजाईश है अगर १८६० के और १९२७ के ब्रिटिश संसद द्वारा पारित गैर सरकारी संस्थानों के निर्माण के कानून, कंपनी कानून और अनूठी पहचान/आधार संख्या के नागरिक विरोधी होने की बात पर सहमती बने और टुकड़े-टुकड़े मे बात करने के बजाये सचमुच का साझा, लोकतान्त्रिक मंच बनाये जिसमे नागरिक होना प्राथमिक हो न की व्यवसायी होना या व्यवसायीयो से जुड़े होना.
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