Aadhaar initiative was introduced as an optional and
enabling technology. With the passage of time, Indian government has
made Aadhaar not only compulsory but also an intrusive, privacy
violating and mass
surveillance instrument. Surprisingly, none of the
e-surveillance
projects of India have any sort of parliamentary
oversight. Aadhaar is also suffering from various vices and
constitutional infirmities. This was the reason that the Supreme
Court of India declared
that Aadhaar cannot
be made mandatory (Pdf) for availing services in India.
Aadhaar is also suffering from many other
infirmities. For instance, there is no privacy
law in India and data
protection law in India (pdf) as on date. Aadhaar has also
failed to address the concerns of data
security, cyber
security (PDF) and civil
liberties in India. The intelligence agencies of India are
operating without any parliamentary
oversight and they need urgent
reforms in these circumstances.
It is not the case that Indian government is not
aware of these issues and circumstances. However, Indian government
prefers to keep the things in a state of anarchy and chaos by citing
national security and welfare schemes. The truth is that both the
concepts of national
security and welfare
schemes are baseless in India when it comes to blatant
violation of civil liberties of Indians.
The only solace is the fact that these issues are
presently pending
before the Indian Supreme Court to be adjudicated upon. The Supreme
Court has already issues interim orders prohibiting the state
governments and central government from discriminating on the ground
of non availability of Aadhaar number. However, till now these
directions have been openly violated by Indian government and various
state governments.
This is also a hint of confrontation between the
executive and judiciary that is solely provoked by the executive in
an illegal and unconstitutional manner. There is little hope that the
proposed
law in this regard may be enacted very soon, if at all.
The only option left in these circumstances is that the Supreme Court
of India must
declare Aadhaar project illegal and unconstitutional and
scrap
the same in the larger interest of India.
