Lets support the UID project

Lets whole-heartedly support the UID project. Agreed, there could be privacy issues; yet, compared to the benefits that it would bring, we should get ready to face those situations- if at all they occur.

UID is going to make it difficult for the corrupt bureaucracy to continue with their corrupt ways and if it is not implemented then the common man will continue to live a faceless and much more ungainly life.

Billions of rupees are spent every year to uplift the common men from their poor state and as per the admission of a former PM and then very recently by his son (Rajiv and Rahul Gandhi) not even 15% of the expenditure reaches them. Now the technology is available by which the entire realm of Babudom could be by-passed and the PM can straightaway make a money transfer, be it an unemployment allowance, old age allowance, widow allowance or the payments for MG- NREGA; to the beneficiary accounts. That cannot be done unless we adopt a system, which will be full proof and would not permit duplication of beneficiary accounts. And for that the Iris and fingerprint- both at the same time- profiling is important.

IMHO, The people who rabidly oppose UID fail to see the bigger picture. The project would cost just around 2 US$ billion Dollar and that is small change compared to the amount that is spent on social welfare projects in India. Just as an example: 4 times that money was spent last year on MG- NREGA, where it is no secret that bulk of the money does not reach the targeted beneficiary.

Privacy and the common man:
Well, that’s a joke! 99 % of the people do not give two hoots to privacy. Well you may brand them as ignorant, beyond that please consider the following:
It’s common knowledge that, the Police pick up the common villagers and no entry is made in the station diary for weeks. For two square meals they go to towns where they cannot open a Bank account or cannot provide any document to prove that they exist. Unless they swell the ranks of some corrupt politician- as supporters or goons- they would not get a ration card or a driving license. When they die by falling from a sub-urban train or on a road accident, so often, they are just a number. Every year, thousands of common people turnout as dead corpses- in all conceivable places- and then police close the files by marking ‘unidentified dead body- murder suspected/ not suspected’. Ditto is the case with poor young women disappearing and then getting exploited for their entire life in brothels. If anything, they-the common men- would love to know that they exist and even if their data is stolen, it can hardly cause them any harm.

Who is so concerned about Privacy?
It’s the rest 1% who milk the system- either as corrupt bureaucrats, businessmen or politicians. Unfortunately the entire lots of indoctrinated communists are also swelling their ranks! Credible identification of common women would make it difficult for pimps and brothels to run their business with impunity. For, then the chances of tracing victims to their families and thereby unearthing the entire trail would become very easy and simple sting operations by citizen journalists would do what the entire police departments are unable to do till date. Fingerprint matching of a missing woman can be done by anybody who is computer savvy and gets an access to the fingerprints of the missing woman. It would be virtually impossible for brothel owners – be it in Kamathipura or Sonagachi- to hide the identity of their new recruits. The same is also true for unearthing the corrupt ways of rich and influential and they have every reason to be wary of that!