Blog: Aadhar : Dawn of Realism ?

Tuesday 23 January 2018

Aadhar : Dawn of Realism ?

In my following blog, I had summarized the arguments by the advocates of the petitioners and the observations of the Supreme Court, in the current hearing on the validity of Aadhar :

Aadhar: Supremely Satisfying ?

https://myblogepage.blogspot.com/2018/01/aadhar-supremely-satisfying.html

Since then there has been some more arguments and observations , as follows ( Eco Times / 24 Jan ) . Some more will be heard today :

Adv Shyam Divan ( for the petitioners ) :

· The whole Aadhaar network was to be used for everything and everybody.

· In a democratic framework governed by the Constitution, a citizen should have the option of protecting himself by refusing to share crucial information about himself with anybody and everybody. "A citizen should have the choice of providing alternative means of identification," he said, especially if spread of the information exposes him and makes him vulnerable.

· The silos of information, which includes biometrics being collected under Aadhaar, may not per se be violative of a person's privacy, but aggregated today would enable the state to profile every citizen's life, making India a surveillance state. He said a citizen's right to privacy included the right to lead a dignified life. This includes the right to keep one's intimate affairs to oneself. In addition, he should enjoy the right to be left alone and the right to retain his identity from cyber attacks. Seen in this backdrop, the state can only take away his privacy by a law for a legitimate state interest, which must pass the test of reasonableness.

· He pointed out that both in the pre-statute period and the days following the law, there was no rigour to the Aadhaar enrolment process. The quality of data being collected under self-certification was also questionable, he argued. The government could also, if it chose, erase the Aadhaar data and denude any citizen of all his civil rights under the Constitution, he argued. "The programme, in its invasiveness, reach and the amount of control it will give the state, militates against an open, liberal, democratic society.

· It is the State’s responsibility to protect citizens from both non-state and state actors

Adv Kapil Sibal added :

Yes, we are in a networked world. We have to share information….. To what extent should private entities be given personal data and to what extent do we protect ourselves ?

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Observations by Supreme Court :

· Are such fears valid in a networked age when citizens have to part with data at every stage to avail services ?

· If the Aadhar scheme were to be declared legal can it be used for all purposes or only for limited purposes ?

· All of our data is anyway with private entities. So, does the interpolation of Aadhar Number make any difference ?

· Could the concern and the danger of a personal data leak could be avoided if there is a declaration that “ personal information collected would only be used for the purpose for which they are collected “ ?

May be it is too early to say : Perseverance Pays

But I do get a feeling that the Hon Judges of the Supreme Court found time to read my following emails ( sent on : supremecourt@nic.in ) :