Saturday, 3 July 2021

How many NATIONAL databases of Indian Citizen ?

Context :

Implement 'one nation, one ration card' scheme till July 31, Supreme Court tells Centre / TOI / 30 June

Extract :

Ø “ When unorganized workers are waiting for registration to reap the benefits of

various welfare schemes of the Centre and the States, the lackadaisical

attitude by the Ministry of Labour and Employment, is unpardonable. There

was urgency in the National Database for Unorganized Workers ( NDUW )

portal to be finalized, looking at the pandemic and dire need of unorganized

workers to receive the benefits ‘ , the bench said

“ The attitude of the Ministry in not completing the module even though

directed ( by the SC ), as early as on August 21, 2018, shows that the

Ministry is not alive to the plight of migrant workers and the non-action of

the Ministry is strongly disapproved. We further direct that the NDUW portal

is finalized and implementation of the portal commences on or before July

31 “, it ordered.

==============================================

MY TAKE :

Ø Anguish of the Supreme Court is both, justifiable and understandable

Ø Designing and launching NDUW portal is no big deal

Ø But real problem is ,

# How to identify those 38 crore ( 380 million ) migrant workers ?

# If Ministry somehow succeeds in identifying, how to get them to register

on NDUW portal , since most of them have neither a broadband

connection, nor a connected device like a Tablet ( - it is extremely difficult

to fill in an Online Registration Form , having 20 data-fields and number

of drop-lists, using a Mobile phone ) ?

# Is there any simple method / mechanism ( for creation of such a

database ), considering that , in India, almost every citizen’s PERSONAL

DATA has , over the past 10-15 years, been CAPTURED in one or more of

the following databases ( a very small sample ) ?

DATABASES of INDIAN CITIZEN

Entity ( Govt or Private ) / Scheme / Company / Website / Mobile App etc which has collected data from persons and created database and maintains	Number of registered Users / Beneficiaries ( Million )

Census – NPR - CAA	1,300
Internet Service Providers ( ISPs )	1,000
Mobile Service Providers ( MSPs )	800
Aadhar Card	1,000
Ration Card	800
PAN Card
Passport
Credit Card / Debit Card
Jan Dhan Bank Accounts / Savings Accounts	1,000
Aarogya Setu App
CoWin App
UMANG app
Diksha
eNAM
· eSanjeevani / PM SVANidhi / Student Scholarships
· DigiBunai / LPG subsidy / Dhanlakshmi Scheme / Janani Surakhsha Yojna
LIC / Insurance Companies
Farmers Database ( PM Kisan Samman Nidhi )	100
Common Service Centres	0.25
Tax Information Network
Central Pension Scheme
National Health Stack ( Ayushman Bharat Card )
National Pediatrics Academy
National Skills Depository
Voters List
Driving License / Senior Citizen Card
DigiLocker
Websites ( E-Com / Social Media / Fintech / Govt / Banks etc )
Mobile Payment Wallets

Ø Obviously, above is a very SMALL list – by no means comprehensive

Ø It is very likely that , may be 30 % - 50 % of the “ data-fields “ are COMMON to

all these databases

Ø Each of the entity mentioned above, is storing these databases in its own

servers in some STRUCTURED way

Ø Many of the millions of records must be outdated

Even any given person’s data, across various databases, may vary widely / be

obsolete

QUESTION :

Ø Given this “ state of affairs “, should we go ahead and launch one more database – with very slim chance of, not only capturing the data in a STRUCTURED way, but also being able to keep it up-to-date, where economy is rapidly changing ( robot-led automation / migration / job losses / WFH etc ) ?

Ø Even after launch, how many months / years will it take to complete database creation ?

POSSIBLE SOLUTION :

Ø In India, we have 760 million Smart Phones and 400 million ( 40 crore ) Feature phones

Ø Most likely those feature phones are being used by Unorganized Workers

Ø Govt should replace these FREE, with ( 4G ) Smart phones upon surrender of feature phones

Ø At Rs 1,000 per phone ( if 40 crore were ordered ), that would cost the Govt, Rs 40,000 Cr

Ø These smart phones must be pre-installed with FACIAL RECOGNITION features and an app as described in my following blog / email :

I am One , I will become Many ………………………………..[ 06 Jan 2020 ]

Extract :

Following is my suggestion :

Ø Central Govt to launch a online portal called, www.SUIIC.gov.in ( Single

Unified Identity for Indian Citizen )

Ø By appropriately enacted Law, Central Govt will order all CARD ISSUING

AGENCIES to upload their “ Card Related Databases “ onto SUIIC web

server and continue to do so DAILY for new additions to their databases

Ø SUIIC will use AI - Machine Learning - Big Data Analytics etc., to merge /

collate all kinds of structured / unstructured databases pertaining to all

kinds of Cards / unique IDENTIFIERS, issued by any entity, to any citizen

These will include Mobile Service Providers and E Mail ID providers

Ø This exercise will lead to creation of UNIQUE PROFILE for each citizen, and

named :

YUP ( Your Unique Profile )

YUP ( with unique serial number ) will be that SINGLE CARD which

replaces all CARDS

Ø YUP will also be the name of a Mobile App supported by SUIIC web server

Ø Any citizen can download the YUP ( absolutely VOLUNTARY ) , open it on

his smart phone , enter his mobile number / E Mail ID and take a SELFIE of

his own FACE

Ø The Mobile App will automatically and instantly, upload the FACE IMAGE

onto SUIIC database and the matching YUP of that person

Ø SUIIC will embed into the FACE PHOTO , all data of all the CARDS ever

issued to that person ( using STEGANOGRAPHY ), and send it back to the

owner’s mobile phone

Ø Just under the FACE PHOTO, there will be a DROP LIST of all the Cards /

Identifiers which have been embedded

Touching any item, will reveal the actual Physical Card

Ø This will enable that citizen to EDIT his personal data online and click

SUBMIT

Ø Anytime required in future, that citizen can show that YUP photo to any

party

Ø There will be no compulsion for any citizen to use YUP . He may continue

using his Physical Cards, if he so desires

===================================================

This is a very broad “ CONCEPTUAL FRAMEWORK “ – and certainly not comprehensive by any standard

Eg :

Going beyond merging / aggregating / unifying , all existing physical cards belonging to a person, what about :

Ø Enabling him to use YUP to create ( for the first time ), an altogether

different card ?

Ø Enabling a person to create new Voter Card, upon attaining the age of 18 ?

I urge Shri Ravi Shankar Prasadji to get this examined by some eminent technologists

I suggest that newly appointed TASK FORCE, headed by Shri Shibulalji, may consider my suggestion in the context of the following reports :

[ A ]

Sam Altman’s Worldcoin Wants to Scan Your Eyeballs in Exchange for Cryptocurrency

Worldcoin has designed an orb-shaped device that would scan a person’s iris to construct a unique personal identifier.

Extract :

Ø “I've been very interested in things like universal basic income and what's going to happen to global wealth redistribution and how we can do that better,” Altman said. “Is there a way we can use technology to do that at global scale?”

Ø The company aims to help economies transition to crypto-currencies “through a novel approach: a dedicated hardware device ensuring both humanness and uniqueness of everybody signing up, while maintaining their privacy and the overall transparency of a permission-less blockchain.”

Ø The device is a silver-colored spherical gizmo the size of a basketball that can be carried around and used to scan people's irises in order to ascertain their unique identities, Blania said

Ø According to Blania, iris-scanning is an essential part of the plan because it can prevent people from trying to register multiple times to defraud the system.

Ø He's also aware of the privacy implications of handing over biometric information to a tiny startup and said Worldcoin will make the process as transparent as possible so users can see how the data is used.

He said the iris scan will produce a unique numerical code for each person

and that the image is then deleted and never stored.

[ B ]

GPT-3 Scared You? Meet Wu Dao 2.0: A Monster of 1.75 Trillion Parameters

Extract :

Ø Wu Dao 2.0 is multimodal. It can learn from text and images and tackle tasks that include both types of data (something GPT-3 can’t do). We’re seeing a shift in the last years from AI systems specialized in managing a single mode of information towards multimodality

In an article for VentureBeat, Kyle Wiggers emphasized Wu Dao 2.0’s

multimodal capabilities: It has “the ability to perform natural language

processing, text generation, image recognition, and image generation tasks. […

as well as captioning images and creating nearly photorealistic artwork, given

natural language descriptions.”

===============================================

IN THE INTERIM :

Dear Shri Santosh Kumar Gangwarji ,

( Minister for Labour / santoshg@sansad.nic.in / santosh.gangwar.bareilly@gmail.com ),

Given the target date by Supreme Court, you cannot delay the launch of NDUW beyond 31 July – whereas examination ( by experts of the TASK FORCE ) of the feasibility of my suggestion will take much longer

But, in the NDUW portal, you can build features and motivate the employing companies ( by various types of incentives – especially total exemptions from filing of various “ Employment Related Periodic Returns “ ) which implement :

From BAD to MAD …………………………[ 01 June 2016 ]

The beauty of this “ Mobile-based Attendance System “ is that no employer ever need to file ANY return

No COMPLIANCES of any kind as far as your four LABOUR CODES are concerned !

Such a powerful INCENTIVE will put the ball in the employers’ court, who will ensure that all 380 million unorganized workers quickly REGISTER on NDUW portal !

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 03 July 2021

================================================

Will make this decade India’s ‘techade’: Modi

Extract :

On Thursday, Modi said gains from such initiatives will further emerge as India bridges the gap between government services and people’s access to them. “This presents a massive opportunity for India, together we will be successful in making this decade India’s techade,” Modi said.

Thursday, 1 July 2021

Mobilising Electric Vehicle Financing in India

Context :

Govt plans institution to fund businesses focused on electric vehicles: Gadkari / ET / 02 July

Extract :

Ø The government is planning to set up an institution to fund businesses with a focus on electric vehicles as well as facilitate new financial instruments for lending to the public transportation and commercial vehicle segment, Union minister Nitin Gadkari said on Thursday.

Ø According to a recent report, India's electric vehicle financing industry is projected to be worth Rs 3.7 lakh crore in 2030, which would be about 80 per cent of the current retail vehicle finance industry.

Ø The report titled 'Mobilising Electric Vehicle Financing in India', prepared by Niti Aayog and Rocky Mountain Institute (RMI) had also said that end-users currently face several challenges such as high interest rates, high insurance rates, and low loan-to-value ratios.

Ø "The government is planning to set up a financial institution to fund business with a focus on electric vehicles and facilitate new financial instruments for lending to the public transportation and commercial vehicle segment," he said.

=================================================

Dear Shri Gadkariji,

You are a “ Man of Vision “ and an “ Out-of-Box “ thinker

If a person plans on “ Inter-galactic Travel “, he must discard the framework of a “ Space-Ship “ ( which is OK for crossing a few thousand miles of an ocean )

For “ Inter-galactic Travel “ ( aka your “ 30 % Electric Vehicle by 2030 “ plan ), you need to travel at WARP speed through a WORM-HOLE !

NOTHING LESS WILL WORK !

Following is my 5 YEAR old e-mail detailing such a WORM-HOLE :

Ø PIYUSH PLAN ? ……………………………………………..[ 27 Mar 2016 ]

# time frame for change-over

# disposal of existing vehicles ( 200 million + produced till 2030 )

# charging stations

# incentive for car manufacturers and car owners

# general / global incentives

And ,

# FINANCING

Shri Goyal said :

We don't need one rupee support from the government

We don't need one rupee investment from the people of India

But Vehicle Manufacturers say :

We cannot give away electric cars for FREE !

We need money to run our operations and in advance . At the most , we can

consider some sort of "

Hire Purchase " scheme ,

if we can get funds at an interest rate of 5 % and are allowed to charge

the buyers , 10 %

And Banks say :

We have already advanced car-loans totalling thousands of crores . If we are

allowed to transfer the unpaid balances along with the fresh loan amounts ,

to a " Restructured Loan " bearing a higher interest rate ( and EMI ), then

we can consider "

Government says :

We don't have funds to build more roads . So, where is the question of

financing private purchase / usage of cars ? We would rather build more /

better ( concrete ) roads "

Individual says :

I can hardly make ends meet ! If I must borrow from anyone, I would rather

buy a roof over my head. I am already paying huge EMIs for my current car

I say :

* No questions asked for any CASH deposited into a person's Jan Dhan Bank

account

* Create a SPV called , EVFF ( Electric Vehicle Finance Fund )

* Public can invest in this fund but only from their Jan Dhan Bank Accounts

deposits

* Interest earned from EVFF to be totally free from personal Income Tax for

10 years

* EVFF will finance Car Loan companies or " Hire Purchase Schemes " of car

manufacturers

* Car finance companies will be asked to stop financing of petrol / diesel cars

and finance only electric vehicles

If this is implemented , within 6 months , EVFF will be able to create a Corpus

of Rs 10 lakh*crores !

Can you think of a better way of harnessing BLACK money to finance a

GREEN future ?

With Regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@RecruitGuru.com / 02 July 2021

Vaccination : a Moral or a Legal obligation ?

Dear Dr Harshvardhanji,

Only 2 days ago, Supreme Court said :

“ You, the Government declared COVID as a “ Notified Disease “ under NDMA . Hence, under that act, you are obliged to pay compensation to the next-of-kin of a person dying due to COVID. It is up to you to decide the amount of compensation. But you cannot escape your responsibility “

Dear Minister,

While debating the exact amount of compensation to be paid, I urge you to use this HC / SC “ observations “ to issue a further notification ( under NDMA ) making it MANDATORY – OBLIGATORY for all Indian Citizen to take the vaccine

A refusal to get vaccinated should invite an appropriate punishment ( need not be a Jail Term but could be deprival of benefits – cash or kind – available to a citizen under various benefit schemes , including “ reservation quota “ in education / jobs etc )

With regards,

Hemen Parekh / hcp@ecruituru.com / 02 July 2021

Context :

In our country , educated persons are acutely conscious – and vociferous – about “ Citizen Rights “

Hardly anyone talks about “ Citizen Obligations “

Now the High Court is asking :

“ Can shot be refused in public health crisis : HC “ / HT / 01 July 2021

Extract :

Ø The Madras high court on Wednesday expressed doubt if anyone can have the right to refuse vaccination, given the larger interest of public health during the Covid-19 pandemic as vaccine hesitancy continues in some quarters.

Ø “ Indeed, vaccinating oneself may not only be to protect oneself but also in the larger interest of public health,” the court said in its order. “When such a larger interest of public health comes into play and it is possible that a person who has not taken the vaccine may not reveal any symptoms but still be a silent carrier, it is doubtful whether the right to refuse to take the vaccine can be exercised in such circumstances.”

In my following e-mail, I had raised this issue 8 MONTHS ago :

Ø Voting and Vaccination : Compare and Contrast…………………………[ 19 Oct 2020 ]

Extract :

Primary Onus for Vaccination

Although the primary onus lies with the citizen, Covid Pandemic is not only about saving the life of person “ volunteering “ to get himself vaccinated. He, also has the responsibility to save the lives of others, by not spreading the virus ( by getting vaccinated )

For this reason, using the powers vested in the Govt for “ Health Emergency “, Govt must issue a notification ( ordinance, if required ) , making vaccination MANDATORY for all ( and prescribe punishment for refusal )