[Reader-list] Is Kasab a Pakistani?

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear Pawan,

Thank you carrying the conversation forward.  Let me state this I am in no
way against the introduction of national identity cards as I am in no way
against the non-introduction of National Identity cards.

I think given the times that we live in, it is but -natural- for us to have
a identity document of some sort.

The reason I would like to pose some questions to you is because I think
insofar as the introduction of national identity cards in India is concerned
we have a very curious situation of the almost deafening silence on the side
of the discourse contrasted by a cacophony of industrial activity related to
manufacture of plastic cards, RFID technology, chips, smart cards and so
on.  Hence I feel it is high time we in India start thinking and talking
about this issue.

Hence,


You state-

 I do believe that we in India should create the national ID bank. We may
have hiccups but then we need to start. Let us not be deterred by failures
in system , it is possible wherever there are humans and technology. We need
the system to build up as somehow we have to control the 'uncontrolled'
infiltration.

What I would like to know from you or  possibly anyone on this list who is
interested in this debate is,

1. Why do we need a national identity card in India in the first place?
2. Why now?
3. What justifies the disbursement of funds to create this national
database? What is the opportunity cost of these funds?
4. Where in this world do we have a precedent both in temporal and in
spatial terms which shows a positive co-relationship between issuance of
identity cards and a decline in infiltration?
5. What is the evidence do we have that in the event of a disbursement of an
identity document, we have the requisite capacity for a -just- disbursement?


I do not expect you to answer them because I understand that most of these
questions relate to work-in-progress, but at the same time I would be
interested in knowing your views about them.

Warm regards

Taha





On Wed, Dec 24, 2008 at 2:56 PM, Pawan Durani <pawan.durani at gmail.com>wrote:

> Javed,
>
> Honestly, i hated to view Mumbai blast as a hindu / muslim issue
> ....however I must admit that Fatima let me down.
>
> It was a covert act by her to create a suspicion.
>
> Coming back to the Identity card issue , I do believe that we in India
> should create the national ID bank. We may have hiccups but then we need to
> start.
>
> Let us not be deterred by failures in system , it is possible wherever
> there are humans and technology.
>
> We need the system to build up as somehow we have to control the
> 'uncontrolled' inflitration.Look at the kind of inflitration we have in
> North East from Bangladesh etc.
>
> Do we need things to continue in the same way ?
>
> Pawan
>
>