[Reader-list] News Items posted on the net on Multipurpose National Identity Cards-43

Jeebesh jeebesh at sarai.net
Wed Jan 7 17:30:33 IST 2009 

dear Taha,

I am not suggesting to move away from doing research in a public way.  
It is an important move and will slowly change establish ways of doing  
research.

What i was suggesting is that blogs are better format to build the  
resource base and broaden it's coverage. It will be nice if we get  
excerpts, links to research materials and your annotations and there  
is one other place that we can go to see all this in some sequence.  
That is why i suggested a blog. In a multi-theme lists resources gets  
buried a lot more than in blogs dedicated to specific thematic.

warmly
jeebesh

On 07-Jan-09, at 2:02 PM, Taha Mehmood wrote:

> PS: I will be extremely happy if any member of the reader list is  
> able to
> use this knowledge in any way. I think the Information Society  
> Project at
> Sarai under Shuddha have done a commendable job in creating an  
> avenue to do
> 'research', (in what ever ways it could be interpreted) and  I feel  
> that
> time has come in India to introduce a public practice of thinking  
> especially
> of those issues which have till now been bracketed under 'research'  
> and
> hence were shoved to be processed and reproduced as a -cant- really  
> and
> displayed and exhibited in select and sacred spaces of university
> conferences. Don't you feel that we must allow ourselves to be little
> profane in our thinking and articulation about emerging social
> configurations. I would be more than willing to engage anyone in a  
> dialogue
> about MNIC because I feel as Indians it will have a huge amount of  
> impact on
> all of us. This is not to suggest that all forms of University  
> produced
> knowledge is unnecessay, not at all, this is rather to allow for  
> creation of
> more profane, loose, argumentative, forms of knowledge. Sarai talk  
> if you
> may in its most literal sense.
>
> On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 7:58 AM, Taha Mehmood <2tahamehmood at googlemail.com 
> >wrote:
>
>> Dear Jeebesh,
>>
>> I think creating a blog is a brilliant idea. It may work as a  
>> distinct
>> repository for all the materials related to the MNIC.
>>
>> I completely support any initiative in this regard.
>>
>> My personal interest is to however use the platform provided by the
>> reader-list as a blog or a repository. The reason for this is I  
>> have often
>> come across many practitioners of research, especially academic  
>> research in
>> the last three or so years that I have worked in the sector and I  
>> have
>> sensed a feeling of insecurity and over protectiveness in so far  
>> their
>> material sources is concerned.
>>
>> The premise is usually that an academician or a researcher is  
>> usually as
>> good or as bad as her resources.
>>
>> I want to work against this notion and create as public a research  
>> base as
>> possible because I think with any sort of research we are essentially
>> dealing with questions pertaining to epistemology and I think, it  
>> will be
>> good for all us, if we can create an environment  of public and
>> collaborative knowledge based on shared research. :) rather than  
>> stress on
>> purely individual forms of knowledge production which is more  
>> hierarchical
>> in nature and is dependent on institutional protocols of knowledge
>> dissemination.
>>
>> Warm regards
>>
>> Taha
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Wed, Jan 7, 2009 at 6:52 AM, Jeebesh <jeebesh at sarai.net> wrote:
>>
>>> dear Taha,
>>>
>>> Thanks for taking the list to a serious and uncharted terrain. I  
>>> have
>>> a suggestion. It maybe worthwhile to blog all these news items and  
>>> the
>>> blog links, excerpts and your annotations to the list to keep us  
>>> aware
>>> and generate a discussion. This way the blog will become an  
>>> important
>>> site for all of us to know the various ways in which you are tracing
>>> the evolution of the MNIC card etc. It will be a vital archive and
>>> your annotations will keep us on the toe.
>>>
>>> Greetings for a stimulating 2009.
>>>
>>> warmly
>>> Jeebesh
>>>
>>> On 07-Jan-09, at 3:09 AM, Taha Mehmood wrote:
>>>
>>>>
>>> http://www.secureidnews.com/2008/01/08/id-cards-for-delhi-citizens-trigger-intense-debate
>>>>
>>>> SecureIDNews
>>>> Government ID, Smart Cards, Identification and Authentication
>>>> Technology
>>>>
>>>> ID cards for Delhi citizens trigger intense debate
>>>>
>>>> Tuesday, January 8, 2008 in News
>>>>
>>>> The Indian government mandating all citizens in Delhi carry ID  
>>>> cards
>>>> after January 15th is causing debate over a police state versus
>>>> security against terrorists. The opposition party (Bhartiya Janata
>>>> Party, BJP) believes in a national citizen register for use in
>>>> passports, voting and health care while some in Congress feel it  
>>>> would
>>>> give the police too much power. At the time of launching the  
>>>> scheme in
>>>> India in November 2003, the government had stressed that the main
>>>> propose to issue multipurpose National ID cards is to provide a
>>>> credible individual identification system for improving the  
>>>> security
>>>> conditions and to help the e-governance by improving the
>>>> citizen-government interface.
>>>>
>>>> ID cards for Delhi citizens trigger intense debate
>>>>
>>>>   * BJP believes ID cards will help unmask potential terrorists
>>>>   * Congress and left parties say cards may become a potential for
>>>> 'police raj'
>>>>
>>>> NEW DELHI — The government order mandating all citizens living in
>>>> Indian capital Delhi to carry identity proofs after January 15  
>>>> lest to
>>>> invite police action has triggered an intense debate.
>>>>
>>>> Welcoming the decision, the opposition Bhartiya Janata Party  
>>>> (BJP) on
>>>> Saturday revived its campaign for a national citizen register to  
>>>> have
>>>> the record of every Indian citizen in the country.
>>>>
>>>> "Delhi governor's decision for the security purpose is welcome as  
>>>> it
>>>> would trigger a debate and study of the practical difficulties that
>>>> may arise from the multiplicity of the ID proofs that the people  
>>>> may
>>>> have to carry while many may not have any such proof at all," BJP
>>>> spokesman Prakash Javadekar told reporters. He said the move  
>>>> initiated
>>>> in Delhi should be followed up with the issue of the multi-purpose
>>>> national identity cards (MNIC) across the country and a national
>>>> citizen register be created to keep record of these cards.
>>>>
>>>> Javadekar said that such cards should be handy to carry in pocket  
>>>> and
>>>> have all the necessary electronic data on the person on a secure  
>>>> micro
>>>> processor chip implanted in them to be useful for all purposes
>>>> including elections and issue of passports and ration cards.
>>>>
>>>> Unmasking terrorists: The BJP believes that the national ID cards  
>>>> will
>>>> not only help in enhancing national security but they would also  
>>>> help
>>>> in unmasking potential terrorists and guard against the illegal
>>>> immigrants.
>>>>
>>>> Police raj: However, leaders in the Congress and the left parties
>>>> believed that such cards may become a potential for the police  
>>>> raj and
>>>> harassment of the citizens. Any citizen not having the ID card  
>>>> may be
>>>> even dubbed Bangladeshi as it used to happen during the NDA  
>>>> regime, a
>>>> Congress leader pointed out.
>>>>
>>>> Others in the BJP headquarters underlined that the MNIC project was
>>>> initiated by the NDA government in November 2003 and its importance
>>>> was also underscored by then President Abdul Kalam in his 2006
>>>> Independence Day address to the nation. Though the present UPA
>>>> government has continued the pilot project launched in selected
>>>> sub-districts of 12 states and union territory of Puducherry, there
>>>> appears no urgency to put it on fast track despite acknowledging  
>>>> that
>>>> the national ID to every Indian citizen would go a long way in
>>>> increasing the national security.
>>>>
>>>> The prime reason for then deputy prime minister and now opposition
>>>> leader Lal Krishna Advani to push for these cards was to help in
>>>> identifying the militants and the Bangladeshis allegedly staying in
>>>> India illegally. The Delhi governor's order has enthused the BJP to
>>>> once again push for such cards as a part of their campaign for
>>>> increasing the national security.
>>>>
>>>> As part of the pilot project, only last May the first set of the
>>>> multi-purpose national identity cards were handed over to the  
>>>> citizens
>>>> of Pooth Khurd in Narela locality of the capital.
>>>>
>>>> The pilot project for collection of the database of citizens and
>>>> preparation of the smart ID cards is going on in the sub- 
>>>> districts of
>>>> Rajasthan, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir , Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Goa,
>>>> Tripura, Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal and
>>>> Puducherry. The project involves collection of particulars of the
>>>> individuals, photographs and finger biometrics of all those who  
>>>> are 18
>>>> and above. The national ID cards are prevalent in many countries
>>>> around the world, including Hong Kong, Malaysia, Singapore,  
>>>> Thailand
>>>> and some European countries. Some countries, such as Denmark or
>>>> Sweden, make widespread use of personal identification numbers  
>>>> issued
>>>> at birth for all official transactions.
>>>>
>>>> A debate continues in the countries like United States and United
>>>> Kingdom on the merits of adopting national ID cards as they already
>>>> have the system of the photograph-bearing driving licences for the
>>>> identification purposes.
>>>>
>>>> At the time of launching the scheme in India in November 2003, the
>>>> government had stressed that the main propose to issue multipurpose
>>>> National ID cards is to provide a credible individual  
>>>> identification
>>>> system for improving the security conditions and to help the
>>>> e-governance by improving the citizen-government interface. [end]
>>>> _________________________________________
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>>>
>>> _________________________________________
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>>> Critiques & Collaborations
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>>
>>
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