[Reader-list] Govt plans smart cards for gulf emigrants

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear Rakesh

Thank you for posting you questions regarding my position on MINC.

My position on the proposal to introduce national identity cards in
India is this-

a) I would unhesitatingly, with any doubt, register myself to receive
a MNIC card, should the Government of India decide to go for a
national roll out.

b) As an Indian citizen I think it is be my duty to honestly and
truthfully share all the information which the government asks me to
provide, in the event of such a roll out and I promise to fulfill what
is required of me.

c) The Indian constitution states, specifically, Section 14A of the
Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity
Cards) Rules, 2003-

(1) The Central Government may compulsorily register every citizen
    of India and issue national identity card to him.

(2) The Central Government may maintain a National Register of Indian
    Citizens and for that purpose establish a National Registration Authority.

(3) On and from the date of commencement of the Citizenship
(Amendment) Act, 2003,
    the Registrar General, India, appointed under sub-section (1) of
section 3 of the
    Registration of Births and Deaths Act, 1969 shall act as the
National Registration
    Authority and he shall function as the Registrar General of
Citizen Registration.

(4) The Central Government may appoint such other officers and staff as may be
    required to assist the Registrar General of Citizen Registration
in discharging
    his functions and responsibilities.

(5) The procedure to be followed in compulsory registration of the citizens of
    India shall be such as may be prescribed.

As a law abiding citizen of India, I respect our constitution and I
shall do whatever is asked of me.

Having made my position clear. I also want to state that as a citizen
of this country, I feel it is also my obligation, to engage as much as
I could, in public discourse. Hence my interest in this issue. And I
happen to practice as a research analyst on issues of identity
together with issues pertaining to social life of risk and technology
for the last four years, which I think explains my enthusiasm in
posting news stories and other materials on the reader list.

Now having said that, I want to take this opportunity to say, that I
do not think, that there exists much information in the public domain
about Government of India's position on 'identity'. We do not know,
what does the GOI mean by 'identity'. Which I find quite perplexing,
because, the GOI seems quite clear about other aspects, material
aspects of MNIC. For instance we know in minute detail about what MNIC
card, which is a smart card, will contain. We know the nature of the
technology which will be used in this card. We know the amount of data
the memory chip will contain etc.

On the face of it, from a sociological perspective the current
discourse around MNIC seems to me like a classic example of how a
dominant social system is devising a mechanism of legitimation to
appease or obscure what we can perceive and what we cannot.

 For instance, I do not understand the process through which public
money is apportioned for a new technology, when there is ample
evidence of failures of similar identification drives in the last one
hundred and thirty years or so, starting from the census. Hence we
need to ask, what was the process of choosing this technology arrived
at? How was the cost decided? Were there any cheaper options? Was the
cost of MNIC the least cost? and so on.

India is a very poor country, we do not seem to have enough money to
provide regular latrines to six hundred thousand manual scavengers,
almost one hundred and fifty thousand of our farmers have committed
suicide in the last five years and our Govt seems to be hell bent on
transferring almost 27000 Crore rupees in favor of all those
organizations who are engaged in production and manufacture of plastic
smart cards. There is of course nothing wrong in this transfer but I
think, we need to ask, Is this transfer just?

Warm regards

Taha




On 1/16/09, Rakesh Iyer <rakesh.rnbdj at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear Taha
>
> I have understood your argument against fingerprinting of citizens. It also
> seems you are against national identity cards. Could you please elaborate on
> your views regarding the NIC's?
>
> Regards
>
> Rakesh
>