[Reader-list] India's ID project catches fancy of US lawmakers- 163

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear Rajen,

There are times when I feel like bowing my head in the honor of your
thoughts. The lucidity, the clarity, and the vision of your thoughts
is simply breath taking.

>even when the starting point is incorrect, say the data bank of LPG users, driving licences, BPL cards, I see the positive aspects of it,>

There were times when many people who saw positive aspects of gassing
numbered Jews at Auschwitz. Should one go only by positive sides of
everything? It's true though that there is a positive side for
everything.  But aren't there other ways to think besides just
positive and/or negative?

>that these datas can be corrected and the project carried forward,>

And how do you know that this data can be corrected? Did Nandu
personally called in to speak with your kind self last night?

Maybe it suits some of us on the reader list to do the 'policy talk'
not that 'policy talk' is injurious to one's health but then there are
others who should be left out from such a conversation, primarily
because, it is conjecture, secondly because, it makes little sense to
the uninitiated, as such assertions are based on pure assumptions
which are not verified at all.

I don't know that this data could be corrected that's why I am curious
to know how this data could be corrected, if you do know how this data
can be corrected then please share with us,  plus all the news that
one is reading these days indicate that previous lists which are
incorrect could be used to give UID numbers to Indians. What hooks me
to this data gathering story is not only it present but also its
history.

We have a history of numbering all sorts of things beginning from 1871
census where survey parties used get beaten up in villages because
people were deeply suspicious of them. Come to think of it, since
those days we haven't had a single instance of getting all our numbers
and our names right. Strange isn't it?

That does not certainly mean that one should do away with ration card,
PAN card, driving license and so on. Not at all. However that also
does not mean that one should be diverting 1.5 lakh crore rupees to
create one more database?

I am not sure which way the government is going to go on this. But
first I wish that the government of India set up a website for UIDAI
so that we all know what's happening.

Warm regards

Taha