[Reader-list] Price of documenting Individual identity in India-100 rupees

[Taha Mehmood]

Dear All,

It seems that the much publicized Census exercise of the GOI is
getting murkier. In a country where it is not unusual for a political
party to pay money to buy a vote, it seems that the of Government of
India is now thinking of governance of identities as some sort of a
'game'.

If registration to this whole MNIC alias UID alias Aadhar alias smart
card alias identity token alias digital key is a supposed to be a
voluntary process, then why is the planning commission thinking of
paying an 'incentive' of 100 rupees to get people register their iris,
retina and fingerprint scans? What sort of dharma is this which makes
a government to leverage a person's lack of privilege in order to
seduce him to part the most intrinsic parts of his identity?

Are we to believe that not a single paisa of Rs3000 crore apportioned
to give 100 Rupees as incentive will not find its way into someone
else's pocket? Is this not a loot of public funds?

-And the finance commission plans to spend another Rs 3,000 crore to
give Rs 100 as an incentive to every ‘below-poverty-line’ citizen as a
motivation to get enrolled.-

Please read the full story here-

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/infotech/ites/Govt-to-introduce-bill-to–regulate-unique-ID-project/articleshow/5887626.cms

in sadness :-(

Taha