[Reader-list] UID Card Doubts

[Bipin Trivedi]

Dear Taha,

I am giving you answer to your argument and every time you are raising some
new points, so I presume that you are convinced with my answer given for
previous points raised by you! 

You are missing the point again. Please read my mail answered to you. We are
not adopting UID because technology is good. But, we are adopting it which
can help to recognize infiltrators easily to counter terrorism and handle
large population systematically and fortunately we have technology to ease
this process.

'Persons who do not have any documents to prove who they are?' Now you got
the point. UID will benefit to them who do not have identity. Since, unlike
all other cards this system will go to person to person and give them
identity and by this way we can reach all the people who remain deprived
from the benefits.

Can you give percentage in India about unaware of their birth date. Very
negligible or merely less than 1%. So, for this small fraction of population
large section remain deprived and should not go ahead. Yes, we don't have
sufficient water. Money cannot buy water and the quantity of source of water
remain the same. Quantity of usable water (rivers, lakes) remains the same
and we have to manage from it. We have to use the available source of water
in very disciplined manner. Here also population increment comes in the
picture and nobody thinks or raise even argument to curtail population. Here
also public attitude comes in the picture. Since, we are wasting the water
heavily and then we complain for shortage of it.

So, your key argument was identity which proved irrelevant, leaking of data
argument proved irrelevant, any other doubts?

Now the financial aspect. Can you tell according to you, how much
expenditure will be there for UID project?

Thanks
Bipin





-----Original Message-----
From: Taha Mehmood [mailto:2tahamehmood at googlemail.com] 
Sent: Monday, May 24, 2010 2:56 PM
To: Bipin Trivedi
Cc: sarai-list
Subject: UID Card Doubts

Dear Bipin,

Thank you for your response.

At this moment I would not like to comment on your reading of my views
regarding BJP. We are going to have our points of difference and
inshallah we will debate about it at an appropriate time.

At this moment let's focus on UID. A survey of your views brings out
following two core arguments:

Argument number one:

Technology is good.

UID involves technology.

Therefore UID is good.

Argument number two:

Helping underprivileged is good.

Government of India is using a technology to help underprivileged of India.

Therefore Government of India is good.

Let us leave the GOI out of this, for the time being and let us focus, on
UID.

I assume:

A good is something which consistently does what it claims to do.
Therefore a batsman who consistently gets out at zero will not be a
good batsman in opinion, wouldn't you agree with me?

Taking this as my assumption and I may be wrong in assuming this, and
I would like to be corrected, if I am wrong. I have following
questions:

How can a technology, be marshaled to document the individual identity
of persons who do not have any documents to prove who they are? They
have other people who can -speak- on their behalf, that's for sure,
but do everybody in India knows and remembers when they were born?
Would it not create an archive of hearsays' ? Would it not be
imperfect? Is it not that the state of documentation of individual
identities in India is hotch-potch and fuzzy.  It's like being
enthusiastic about building a dam in the middle of a desert isn't it.
Bhai we don't have water. What are we going to do with this
technology?  I do not understand why must we invest so much money on
this technology?

Warm regards

Taha