Aadhar was initially intended to benefit the poor by eliminating middlemen and leakages of funds. Just before that development officials of States and Union Territories and middle men or local brokers used to eat up the subsidy amount, thus depriving the poor of their rightful dues. NDA Government’s design is mischievous as it endangers privacy, data security and surrenders citizens’ individual power to the elected government, which militates against India’s system of rule of law based Constitutional democratic governance, where people are the sovereign masters and they elect the government of transient majority. Such thing could happen in fascism where people have no say and government of the day is law unto itself and arbitrariness rules the roost.

Union Government has ordered linking Aadhar with Permanent Account Number (PAN), mobile number, bank account/mutual fund, Income Tax Return (ITR), application for a new PAN card, passport, using a mobile phone connection as mandatory for availing numerous social security schemes like pension, scholarships, LPG connections. Aadhar is also sought to be linked to driving licence and travel as well.

A well meaning legal and technology experts, when queried, said that under the dreaded surveillance architecture, linking Aadhar will impact adversely both transactional economy and behavioural economy of the country. Even the switching off cell phone would not suffice to avoid the government tracking down citizens. Even one cannot withdraw money from bank or make any transaction using debit card. It will take seconds to switch off Aadhar authentication in a centralized citizens’ data base, which can deny them (citizens) their own money, deny any movement, deny any form of communication. Citizens cannot hide behind an alias, as it is linked to citizens’ biometrics. Government need not even arrest citizens; it can just deny their existence or choke them in a few seconds. Even if one is alive, one can be termed dead in a matter of few seconds as one can be switched off.

As data bases get more and more linked to property cards, tax filings, joint bank accounts, school admissions, driving licence, train tickets, travel, it will take few seconds to identify citizen’s family members, extend the same denial of existence to ones family, friends or any one, who has done any relationship, by switching them off. Problem with Aadhar is that it is centralized and it owns every one of citizens, who do not have self-control over data. But some one else has unilateral access to data. No law is sufficient.

Citizens do not need rights and protection for halcyon days (Achhe Din). Rights or protection are meant for bad times. It is, therefore, important not to lose sight of how bad times can be and what we need to protect about ourselves. To supporters of Aadhar that it’s a security issue; Androids, iOS and social media own a lot of our data, it can be said with conviction that their use of data is not similar. None of them has executive power over individual users. Users have inherent ability to delete them and sign off.

In the business world, Aadhar will erode customer trust due to data privacy laws. It has the potential to spell disaster without stronger safeguards to users. NDA Government is acting increasingly unilaterally over using Aadhar. Technology has to design trust into everything it does.

Linking of Aadhar with all conceivable activities is a sinister design of the NDA Government to keep under watchful eyes the over all conduct of citizens ostensibly in the name of strengthening country’s security architecture. It is, in fact, creation of a Frankstein monster of surveillance architecture, undermining the Constitutional rights and the rule of law based system of governance, coming on the heels of growing intolerance, communal politics, campaign of hatred, divisive politics, deeply straining time tested unity in diversity, plurality and co-existence of India. It’s undeclared emergency intended to throttle democracy and its core values of free speech and privacy.

People of India are pinning their abiding faith in the Supreme Court of India to rescue them from the dreaded menace of Aadhar and limit it’s use to only Direct Transfer of Benefits to poor under various social security and public welfare schemes as originally planned!