Govt needs our biometric data to tackle poverty, illegal immigration and national security. Yes, a card could solve all these problems
Aadhaar cards make for good public relations abroad. Pic/PTI
I don't see what the latest fuss about the Aadhaar card is really. Yes, the government's recent rulings that make it mandatory for a person to possess a card are at odds with the Supreme Court ruling that citizens are not mandatorily required to, but since when is something blatantly illegal, an issue in our country? A walk down any of our streets tends to reveal a few hundred instances of legal violations, so why can't we simply accept another one and get on with our lives? After all, aren't we all introduced to illegality and corruption at an early age?
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A number of news organisations have reported biometric data breaches, and raised concerns related to the illegal storage of this data, but I don't see this as a problem either. Yes, if this were to happen in another country, any breach or abnormal activity would have to be revealed to the victims of what would essentially be treated as a crime.
Our Aadhaar regulations don't make such revelations mandatory though, which should be welcome news. It means we don't have to lose any sleep about our personal data being misused. If we don't know it's being misused, or being sold for that matter, it shouldn't bother us. Ignorance is bliss, after all, which is why so many of our politicians are always photographed with smiles on their faces.
I think people going on and on about how this is illegal are missing the point. This is simply about our government wanting to get to know us better. Cynics may point out that it has not taken the trouble of getting to know us since it took over from the British over six decades ago, but why should we hold that little fact against it? If the government wants to know what we are doing, what we eat, where we eat it, what we watch on television, who we are sleeping with and how much we are spending on contraceptives, why shouldn't it have access to this information? Hasn't history taught us that governments with total and absolute control always make life extremely pleasant for the people they govern?
Look at what the government says it wants to use our biometric data for anyway. It wants to tackle rural poverty, illegal immigration and national security, which is great because it has had only around seven decades to attempt this. A card could solve all these problems. It may not solve deep-rooted issues like corruption, for which we are celebrated across Asia, but everyone knows being corrupt is part of our DNA.
The card may not actually solve the problem of why the poor never actually get what they are supposed to receive either, but it makes for good public relations abroad, so we should support this.
For proof that cards work really well, we can always consider the PAN. So many of us believed in it so strongly for a few years because, as our government told us, it would eliminate corruption and ensure that everyone paid their taxes the way they were supposed to. We are now told that there are thousands of fake PAN cards floating around, but that shouldn't take away from the fact that the card actually worked for a few months or so.
I also think we take something as mundane as security far more seriously than we ought to. Sceptics may scoff and accuse the government of using this data for surveillance purposes, but when was the last time the government managed surveillance of any sort with any degree of efficiency? These fears are obviously unfounded. Also, real-time surveillance of any individual may be a massive attack against our right to privacy, which is enshrined in the Constitution, but we have already forfeited the right to say what we want, eat what we want and watch what we want to. So, why harp on the loss of another right?
Lastly, I should point out that supporting the government is our duty. We should accept everything it tells us, and ask no questions. People who ask questions are suspicious and there is no room for suspicion in modern India. To ask questions is to betray a lack of respect for the government, which is all-powerful and all-knowing and which works tirelessly to ensure that we have a few good roads and one or two public toilets. To ask questions is to be an anti-national. We all know that the only place for such people is Pakistan.
When he isn't ranting about all things Mumbai, Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet. He tweets @lindsaypereira Send your feedback to mailbag@mid-day.com
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