India Needs Water & Electricity Not Hi Tech Cards

INDIA NEEDS WATER AND ELECTRICITY NOT HI TECH CARDS !

The meteorological department has predicted drought in India for this year, the taps are running dry all over the country, power cuts and hike in power tariffs have become the rule, this high cost of electricity is killing many middle class families and industries. At a time when the govt of India should be tackling such core issues they are hell bent on putting in a huge (150, 000) One Lakh Fifty Thousand Crore Rupees, in a card which could serve just a little more purpose than the voter card.

The concerns I am mentioning do not necessarily mean that I am casting apprehensions on the character and capabilities of Nandan Nilekani, its just that these so called unique identity cards will entail very high costs along with the potential to generate risks to safety, privacy, security, freedom and liberty of the citizens of India. This hi tech card is based on a sophisticated application called SCOSTA with a memory of 16 KB which is supposed to be a secured electronic device that only authorized persons can view it . If this unique card is secured against tampering then whats stopping the Govt Of India to give a guarantee in writing that this card will not be misused by the govt and its agencies or used by the terrorists , criminals and infiltrators in to India by the Bangladeshis and Pakistanis, or Taliban's, or Islamist's or from any other country. Universal adoption of identity cards is supported by law enforcement officials who claim that it will make surveillance and identification of criminals easier . However I would like to express my concern about the extensive costs and potential abuse of these hi tech smart cards. These cards could be used to track anyone's movements and private life to the extent of which hotel you have checked in, which flight you have boarded to which underwear you have bought and from where. The most intricate and private details of the citizen will be open for anyone to peep in.

I would like to know as to why does this govt want to track every citizen of this country when they should be tracking and taking action on some politicians which form a part of this govt , if not the congress party. For eg : Look at the state of the national air carrier AIR INDIA, Praful Patel of the NCP was the aviation minister for the last five years under whose tenure this national carrier has gone KAPUT , yet once again the same Praful Patel has been made the aviation minister ? ?. Hence it is but obvious that the IT companies will reap rich benefits as also the ruling govt politicians. The cost of the voter ID card was about Rupees one per card on a average but this smart card is going to cost more than Rupees One Thousand per person on a average basis. What real advantage will the average citizen have with this card, will it ever reach the 130 crore population of this country ? Many questions arise about the actual usage and real time reach of these cards on the grass root level .

Today even after 62 years of getting independence when crores of people have yet to get their voter cards what scope is there for these smart hi tech cards to reach the small towns, villages and tribal areas. Lets not forget that 70% of the population of our country still resides in villages and more than 20% of those villages have yet to see electricity and this 20% could amount to more than 15 crore citizens . You guys get the point, dont you ? Talking about these biometric cards Simon Davies, an expert in information systems at the London School of Economics, says the system would not stop people getting extra cards under different names, if he is correct, it could have far reaching implications. This brings to my mind people like Abdul Karim Telgi who was the mastermind in circulating counterfeit Indian currency amounting to thousands of crores. Mention also has to be made of Ali Hasan the Pune based mysterious business man who was allowed to abscond the country, he had more than 30, 000 crores in his Swiss banks and more than three Indian passports in different names, he was allegedly in to financing terrorist networks also apart form other activities.

What I mean to say is, in a largely corrupt country like India where counterfeit currency is as easily available as a can of beer, where forged passports can be had in a matter of a few days, wont these cards counter the very purpose they are been implemented for? Still if this govt wants to implement this scheme, best would be that this card should have facial recognition, fingerprint recognition and iris recognition, all three, only then can this card be somewhat useful for security purpose, yet would not be fully tamper proof. The present card has only the fingerprint recognition facility and not the other two which makes it ineffective .

There are more than 3 crore Bangladeshis and Pakistanis staying in India, most of them have already got their documents made to legalise their status in India, What about them ? Will they be allowed to stay in India ? Do they add to the political party's vote banks, hence allowed to stay as citizens. The govt has to give guarantees that no outsiders will be issued these cards. Lets not forget that this hi tech card can be the biggest security threat not only to India but to the whole world as a strong presumption of identity is given in favour of this card holder on the basis of which the holder of the card could be allowed entry to various venues, conclaves, banks, corporates, associations, countries etc, it could become the biggest asset or weapon in the hands of terrorists, criminals, fraudsters and would be assassins.

Guarantees also have to be given that these cards would not infringe on the privacy rights of the people as these cards will have sensitive data of each person and his family. The identity of witnesses in criminal investigations could be blown away with these cards . My purpose is to remind the govt and the people that so many times the Indian as also the American defence sites have been hacked, so what about the personal details of every Indian citizen stored on the data base of this ID project? One can only hope they will not be sold to the highest bidder !

150, 000 crores is a huge lot of money, its the Indian tax payers money, in a season of drought, where even in certain urban areas water comes once in two days for only one hour, this money can be better utilised to quench the barren lands of rural and urban India. Like I said earlier INDIA NEEDS WATER AND ELECTRICITY NOT HI TECH CARDS !

IN A CORRUPT COUNTRY LIKE INDIA THESE SO CALLED SMART CARDS COULD BE A SURE SHOT SECURITY DISASTER IN THE MAKING.

VARON B K SHARMA (author) of the novel "ASSASSINATION OF GEORGE BUSH" writer of the acclaimed film "BLACK & WHITE" www.varonbksharma.com

http://myblog.varonbksharma.com

Story writer of the critically accalaimed Bollywood film Black & White. Author of the novel "Assassination Of George Bush." He loves to tell stories which are hard hitting and intense. Both his film and book are stories based on reality and terrorism.He also is aproduction desiger of films in India. www.varonbksharma.com www.theassassinationofgeorgebush.com http://myblog.varonbksharma.com

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