Right To Privacy Is An Alien Concept For India
Posted on July 13, 2010 by Editor LNAV
Nothing is more frustrating when the Indian government says “do not expect privacy form us, we are Indians”. Instead of protecting the civil liberties of Indians, Indian government is adamant for defying and defeating them. Take the example of right to privacy. Indian government and its agencies are blatantly violating right to privacy of Indian citizens. The way Indian government and its agencies are engaging in citizen profiling and e-surveillance activities, it is really worrisome.
One the one hand we do not have data protection law in India and privacy laws in India whereas on the other hand India is forcibly implementing “unconstitutional projects” like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) Project, Aadhar Project/UID Project, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project, etc.
Although all the projects recently introduced by Indian government are illegal, unconstitutional and outrageous, one project requires special mention. This is the Aadhar project or UID project of India. The same is managed by Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI).
What is surprising is that Indian government is wasting crores of public money upon an authority (UIDAI) that does not exist in the eyes of law. This wastage of public money is not only violating many laws of India, including criminal laws, but also against the democratic and Parliamentary scheme of Indian Constitution.
The constitutional analysis of the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 produced by the UIDAI clearly shows that UIDAI is an illegal authority and aadhar project is an unconstitutional project.
The Indian government is still pushing hard this project under pressure of industrial lobbying and the only purpose of this project seems to be to serve private interests. Time has come to scrap these unconstitutional projects till they are duly supported by constitutionally sound legislations.
Similarly, it is high time for the Parliament of India to accept its responsibilities and enact suitable laws regarding data protection and privacy rights. Many crucial projects cannot take a start in the absence of these crucial laws.
Posted on July 13, 2010 by Editor LNAV
Nothing is more frustrating when the Indian government says “do not expect privacy form us, we are Indians”. Instead of protecting the civil liberties of Indians, Indian government is adamant for defying and defeating them. Take the example of right to privacy. Indian government and its agencies are blatantly violating right to privacy of Indian citizens. The way Indian government and its agencies are engaging in citizen profiling and e-surveillance activities, it is really worrisome.
One the one hand we do not have data protection law in India and privacy laws in India whereas on the other hand India is forcibly implementing “unconstitutional projects” like National Intelligence Grid (NATGRID) Project, Aadhar Project/UID Project, Crime and Criminal Tracking Network and Systems (CCTNS) Project, etc.
Although all the projects recently introduced by Indian government are illegal, unconstitutional and outrageous, one project requires special mention. This is the Aadhar project or UID project of India. The same is managed by Nandan Nilekani as the chairman of unique identification authority of India (UIDAI).
What is surprising is that Indian government is wasting crores of public money upon an authority (UIDAI) that does not exist in the eyes of law. This wastage of public money is not only violating many laws of India, including criminal laws, but also against the democratic and Parliamentary scheme of Indian Constitution.
The constitutional analysis of the National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010 produced by the UIDAI clearly shows that UIDAI is an illegal authority and aadhar project is an unconstitutional project.
The Indian government is still pushing hard this project under pressure of industrial lobbying and the only purpose of this project seems to be to serve private interests. Time has come to scrap these unconstitutional projects till they are duly supported by constitutionally sound legislations.
Similarly, it is high time for the Parliament of India to accept its responsibilities and enact suitable laws regarding data protection and privacy rights. Many crucial projects cannot take a start in the absence of these crucial laws.
