SEARCH THIS BLOG

Sunday, March 6, 2011

219 - UID gets nod despite objections - Hindustan Times

New Delhi, September 25, 2010

Even as a large section of the civil society, intelligentsia and even some members of the Sonia Gandhi-led NAC have raised objections to the UID identification and registration, the Union cabinet on Friday approved the proposed National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, which makes UIDA a statutory body.

In an open letter sent to Gandhi on Thursday, on eve of NAC meet, the Right to Food Campaign while pressing for universalisation and identification of all the poor objected to use of UID kind segregating technology. “No use of technology for identification purpose which can violate the civil liberties and human rights of the people,” the campaign said.

“There is no real informed debate on the project which has enormous potential of segregating the population (based on few parameters). It is a matter concerning people at large—public money being spent to profile common public,” a NAC member earlier told HT.

“There are some objections to the project from some members. Though I am not rejecting the project out, we have to see what kind of safe guards we have in place against the concerns,” Harsh Mander, another NAC member told HT.