-The Hindu The very foundation of Aadhaar must be reconsidered in the light of the privacy judgment Predictably enough, the recent Supreme Court order affirming that privacy is a fundamental right sent Aadhaar’s public-relations machine into damage control mode. After denying the right to privacy for years, the government promptly changed gear and welcomed the judgment. Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), suddenly asserted, “The Aadhaar...
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PDS focus should be on people, not fingerprints -Geetanjali Krishna
-Business Standard For those whose fingerprints don't match, life becomes 'imPoS-able' New Delhi: In certain circles of Jharkhand, a newly-minted term has become the source of heartburn and more — PoS-able. It refers to whether or not one’s fingerprints match on the PoS (point of sale) biometric readers in ration shops. Those whose fingerprints match, access their allotted ration. For those whose fingerprints don’t match, life becomes ‘imPoS-able’. According to an ongoing...
More »Heckled By Jharkhand Minister, Activist Jean Dreze Cuts Short Speech -Aloke Tikku
-NDTV Jean Dreze didn't get to continue his speech anyway and walked back to his seat as Union Agriculture Minister Radha Mohan Singh took charge. Jharkhand: Development economist Jean Dreze was forced to cut short his speech at a programme in Jharkhand after the state's agriculture minister Randhir Kumar Singh heckled him, reportedly because he was offended at his references to the Rashtriya Swayamsewak Sangh, the BJP's ideological mentor. A day later, several...
More »A mango plantation in Jharkhand shows how MGNREGA can really empower rural families -Inayat Sabhikhi
-Scroll.in Instead of wages for a short period of time, the family running the project in Lanka village will create an asset for life. Mahavir Parhaiya’s household in the remote village of Lanka in Latehar district of Jharkhand is bustling with activity. They are busy working on setting up a mango plantation on what was once a barren plot near their house, under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act...
More »Dissent and Aadhaar -Jean Dreze
-The Indian Express We have been numbed by a series of lies, myths and fictions about the project. India is at risk of becoming a surveillance state, with faint resistance from libertarians, intellectuals, political parties, the media, or the Supreme Court. Very soon, almost everyone will have an Aadhaar number, seeded in hundreds of databases. Most of these databases will be accessible to the government without invoking any special powers. Permanent surveillance...
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