All the thoughts expressed in this blog post are my own and I do not owe allegiance to any of the powers that be.
The headlines in most of the newspapers today is "Aadhar is an Electronic Leash". If this statement is to be taken at its face value then many other things can also be considered to be some kind of leash. Every rule in the constitution is a, if not a leash, a boundary which cannot be crossed by men. What if I wanted to carry guns aboard an aircraft, why should I not be allowed to do so? Any same person would argue that it can put the lives of all the passengers in danger, if and only if someone in the plane has a malicious intent and possibly my indiscipline of taking it out in a plane and trying to practice my aim. The risk of misuse is so high that many airlines prevent one from any fluid even drinking water beyond 100 ml on an airplane. Why not allow me to carry my water to quench thirst?
Why should I not be permitted to drive a two wheeler in the Expressways? Why should I be restricted from riding a bicycle in the Expressways? Why restrict my freedom? Why stop be from enjoying what I want? Again all the sane people would argue that you are jeopardizing your life by going in roads where vehicles ply at a fast pace. But if everybody were to follow the speed limit set and follow the lanes provided what stops one from creating lanes for the two wheelers and bicycles and allowing people to go along the path? The problem is indiscipline.
Why not allow people to marry more than one other person at any point in time? Why force me to register the property, the vehicle I buy, my wedding, my birth, my death? Aren't all of these some kind of leash? Why force me to file my Income Tax? and force me to reveal my inherited assets each year along with my Income Tax Returns?
The issue is that many humans by nature are greedy and do not wish to part with any part of their wealth. Unfortunately this seems more so in society like ours. Many of us hide our incomes, make fake medical claims, our bank employees help the hoarders of black money convert defunct currency notes to new currency notes while the common humans suffer, we want to copy and pass the exams (even top them and become gold medalists), we want to work the minimum and make maximum money, we will not hesitate to bribe the authority to get a second and a third and fourth Aadhar card, a second and third and fourth PAN card, we will not declare all our bank accounts, we will open accounts in the names of our spouse, our children, we will donate to organizations which will give back a part of the donated (not sure possibly the whole amount) and claim income tax rebate on them. What should the government do to leash such a dishonest set of humans?
Why not use Aadhar? My question to the ones who do not wish to associate their Aadhar number to their bank accounts, to their mobile numbers, to their insurance policies is, what do you wish to hide from the Government? Why do you not want the Government to know?
People will be unable to hide bank accounts, which was anyway becoming difficult for the PAN holders.
People will find it difficult to hold multiple properties without declaring them.
If implemented honestly, and that honestly is a big if, Aadhar along with limiting the cash transactions can be a big deterrent to corruption.
What guarantee can and will the government give against leakage of information collected by the various authorities and misuse of Aadhar after the leak?
The citizens need to take cognizance of the benefits that will accrue and accept it.
For the Aadhar
The headlines in most of the newspapers today is "Aadhar is an Electronic Leash". If this statement is to be taken at its face value then many other things can also be considered to be some kind of leash. Every rule in the constitution is a, if not a leash, a boundary which cannot be crossed by men. What if I wanted to carry guns aboard an aircraft, why should I not be allowed to do so? Any same person would argue that it can put the lives of all the passengers in danger, if and only if someone in the plane has a malicious intent and possibly my indiscipline of taking it out in a plane and trying to practice my aim. The risk of misuse is so high that many airlines prevent one from any fluid even drinking water beyond 100 ml on an airplane. Why not allow me to carry my water to quench thirst?
Why should I not be permitted to drive a two wheeler in the Expressways? Why should I be restricted from riding a bicycle in the Expressways? Why restrict my freedom? Why stop be from enjoying what I want? Again all the sane people would argue that you are jeopardizing your life by going in roads where vehicles ply at a fast pace. But if everybody were to follow the speed limit set and follow the lanes provided what stops one from creating lanes for the two wheelers and bicycles and allowing people to go along the path? The problem is indiscipline.
Why not allow people to marry more than one other person at any point in time? Why force me to register the property, the vehicle I buy, my wedding, my birth, my death? Aren't all of these some kind of leash? Why force me to file my Income Tax? and force me to reveal my inherited assets each year along with my Income Tax Returns?
The issue is that many humans by nature are greedy and do not wish to part with any part of their wealth. Unfortunately this seems more so in society like ours. Many of us hide our incomes, make fake medical claims, our bank employees help the hoarders of black money convert defunct currency notes to new currency notes while the common humans suffer, we want to copy and pass the exams (even top them and become gold medalists), we want to work the minimum and make maximum money, we will not hesitate to bribe the authority to get a second and a third and fourth Aadhar card, a second and third and fourth PAN card, we will not declare all our bank accounts, we will open accounts in the names of our spouse, our children, we will donate to organizations which will give back a part of the donated (not sure possibly the whole amount) and claim income tax rebate on them. What should the government do to leash such a dishonest set of humans?
Why not use Aadhar? My question to the ones who do not wish to associate their Aadhar number to their bank accounts, to their mobile numbers, to their insurance policies is, what do you wish to hide from the Government? Why do you not want the Government to know?
Benefits of Aadhar
The government has already eliminated duplicate Aadhars and should have eliminated duplicate PANs too. Subsidies to ghosts have been stopped.People will be unable to hide bank accounts, which was anyway becoming difficult for the PAN holders.
People will find it difficult to hold multiple properties without declaring them.
If implemented honestly, and that honestly is a big if, Aadhar along with limiting the cash transactions can be a big deterrent to corruption.
Against the Aadhar
The counter argument to the above will be that Government is made up of humans and humans as we have concluded can be malicious and dishonest. What prevents a "sick" government employee from getting the data of a honest citizen and start harassing him?What guarantee can and will the government give against leakage of information collected by the various authorities and misuse of Aadhar after the leak?
Conclusion
The government needs to guarantee and convince the citizens that they will have checks and balance in place to ensure that the data collected by Aadhar is not misused, will not be shared with any corporate, however powerful they are, and they will take steps to prevent leakage and make the system so that it becomes very difficult if not impossible to misuse Aadhar. Sincere efforts to implement this (Using Dummy Numbers instead of Aadhar) kind of solution will provide some assurance.The citizens need to take cognizance of the benefits that will accrue and accept it.
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