Usha Ramanathan works on the jurisprudence of law, poverty and rights. She writes and speaks on issues that include the nature of law, the Bhopal Gas Disaster, mass displacement, eminent domain, civil liberties including the death penalty, beggary, criminal law, custodial institutions, the environment, and the judicial process. She has been tracking and engaging with the UID project and has written and debated extensively on the subject. In July-September 2013, she wrote a 19-part series on the UID project that was published in The Statesman, a national daily.

Her work draws heavily upon non-governmental experience in its encounters with the state; a 6 year stint with a law journal (Supreme Court Cases) as reporter from the Supreme Court; and engagement with matters of law and public policy.

She was a member of: the Expert Group on Privacy set up by the Planning Commission of India which gave in its report in October 2012; a committee (2013-14) set up in the Department of Biotechnology to review the Draft Human DNA Profiling Bill 2012; and the Committee set up by the Prime Minister's Office (2013-14) to study the socio-economic status of tribal communities which gave its report to the government in 2014.

Tuesday, April 5, 2016

8 - NIAI Bill Critique by Usha Ramanathan


Comments on 

‘The National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010’ by Usha Ramanathan, 



Long Title:
‘Manner of authentication of such individuals to facilitate access to benefits and services to such individuals to which they are entitled’

Comment: –
(1) This Bill does not deal with benefits and services. The Strategic Overview of the Unique Identification (UID) Number/Aadhaar project specifies that the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is not concerned with rights and entitlements.
(2) This Bill does not acknowledge entitlements, benefits or services


CHAPTER I
PRELIMINARY

Clause 1(2): Extraterritoriality

Comment: It anticipates the possibility of an offence or contravention committed under this Act ‘outside India by any person’. The nature of the technology is such that anyone, anywhere, may hack into, steal, or tamper with the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR), the database of UID Numbers. The Wikileaks experience shows that electronic data can never be adequately secured against leaks and invasions.


Clause 2(c): Deals with ‘authentication’
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