## This is an excerpt form a letter I've written to my father. Edited so as to publish in a public blog ##
“Live passionately, with all the injuries that can happen as a result: it is worth it” -Paulo Coehlo
“ When you yourself are not ambitious, not acquisitive, not clinging to your own security – only then you can respond to a challenge and create a new world.” - J.Krishnamurthi
My father once told me that wherever we go, whatever we do, we should live every moment creatively and that it is possible to do that, if we are able to switch ourselves to a particular orbit. When he said, ‘being creative’, I assume that he didn’t mean indulging into doing creative stuff all the time, but putting ourselves into a position free from conditioning and external pressures, so that our mind is in a ready-state for being creative, any second, spontaneously. To be in that position, the most essential pre-requisite is to have a mind that is not fragmented, fully focused.
But the question is will it ever be possible to have a mind that is not fragmented, not under conflict. Even many of those whom we label as ‘creative’, in a deeper sense will be in deep conflict – with their wife, society, family. The solution to this conflict, I believe should arise from an understanding of its root cause. Discovering the answer to an old kinder garden question “what do you want to do in life?’, is the first step towards this. The moment we start doing something with our heart, the moment we start living passionately, that very moment we break-free of this inner conflict, that very moment we become immensely creative.
But we are all conditioned to be ambitious, conditioned to be achievers. The toxic brew of this achievement pressure and comparative evaluations by the society always put our inner-self in conflict. The main problem that I believe, in yielding to these pressures is that we end up being in a flow, like a dead log of wood with no sense of direction.
The fear of an insecure illusionary future pulls back most of the people from doing things they are passionate about. The purpose of their whole life, end up being - “to retire”. Many of them, never in their life, will realize the foolishness in clinging to their own security and the few who does, will be too late that they could then do nothing else but look back and regret at what they have forfeited for mere materialistic gains.
The question is, ‘is it worth keeping our life’s passion at hostage for materialistic gains like money, security and respect?’, ‘is it not foolish if we don’t respond to a call of realization that many people get only much later in their life?’.
If I had a life to live over - published in Paulo Coehlo's blog
Of course, you can’t unfry an egg, but there is no law against thinking about it.
If I had my life to live over, I would try to make more mistakes.
I would relax. I know of very few things that I would take seriously.
I would go more places. I would climb more mountains and swim more rivers.
I would eat more ice cream and less bran.
I would have more actual troubles and fewer imaginary troubles.
You see, I have been one of those fellows who live prudently and sanely, hour after hour, day after day.
Oh, I have had my moments. But if I had it to do over again, I would have more of them – a lot more.
I never go anywhere without a thermometer, a gargle, a raincoat and a parachute.
If I had it to do over, I would travel lighter.
If I had my life to live over, I would pay less attention to people telling us we must learn Latin or History; otherwise we will be disgraced and ruined and flunked and failed.
I would seek out more teachers who inspire relaxation and fun.
If I had my life to live over, I would start barefooted a little earlier in the spring and stay that way a little later in the fall.
I would shoot more paper wads at my teachers.
I would keep later hours.
I’d have more sweethearts.
I would go to more circuses.
I would be carefree as long as I could, or at least until I got some care- instead of having my cares in advance.
I doubt, however, that I’ll do much damage with my creed.
The opposition is too strong.
There are too many serious people trying to get everybody else to be too darned serious
Ordinary
Being 'ordinary' is phenomenal. The quest for ways to prove yourself extraordinary, to be validated and recognised by everyone kills the absolute quality of life. What is left with you, if you miss this very moment as your vision is clouded by the plans for an ambitious illusionary future and your mind stressed under the achievement pressure imposed upon you by the society?
Is Caste a Commensurate Criterion for Reservations?
Reservations has always been a hot topic of discussion in India. Till date, almost all reservations including those for the admissions in professional colleges and entry to government services are all based on caste. From time immemorial there existed in India a caste capitalism, which over the years blocked the socio-ecnomic development of the lower castes, making them minorities (a group that enjoys less than its proportionate share of scarce resources).The aim of implementing reservations at the very core is to bring soical justice to people who have been denied opportunities historically to climb up in the socio-ecnomic spiral.So it is unobjectionable that SCs and STs are eligible for these reservations.
But what about OBCs?. They do not qualify into the definition of 'being denied of opportunities for betterment historically'. Even then the butter cake of reservation was thrown up to them .The 27% OBC reservation was implemented on the basis of the Mandal Commission estimate that 52% of the total population belong to OBC. The justification of forced proportional representation of a caste/community in any profession is highly unscientific and abstruse.The criterion for the exclusion of creamy layer in OBCs is too flawed, that almost everybody who is a backward caste by the accident of birth could pass the Income/wealth test and be eligible for reservations.Thus the well-to -do among the backward castes becomes the key beneficiaries of these schemes.
Demographic Trends
In order to target the benefits to the needy and fine-tune the reservation policy,exact numerical info of all castes in necessary. To settle endless issues on the size and backwardness of various communities, the exact information on their socio-economic status is vital. The demand of enumeration of OBC in census is strongly backed by leaders and parties representing the politics of OBC assertion, with a hope for an increase in expected count of OBCs and hence demand for a higher percentage reservation. For this very reason Hindutwa groups are dead against this reform, calling it a colonial practice.
The demographic trends indicate that the percentage of OBCs are on a raise every year.Though this is not a conscious effort from the part of any community to turn the social demography to their favour, this is an issue worth watching. It is beyond question that the OBC political fraternity will come up with a demand of increase in proportional representation once their percentage share of population go beyond the Mandal commission estimate of 52%. But experts consider that this is unlikely to happen as National sample survey estimated the percentage of OBCs only as 36% in 99'-00' and 41% in 04'-05'.To implement a reform in the reservations system, the most essential pre-requisite is the enumeration of castes in census. Not just OBCs, but all castes. Upliftment of the oppressed being the basic idea behind all these schemes, the information on who is oppressed and who need to be empowered is vital.
Devising a new Criterion for Reservation based on MPI Data
Six decades since Independence, the issue of oppression of lower castes by higher castes is of little relevance in Urban India. But this issue is still relevent in the rural areas of the sub-continent.Now discussing the need of a new criterion for the implementation of reservations in India on the basis of wellness indicators other than caste, is very relevant. Especially in the context of the recent studies of the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) on the basis of Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
According to OPHI "Multidimensional poverty encompasses a range of deprivations that a household may suffer.Most countries of the world define poverty by income. Yet poor people themselves define their poverty much more broadly, to include lack of education, health, housing, empowerment, humiliation, employment, personal security and more. No one indicator, such as income or caste, is uniquely able to capture the multiple aspects that contribute to backwardness or poverty.Alkire Foster Method identifies who is poor by considering the intensity of deprivations they suffer, and includes an aggregation method. The method is flexible and can be applied to measure poverty or well being, target services or conditional cash transfers and for monitoring and evaluation. Different dimensions (e.g. education) and indicators (e.g. how many years of education of person has) can be chosen depending on the society and situation."
MPI Table of States of India [Click to Enlarge]
Extreme diversity in all walks of life is a key feature of Indian social set up. The OPHI studies in fact shows that our country is made up of different nations stretching from middle income Asian nations to starving sub-Saharan nations. A comparison of state-level and country-level data from the newly released multi-dimensional poverty index shows that the conditions of the states Kerala and Goa are close to that of Paraguay and the Philippines.At the same time Somalia, where 300,000 people died in a famine in the early 1990s, performs slightly worse than Bihar while Sierra Leone, the world's third worst performer on the Human Development Index, is at roughly the same level. When such a diversity in MPI exist in our country,is it not nonsensical to have a common criterion for the implementation of upliftment programs ?. When these programs end up being insufficient in some states they may turnout being tools of reverse discrimination in other states.
Comparison of Bihar with Kerala [Click to Enlarge]
This chart very much brings out the problems in considering India as a whole while enforcing policies like reservations. The fruits of reservations have already reached many millions belonging to once backward communities and it is still out of the reach for many others. In many states the oppressed among the forward community, remain excluded from these upliftment programs for the only reason of the accident of birth as an upper caste. If empowerment of the real oppressed is the motive behind the implementation of upliftment programs, it is time to devise a new criterion, considering more wellness indicators beyond caste and target benefits of reservations to the needy.
References
1. Alkire, Sabina & Maria Emma Santos. 2010. India Country Briefing. Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Multidimensional Poverty Index Country Briefing Series. Available at: www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index/mpi-country-briefings/
2. Global multidimensional poverty - OPHI’s interactive world map
http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index
3. National Commission for Backward classes (NCBC) - Persons/Sections Excluded from Reservation which constitute Creamy Layer of the Society. Available at : http://ncbc.nic.in/html/creamylayer.htm
But what about OBCs?. They do not qualify into the definition of 'being denied of opportunities for betterment historically'. Even then the butter cake of reservation was thrown up to them .The 27% OBC reservation was implemented on the basis of the Mandal Commission estimate that 52% of the total population belong to OBC. The justification of forced proportional representation of a caste/community in any profession is highly unscientific and abstruse.The criterion for the exclusion of creamy layer in OBCs is too flawed, that almost everybody who is a backward caste by the accident of birth could pass the Income/wealth test and be eligible for reservations.Thus the well-to -do among the backward castes becomes the key beneficiaries of these schemes.
Demographic Trends
In order to target the benefits to the needy and fine-tune the reservation policy,exact numerical info of all castes in necessary. To settle endless issues on the size and backwardness of various communities, the exact information on their socio-economic status is vital. The demand of enumeration of OBC in census is strongly backed by leaders and parties representing the politics of OBC assertion, with a hope for an increase in expected count of OBCs and hence demand for a higher percentage reservation. For this very reason Hindutwa groups are dead against this reform, calling it a colonial practice.
The demographic trends indicate that the percentage of OBCs are on a raise every year.Though this is not a conscious effort from the part of any community to turn the social demography to their favour, this is an issue worth watching. It is beyond question that the OBC political fraternity will come up with a demand of increase in proportional representation once their percentage share of population go beyond the Mandal commission estimate of 52%. But experts consider that this is unlikely to happen as National sample survey estimated the percentage of OBCs only as 36% in 99'-00' and 41% in 04'-05'.To implement a reform in the reservations system, the most essential pre-requisite is the enumeration of castes in census. Not just OBCs, but all castes. Upliftment of the oppressed being the basic idea behind all these schemes, the information on who is oppressed and who need to be empowered is vital.
Devising a new Criterion for Reservation based on MPI Data
Six decades since Independence, the issue of oppression of lower castes by higher castes is of little relevance in Urban India. But this issue is still relevent in the rural areas of the sub-continent.Now discussing the need of a new criterion for the implementation of reservations in India on the basis of wellness indicators other than caste, is very relevant. Especially in the context of the recent studies of the Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) on the basis of Multidimensional Poverty Index (MPI).
According to OPHI "Multidimensional poverty encompasses a range of deprivations that a household may suffer.Most countries of the world define poverty by income. Yet poor people themselves define their poverty much more broadly, to include lack of education, health, housing, empowerment, humiliation, employment, personal security and more. No one indicator, such as income or caste, is uniquely able to capture the multiple aspects that contribute to backwardness or poverty.Alkire Foster Method identifies who is poor by considering the intensity of deprivations they suffer, and includes an aggregation method. The method is flexible and can be applied to measure poverty or well being, target services or conditional cash transfers and for monitoring and evaluation. Different dimensions (e.g. education) and indicators (e.g. how many years of education of person has) can be chosen depending on the society and situation."
MPI Table of States of India [Click to Enlarge]Extreme diversity in all walks of life is a key feature of Indian social set up. The OPHI studies in fact shows that our country is made up of different nations stretching from middle income Asian nations to starving sub-Saharan nations. A comparison of state-level and country-level data from the newly released multi-dimensional poverty index shows that the conditions of the states Kerala and Goa are close to that of Paraguay and the Philippines.At the same time Somalia, where 300,000 people died in a famine in the early 1990s, performs slightly worse than Bihar while Sierra Leone, the world's third worst performer on the Human Development Index, is at roughly the same level. When such a diversity in MPI exist in our country,is it not nonsensical to have a common criterion for the implementation of upliftment programs ?. When these programs end up being insufficient in some states they may turnout being tools of reverse discrimination in other states.
Comparison of Bihar with Kerala [Click to Enlarge]This chart very much brings out the problems in considering India as a whole while enforcing policies like reservations. The fruits of reservations have already reached many millions belonging to once backward communities and it is still out of the reach for many others. In many states the oppressed among the forward community, remain excluded from these upliftment programs for the only reason of the accident of birth as an upper caste. If empowerment of the real oppressed is the motive behind the implementation of upliftment programs, it is time to devise a new criterion, considering more wellness indicators beyond caste and target benefits of reservations to the needy.
References
1. Alkire, Sabina & Maria Emma Santos. 2010. India Country Briefing. Oxford Poverty & Human Development Initiative (OPHI) Multidimensional Poverty Index Country Briefing Series. Available at: www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index/mpi-country-briefings/
2. Global multidimensional poverty - OPHI’s interactive world map
http://www.ophi.org.uk/policy/multidimensional-poverty-index
3. National Commission for Backward classes (NCBC) - Persons/Sections Excluded from Reservation which constitute Creamy Layer of the Society. Available at : http://ncbc.nic.in/html/creamylayer.htm
Unvieling the Freedom of Choice
A Response to Martha Nussbaum's 'Veiled Threats?'
Considering Burqa as a moral and religious obligation is more or less a form of coercion against women. The right of a MUSLIM to 'wear Burqa' as it is a religious norm is heavily out-weighed by the right of a WOMAN to 'not to wear Burqa', as it is her freedom of choice and expression. The argument that the tremendous cultural pressure to market oneself as a sex object, can be resisted only by wearing a lot of covering is totally unjustified.The basic underlying force that bulldoze Burqa on women is the chauvinistic male attitude that they possess the body of their female partner. Is this not the real 'objectification' of women?. Legal ban of Burqa by France was a right move, as this freedom of choice cannot be achieved otherwise.
Considering Burqa as a moral and religious obligation is more or less a form of coercion against women. The right of a MUSLIM to 'wear Burqa' as it is a religious norm is heavily out-weighed by the right of a WOMAN to 'not to wear Burqa', as it is her freedom of choice and expression. The argument that the tremendous cultural pressure to market oneself as a sex object, can be resisted only by wearing a lot of covering is totally unjustified.The basic underlying force that bulldoze Burqa on women is the chauvinistic male attitude that they possess the body of their female partner. Is this not the real 'objectification' of women?. Legal ban of Burqa by France was a right move, as this freedom of choice cannot be achieved otherwise.
A Heartless Reform
'Mistimed and insensitive', this is how 'The Hindu' defined the UPA's decision to deregulate oil prices.The statement very much explains almost everything about this issue. Calling this action 'inevitable' sounds even more insensitive. According to Mr.Kaushik Basu, Chief Economic Advisor to the Finance Minister, "this reform will rationalise the way we spend money and fuel and will help India become a more efficient global player".The statement shows how much UPA has moved away from the much applauded pro-poor status, it has gained during their first tenure in the ministry.The prime minister's justification is that this reform is intended to safeguard the greater interests of our country. A very relevant question in this context, when the food inflation has touched a whooping 17 p.c is, 'who are we trying to include in the so called inclusive growth?'. The ministry is in fact trying to veil the cascading effect this fuel price hike can have on the prices of commodities.With the inflation curve climbing northwards everyday, this is undoubtedly the worst time for the implementation of such a reform.
The Petroleum Minister Murli Doera's argument that the implementation of this reform aims at saving the OMCs from bankruptcy is also unjustified.According to Petroleum Ministry's annual report, IOC posted a net profit of Rs. 10,998 crores in FY 2009-10 that too after holding the price line for the four major products – petrol,diesel, PDS kerosene and LPG for domestic use.BPC and HPC earned 834 crores and 544 crores respectively as profits in the same Financial Year. When the OMCs are making profits of this margin, the theory of these companies going bankrupt is hard to digest.
It is estimated that without the deregulation, for OMCs the subsidy burden is to produce an under-recovery of around 15,000 crores in FY2010 and around 39,000 crores for the FY2011. This fancy term 'under-recovery' can generate an idea in the mind of a common man reading these statistics that this 'price de-regulation is inevitable' .Under recovery is nothing but the difference between the import parity price [A price charged for a domestically produced good that is set equal to the domestic price of an equivalent imported good -- thus the world price plus transport cost plus tariff - courtsy:http://www.personal.umich.edu/~alandear/glossary/i.html] and the retail price of petrol, diesel,LPG & kerosene, before deregulation. Quoting The Hindu "Under-recoveries are notional losses that only lower book profits relative to some benchmark. Thus, there is little danger that the industry would be bankrupted even if prices were kept at their earlier levels".
When the inflation is rocket shooting to super-high levels,it is highly insensitive to make the common man share the burden of these under-recoveries by imposing the de-regulation on oil prices. The cascading effect of this price de-regulation on the price-hike of essentials have far reaching consequences. The concept of food security cannot be limited to distribution of foodgrains at subsidised rates to BPL families and fuel-price hike connot be de-linked from this.This insensitive reform is infact a denial of the basic right of a human being, 'food security'. The government must not forget the fact that, 77% of our population earn not more than Rs.20 a day for their survival. Whatever may be the reason, keeping their interests hostage is a highly callous and politically self-damaging act.
Understanding Jamaat-e-Islami in Kerala
Plachimeda, Express highway, Muthanga and now Kinaloor, every time ‘Solidarity’ take up social issues like this, its parent organization Jamaat-e-islami is making its strong presence felt in Kerala. To some extend Jamaat-e-Islami has been sucessful in creating an image of a progressive pro-people organization in Kerala. They made it possible by making their active presence felt in issues like gender-equality, democracy, dalit rights, environment protection, human rights etc. But there are strong reasons to believe that this is just a mask they have deliberately put on to hide their real nature to achieve their ulterior political motives.
To know their real nature, let’s have a look into the history of Jamaat-e-Islami. It was Abul Ala Maududi who found Jamaat-e-Islami in 1941. The basic concept he raised when he started Jamaat-e-Islami was that ‘a person who is Muslim by religion cannot be economically socialist or Politically Secular’. He proclaimed that Islam is not just a religion but a complete way of living. It must be noted that Maududi’s concepts were essentially against democracy. According to him the greatest threat Muslim community is facing are the progressive views of secularism and democracy. He believed that the ultimate power should be with God (Allah) and not with people. People are allowed to run a government only as the representatives of God to enact his wishes. Their basic idea is to bring in the ‘Rule of God on Earth’. Maududi calls in for a nationalism that is beyond the boundary of nations and urges Muslims to work to bring up a ‘Muslim nation’.
It is the same Jamaat-e-Islami, that has now come up with a progressive face in Kerala. It is out of the understanding that they cannot run their roots in Kerala exposing their real face, they have put on this mask of a progressive organization. To gain public support they started an 'intellectual Jihad'. In 1987 Jamt-e-islami launched 'Madhyamam' daily in Kerala. With a clear intention of creating a pro-people image, they started giving space for Leftist progressive writers and even naxelites in the Editorial/opinion pages of 'Madhyamam' daily. Later on columns of feminists, environmentalists and dalit rights activists started appearing frequently in 'Madhyamam' weekly. Their 'intellectual Jihad' didnt stop there. They started conducting workshops and seminars on relevant issues where eminent faces like Arundhathi Roy, Medha padker and Vandana Shivam took part. In 2003, Jamaat-e-Islami started their youth wing under then name 'Solidarity', which later became successful in getting into the headlines of daily news by taking up each and every issue in Kerala. How authentic Jamaat-e-Islami is in the issues that they started taking up recently is a topic worth discussing.
Starting with 'Gender-equality’: Feminist organizations started popping up in Kerala in 1980's. 'Bodhana', 'Prajodana', 'Manushi' etc were some among the popular feminist organizations of that time. In early 90's 'Kerala Sthree Vedi' was formed. It must be noted that none of these secular feminist organizations had a single Jamaat-e-Islami activist as its member. The reason for this is very simple, Jamaat-e-Islami never wanted to promote any sort of secular women's progressive movements. Maududi in his famous work 'Parda' says that 'women should be always dependent on men'. He pointed out that women’s being self-dependent is the basic reason of lack of stability in marriages and relationships in the west. Maududism and hence Jamaat-e-Islami in its very core is against empowerment of women.
Another tool Jamaat-e-Islami uses in its intellectual jihad is Dalit-rights. Without doubt, Jamaat-e-Islami is genuinely interested in promoting Dalit politics. But the fact of the matter is that, they are interested in promoting only 'Hindu-dalit politics'. Jamat-e-islam prefer looking at Muslims beyond dalit-non-dalit distinction and they fear that promoting Muslim-dalit movements can end up being a hindrance to their political motives. It must be noted that in North India, Jamt-e-islami tried to bring down all sort of Muslim-dalit-OBC movements. That is Jamat-e-islam do not beileve in secular-dalit politics. Hindu-dalit politics, they believe can act as tool to breakdown the unity of their 'Majority Hindutwa' opponents.
The third in the list is 'anti-imperialism'. Solidarity came up with the slogan 'Muthalalitham Valicheriyuka' (Throw-away Capitalism). They did postering and distributed leaflets across Kerala urging the people for the same. But they never mentioned anywhere about the alternative they suggest for 'capitalism'. Is it socialism?.. Defenitely not!!. For Jamaat-e-Islami the alternative of capitalism is Moududism. If we look closely we can see that they are in fact NOT against impereialiam as such, they are only against American Imperialism (Christian Imperialism, as they call it). All they want is to replace it with Muslim Imperialism.
Solidarity has taken up several environmental issues in Kerala. They joined the 'Plachimeda Samara Samithi'(2 years since the agitation started), came out supporting Dr.Nandakumar in the agitation against Philip Carbon company in Ernakulam and joined V.M Sudeheeran on the Black-sand (karimanal) Mining issue in Alappuzha. They are out there to support anyone who takes up any environmental issue, a desperate effort to improve their public image.
The believers of Maududist ideologies wearing a mask of a progresive organisation and promoting an intellectual jihad to gain public support is major political issue as far as Kerala is concerned. It is high time we realize that, it is our democracy, nationalism and above all the unity of our nation that is at stake when an organization whose ideologies at its very core is flawed and is against democracy and secularism is planning to set their feet in the Indian parliamentary politics.
What makes us Different from Terrorists?
On May 6th the whole of India, celebrated the declaration of the death sentence of Kasab. The picture of Ujjwal Nikam smiling like a butcher's dog, holding a graphic of a noose to illustrate the demand for his death sentence and mumbaikars beating drums over the declaration was irrational. The whole sequence of events projected an image that 'we Indians are no different from those terrorists'.
It is true that people like Kasab should be removed from the society. I'm sure that the argument of banning 'death sentence' as it is a fatal insult to 'respect for life' and 'beauty of creation' will not stand, especially in this case, as the high cost of holding such a dangerous person alive, fear of another Kandahar etc will come in the way. But i strongly believe that the issue could have been handled with a higher level of sensitivity, without encouraging the irrational emotions of vengeance and hatered.
Is Implementation of UID a Prime Need for India ?
Written for an Online Debate competetion.
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) headed by Nandan Nilekani, was established aiming not only national security but also with an objective to help the poor to access the benefits of various government schemes with greater ease. If implemented properly this is undoubtedly going to be a revolutionary step that can have huge benefits and impact on public services and also on making the poor more inclusive in what is happening in India today.
But the question is the feasibility of implementation of this project which has a guess estimate of 1.5 lakh crore (according to Frontline magazine), in a developing country like India, where one fourth of the population live below poverty line and over 80 percentage of the population live under Rs.20 a day (Arjun Sen Gupta Committee report). There is no doubt that the unique identification number could play some role in targeting benefits better at people who deserve it, but in India the prime need is education, health and sanitation (40% of the children in India are chronically malnutritioned and 700 million Indians do not have proper sanitation facilities). When such a situation persists, surely this money could be better used.
London School of Ecnomics (LSE) did a study for the implementation of a similar project in Britain and concluded that the technology envisioned for this program is highly untested and unreliable and that similar projects when implemented even in small scales have encountered serious technological and operational problems and this is defenitely going to get amplified when implemented in national level. So there is no guarantee that the system is secure or that it cannot be hacked or misused.
The concept of UID came up with an anti-terror agenda , but there is need to safeguard against potential harassment of undocumented individuals, especially poor migrants and there is no provision for this in the scheme. And regarding its potential benefits in public service schemes, the service delivery in rural communities is hampered less by the inability of resident to prove identity (population size is small; everyone knows each other) than by defalcation and corruption. Two of the biggest government outlays for social security are NREGA and PDS. In NREGA, there are two avenues for misappropriation are labour (fake names, over/understated days worked) and material (overstated amounts, fake bills). UID will not address the latter and will address the former only if the worker physically clocked in/out using automated biometric readers, and if money could be taken out of bank accounts only after positive biometric proof. The simplest fingerprint readers cost $50 (Rs. 2000) and it’s financially unviable to put one in each of the 600,000 villages in India (or even ~300,000 Panchayats). Again these finger-print readers are not totally fool-proof.
Likewise in PDS, eliminating defalcation using UID will require positive biometric proof before grain disbursement otherwise what is to stop the FPO from making fake entries, or not opening the ration shop etc? In addition, the problem in targeted welfare schemes is of eligibility and not of identity. The varying numbers of BPL families in the country is not a problem of inability to identify the uniqueness of an individual but of his/her eligibility based on different criteria such as income, nutrition (calories), other wellness indicators.
Again enrollment into the UID scheme is not mandatory, but demand-driven. So if an organization mandates UID before providing their services then, the burden of enrollment will be on the organization as opposed to the beneficiary. Lastly, the estimated cost of each card is Rs. 20-25, which should not be taken from the outlays of social security schemes without clear explanation of consequent benefit in service delivery.
The developed countries like US, UK etc, as they couldn't respond to public concerns about misuse, have effectively put aside the consideration of similar schemes for those countries. Now if developed countries cannot tackle the problem of misuse, then how can India, where not even the issue of Election ID cards without misspelling the name and adress cannot be gauranteed claim that this huge scheme can be implemented without flaws effectively?
The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) headed by Nandan Nilekani, was established aiming not only national security but also with an objective to help the poor to access the benefits of various government schemes with greater ease. If implemented properly this is undoubtedly going to be a revolutionary step that can have huge benefits and impact on public services and also on making the poor more inclusive in what is happening in India today.
But the question is the feasibility of implementation of this project which has a guess estimate of 1.5 lakh crore (according to Frontline magazine), in a developing country like India, where one fourth of the population live below poverty line and over 80 percentage of the population live under Rs.20 a day (Arjun Sen Gupta Committee report). There is no doubt that the unique identification number could play some role in targeting benefits better at people who deserve it, but in India the prime need is education, health and sanitation (40% of the children in India are chronically malnutritioned and 700 million Indians do not have proper sanitation facilities). When such a situation persists, surely this money could be better used.
London School of Ecnomics (LSE) did a study for the implementation of a similar project in Britain and concluded that the technology envisioned for this program is highly untested and unreliable and that similar projects when implemented even in small scales have encountered serious technological and operational problems and this is defenitely going to get amplified when implemented in national level. So there is no guarantee that the system is secure or that it cannot be hacked or misused.
The concept of UID came up with an anti-terror agenda , but there is need to safeguard against potential harassment of undocumented individuals, especially poor migrants and there is no provision for this in the scheme. And regarding its potential benefits in public service schemes, the service delivery in rural communities is hampered less by the inability of resident to prove identity (population size is small; everyone knows each other) than by defalcation and corruption. Two of the biggest government outlays for social security are NREGA and PDS. In NREGA, there are two avenues for misappropriation are labour (fake names, over/understated days worked) and material (overstated amounts, fake bills). UID will not address the latter and will address the former only if the worker physically clocked in/out using automated biometric readers, and if money could be taken out of bank accounts only after positive biometric proof. The simplest fingerprint readers cost $50 (Rs. 2000) and it’s financially unviable to put one in each of the 600,000 villages in India (or even ~300,000 Panchayats). Again these finger-print readers are not totally fool-proof.
Likewise in PDS, eliminating defalcation using UID will require positive biometric proof before grain disbursement otherwise what is to stop the FPO from making fake entries, or not opening the ration shop etc? In addition, the problem in targeted welfare schemes is of eligibility and not of identity. The varying numbers of BPL families in the country is not a problem of inability to identify the uniqueness of an individual but of his/her eligibility based on different criteria such as income, nutrition (calories), other wellness indicators.
Again enrollment into the UID scheme is not mandatory, but demand-driven. So if an organization mandates UID before providing their services then, the burden of enrollment will be on the organization as opposed to the beneficiary. Lastly, the estimated cost of each card is Rs. 20-25, which should not be taken from the outlays of social security schemes without clear explanation of consequent benefit in service delivery.
The developed countries like US, UK etc, as they couldn't respond to public concerns about misuse, have effectively put aside the consideration of similar schemes for those countries. Now if developed countries cannot tackle the problem of misuse, then how can India, where not even the issue of Election ID cards without misspelling the name and adress cannot be gauranteed claim that this huge scheme can be implemented without flaws effectively?
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