Lindsay Pereira: House of (Aadhaar) cards

Aadhaar cards make for good public relations abroad PicPTII dont see what the latest fuss about the Aadhaar card is really Yes the governments recent rulings that make it mandatory for a person to possess a card are at odds with the Supreme Court ruling that citizens are not mandatorily required to but since when is something blatantly illegal an issue in our country A walk down any of our streets tends to reveal a few hundred instances of legal violations so why cant we simply accept another one and get on with our lives After all arent we all introduced to illegality and corruption at an early ageA number of news organisations have reported biometric data breashycshyhes and raised concerns related to the illegal storage of this data but I dont see this as a problem either Yes if this were to happen in another country any breach or abnormal activity would have to be revealed to the victims of what would essentially be treated as a crimeOur Aadhaar regulations dont make such revelations mandatory though which should be welcome news It means we dont have to lose any sleep about our personal data being misused If we dont know its being misused or being sold for that matter it shouldnt bother us Ignorance is bliss after all which is why so many of our politicians are always photographed with smiles on their facesI think people going on and on about how this is illegal are missing the point This is simply about our government wanting to get to know us better Cynics may point out that it has not taken the trouble of getting to know us since it took over from the British over six decades ago but why should we hold that little fact against it If the government wants to know what we are doing what we eat where we eat it what we watch on television who we are sleeping with and how much we are spending on contraceptives why shouldnt it have access to this information Hasnt history taught us that governments with total and absolute control always make life extremely pleasant for the people they governLook at what the government says it wants to use our biometric data for anyway It wants to tackle rural poverty illegal immigration and national security which is great because it has had only around seven decades to attempt this A card could solve all these problems It may not solve deeprooted issues like corruption for which we are celebrated across Asia but everyone knows being corrupt is part of our DNAThe card may not actually solve the problem of why the poor never actually get what they are supposed to receive either but it makes for good public relations abroad so we should support thisFor proof that cards work really well we can always consider the PAN So many of us believed in it so strongly for a few years because as our government told us it would eliminate corruption and ensure that everyone paid their taxes the way they were supposed to We are now told that there are thousands of fake PAN cards floating around but that shouldnt take away from the fact that the card actually worked for a few months or soI also think we take something as mundane as security far more seriously than we ought to Sceptics may scoff and accuse the government of using this data for surveillance purposes but when was the last time the government managed surveillance of any sort with any degree of efficiency These fears are obviously unfounded Also realtime surveillance of any individual may be a massive attack against our right to privacy which is enshrined in the Constitution but we have already forfeited the right to say what we want eat what we want and watch what we want to So why harp on the loss of another rightLastly I should point out that supporting the government is our duty We should accept everything it tells us and ask no questions People who ask questions are suspicious and there is no room for suspicion in modern India To ask questions is to betray a lack of respect for the government which is allpowerful and allknowing and which works tirelessly to ensure that we have a few good roads and one or two public toilets To ask questions is to be an antinational We all know that the only place for such people is PakistanWhen he isnt ranting about all things Mumbai Lindsay Pereira can be almost sweet He tweets lindsaypereira Send your feedback to mailbagmiddaycom