• Latest
  • Trending
India’s grand data system: a greater disaster than Facebook?

India’s grand data system: a greater disaster than Facebook?

April 23, 2018
China: Defense budget to grow by 6.8 % to maintain upgrades

China: Defense budget to grow by 6.8 % to maintain upgrades

March 6, 2021
Pakistan PM: Will sit on opposition benches if loses confidence vote

Pakistan PM: Will sit on opposition benches if loses confidence vote

March 5, 2021
Pakistan: Maryam Nawaz prevails in elections

Pakistan: Maryam Nawaz prevails in elections

March 5, 2021
Putin May Have Triggered an Attempted Coup in Armenia

Putin May Have Triggered an Attempted Coup in Armenia

March 1, 2021
Karma the Hollywood curse

Karma the Hollywood curse

March 1, 2021
Hyatt Hotels responds to calls for boycotts over hosting CPAC

Hyatt Hotels responds to calls for boycotts over hosting CPAC

March 1, 2021
Explosion strikes Israeli ship in Mideast raises tension

Explosion strikes Israeli ship in Mideast raises tension

February 28, 2021
Can Asia help Myanmar find a way out of coup crisis?

Can Asia help Myanmar find a way out of coup crisis?

February 28, 2021
Athens Travel destination post Covid

Athens Travel destination post Covid

February 27, 2021
Enforcing Regulations for Forest Risk Commodities

Enforcing Regulations for Forest Risk Commodities

February 27, 2021
Police Scotland offered oil rig to train for protest-plagued North Sea

Police Scotland offered oil rig to train for protest-plagued North Sea

February 27, 2021
Young car enthusiasts spend $7.2 billion a year customizing vehicles

Young car enthusiasts spend $7.2 billion a year customizing vehicles

February 20, 2021
citizendaily
  • Asia News
    • Northeast Asia
      • China
      • Japan
    • North Korea
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
    • South Asia
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Pakistan
    • Southeast Asia
      • Indonesia
      • Malaysia
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
  • World News
    • Africa
    • Europe
      • Germany
      • United Kingdom
    • Latin America
      • Cuba
      • Mexico
    • Middle East
      • Gulf States
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Syria
    • North America
      • Canada
      • United States
    • Russian Federation
  • Economy
    • Brexit
    • Free Market
  • Politics
    • ASEAN
    • Diplomacy
    • ISIS
    • National Defence & Security
  • Editorial
  • Environment
    • Climate Change
    • Forests
    • Water & Oceans
    • Wildlife & Endangered Species
  • Lifestyle
    • Books & Literature
    • Entertainment
    • Food & Dining
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Tech
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
Tuesday, March 9, 2021
  • Asia News
    • Northeast Asia
      • China
      • Japan
    • North Korea
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
    • South Asia
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Pakistan
    • Southeast Asia
      • Indonesia
      • Malaysia
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
  • World News
    • Africa
    • Europe
      • Germany
      • United Kingdom
    • Latin America
      • Cuba
      • Mexico
    • Middle East
      • Gulf States
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Syria
    • North America
      • Canada
      • United States
    • Russian Federation
  • Economy
    • Brexit
    • Free Market
  • Politics
    • ASEAN
    • Diplomacy
    • ISIS
    • National Defence & Security
  • Editorial
  • Environment
    • Climate Change
    • Forests
    • Water & Oceans
    • Wildlife & Endangered Species
  • Lifestyle
    • Books & Literature
    • Entertainment
    • Food & Dining
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Tech
  • Sports
No Result
View All Result
citizendaily
No Result
View All Result

India’s grand data system: a greater disaster than Facebook?

April 23, 2018
in Asia News, Featured, India, South Asia
0
Home Asia News
Post Views: 381

 

India has no coltan or rare earths, little oil, and not enough water. What it does have is people – 1.3 billion and counting. That makes India potentially very rich in what has been called the “new oil”: data. But who will benefit from that wealth, and who might be put at risk?

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi undoubtedly likes collecting data. Since becoming prime minister in 2014, he has led an enthusiastic campaign to expand digital governance, hailing its efficiency and extolling its capacity to transform the country.

Biometric devices are now used to track the attendance of students and teachers in schools, and of government employees at work. Following his disastrous demonetization scheme in 2016, Modi has urged Indians to make digital, not cash, payments, even for small transactions.

RelatedPosts

India needs prudent Opposition response to Modi’s China policy

Shinzo Abe has made Japan a leader again

China-India border dispute may force South Asian neighbours to pick a side

Countries unite against Beijing’s ‘bully tactics’

Google to offer loans to merchants in India

More ambitiously, Modi’s government has expanded the reach and scope of India’s scheme to issue to all residents a “unique identification number,” or Aadhaar, linked to their biometrics. The primary goal of the program – initiated in 2009 by the previous Congress party-led government – was originally to manage government benefits and eliminate “ghost beneficiaries” of public subsidies, thereby preventing the pilfering of state funds.

When the Aadhaar scheme was introduced, Modi – then the chief minister of Gujarat – vociferously opposed it, pledging to scrap the project if his Bharatiya Janata Party came to power. As prime minister, however, Modi has embraced the program, ordering that the identification numbers be linked to virtually everything. Bank accounts, school enrolment, mobile-phone contracts, travel records, hospital admissions, and even cremation certificates now all require an Aadhaar, despite Modi’s assurances to the Supreme Court that participation in the program would not become mandatory.

Political hegemony is PM’s goal

Modi’s objectives extend far beyond efficiency. He has unabashedly declared that data is “real wealth,” and that “whoever acquires and controls” it can attain “hegemony.” And political hegemony is Modi’s goal. He has spent the last four years centralizing and consolidating power, and his BJP has gained control of 22 of 29 states, complementing its lower-house majority with a likely majority in the upper house (which is elected by state assemblies).

But Modi’s apparent vision of India as a country where Big Government meets Big Data has hit many snags. Machines meant to authenticate Aadhaar holders have often failed, particularly in rural parts of the country, owing to a lack of Internet connectivity or electricity. As a result, far from helping the poor, the Aadhaar scheme has prevented many poor people from claiming their Public Distribution System (ration) supplies – a violation of their rights.

Making matters worse, the Aadhaar program leaks like a sieve. An investigative journalist at The Tribune newspaper was able to purchase five million ID numbers for a mere 500 rupees ($8). On a government oil and gas company’s website, anyone with basic technical skills could uncover the names, bank details, and Aadhaar numbers of more than 500 million Indians. Nearly 16 million Aadhaar numbers were accidentally exposed by the Ministry of Rural Development. And the details of another 20 million people in the southern state of Andhra Pradesh were revealed on a database of unorganized workers.

Denial, complacency, concealment

Overall, the Aadhaar program leaves participants far more compromised than even, say, the 87 million Facebook users whose personal data were wrongly shared with the political consulting firm Cambridge Analytica. Yet, in response to such revelations, Modi’s government has offered only denial, complacency, and concealment.

This failure to protect data seems to be a pattern with Modi. In 2015, he invited his supporters “to receive messages and emails directly from the prime minister” by downloading and installing the “Narendra Modi mobile app” on their phones. “No intermediaries, no media, no officials, no red tape,” he promised. The Android version of that app was downloaded more than five million times.

But there was a catch: the data to which Modi’s followers gave the app access – including their photographs, contact lists, and GPS data, as well as their microphones and cameras – were shared with a US firm. The app’s users did not know that this would happen, let alone consent to it, as it wasn’t included even in the fine print. And while the app’s privacy policy has since been changed, that US firm retains the previously acquired data, which it could use for commercial purposes today and for who knows what else tomorrow.

The challenges associated with collecting and protecting data will only intensify in the years to come. It is estimated that 90% of the world’s data have been generated in the last two years alone. In India, that percentage may be even higher, as increasingly ubiquitous 4G services and increasingly cheap Internet-enabled smartphones have recently enabled millions to get online – and offer up significant amounts of personal information.

India will be the land of Big Data. The question is whether it will also be the land of the Big Leak. So far, the country lacks strong data privacy and protection laws. My own attempt to introduce one in a private member’s bill was repeatedly thwarted by parliament-stalling disruptions. To protect the people who are generating all of that data wealth that Modi so covets, he must follow through on his campaign promise to deliver “minimum government, maximum governance.”

Shashi Tharoor, a former UN under-secretary-general and former Indian Minister of State for External Affairs and Minister of State for Human Resource Development, is currently Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on External Affairs and an MP for the Indian National Congress.

Source :
Asia Times
Tags: grand data systemindia
Previous Post

Survivors of Syria gas attack saved evidence for inspectors

Next Post

Go-Jek planning Philippine expansion: Regulator

Related Posts

China: Defense budget to grow by 6.8 % to maintain upgrades
Afghanistan

China: Defense budget to grow by 6.8 % to maintain upgrades

March 6, 2021
Pakistan PM: Will sit on opposition benches if loses confidence vote
ASEAN

Pakistan PM: Will sit on opposition benches if loses confidence vote

March 5, 2021
Pakistan: Maryam Nawaz prevails in elections
ASEAN

Pakistan: Maryam Nawaz prevails in elections

March 5, 2021
Putin May Have Triggered an Attempted Coup in Armenia
Bilateral

Putin May Have Triggered an Attempted Coup in Armenia

March 1, 2021
Hyatt Hotels responds to calls for boycotts over hosting CPAC
Asia News

Hyatt Hotels responds to calls for boycotts over hosting CPAC

March 1, 2021
Explosion strikes Israeli ship in Mideast raises tension
Asia News

Explosion strikes Israeli ship in Mideast raises tension

February 28, 2021
Next Post
Go-Jek planning Philippine expansion: Regulator

Go-Jek planning Philippine expansion: Regulator

Translate

Subscription

Popular Post

China: Defense budget to grow by 6.8 % to maintain upgrades
Afghanistan

China: Defense budget to grow by 6.8 % to maintain upgrades

March 6, 2021
0

  Beijing (5/3 - 20).           Despite high government debt and the negative impact of the COVID-19...

Read more

NGOs call for mass boycott of palm oil giant IOI

June 29, 2016
No peace for Greenpeace

No peace for Greenpeace

July 1, 2016

The Case Against Greenpeace

July 1, 2016
Children in ISIS Nusantara Media Outreach

Children in ISIS Nusantara Media Outreach

July 2, 2016
  • About Us
  • Creative Commons
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms & Conditions
  • Disclaimer
  • Contact Us

Topics

Follow Us

About Us

citizendaily.news is part of the citizen Daily Media Group LLC, which delivers daily news around the globe. ​

© 2012 The Citizen Daily

No Result
View All Result
  • Asia News
    • Northeast Asia
      • China
      • Japan
    • North Korea
    • Oceania
      • Australia
      • New Zealand
    • South Asia
      • Afghanistan
      • Bangladesh
      • India
      • Pakistan
    • Southeast Asia
      • Indonesia
      • Malaysia
      • Philippines
      • Singapore
      • Thailand
  • World News
    • Africa
    • Europe
      • Germany
      • United Kingdom
    • Latin America
      • Cuba
      • Mexico
    • Middle East
      • Gulf States
      • Iran
      • Iraq
      • Saudi Arabia
      • Syria
    • North America
      • Canada
      • United States
    • Russian Federation
  • Economy
    • Brexit
    • Free Market
  • Politics
    • ASEAN
    • Diplomacy
    • ISIS
    • National Defence & Security
  • Editorial
  • Environment
    • Climate Change
    • Forests
    • Water & Oceans
    • Wildlife & Endangered Species
  • Lifestyle
    • Books & Literature
    • Entertainment
    • Food & Dining
    • Religion
    • Travel
    • Tech
  • Sports

© 2012 The Citizen Daily