Biometrics means the study of biological data by means of statistical analysis. The biometric information of an individual are required to distinguish him from others.
So the Government of India has introduced Aadhaar card for everyone, which bears biometric information of the citizens. The data is quite personal and private. Every living being, whether a human or bird or amphibian, has biological information.
Every person has right to keep with personal identification which cannot be forced upon to produce or disclose. Recently, the Government of India had made it mandatory to produce Aadhaar card for getting cooking gas cylinders on monthly basis. The Government did it for proper distribution of gas and check irregularities.
In case of animals, the same biometric evidences are required to establish their identities in the wild and keep a database on them.
The paws of an animal are equal to feet of a man and the toes of an animal are also equal to finger impressions of a man. The impressions of these parts of a man or animal can definitely disclose their identity without going for a DNA test.
The palmistries make bio metric studies from natural graphical positions of life line, fate line, heart line etc from the palms and forecast the fortune of a person. The body languages are also included within the biometric studies of men and animals.
The police officers, while investigating a case, can very well know the height of culprits from biometric data. The sex differences can also be known from the pugmarks of animals specially the carnivores.
In respect of male animals, the pugmarks are always square, while the pugmarks of female animals are always rectangular. The front pugs are always bigger than hinds of the animals. The front toes are wide apart particularly of male tigers. The passing of urine and excreta and other symptoms during mating specify the biological needs of an animal. Frequent passing of urine by an animal means it is in need of sexual intercourse. There are also other body symbols of the animals and birds which tell whether they are in attack mood or not.
Now certain nationalised banks of India have made it mandatory to produce Aadhaar card for all kinds of transactions. This is to identify every customer, make right payment to right persons and check cheating and forgery which are now rampant in our society.
Similarly, crime detecting and controlling department including police, crime branch and other anti corruption bodies at the State and Union level have trained executives for accurate data collection on persons through biometric process, which helps them successfully detect crimes. The collection of biometric data and the characters of the persons concerned are a part of an investigation. Similarly, criminal procedures and evidence laws are to be suitably modified to match with the days.
The urination and the release of excreta by the culprits can provide a lot of evidences for detection of individuals to arrive at any conclusion. The smell of excreta and urine including the body of the animal can clearly clarify what animal it is and what activity it is involved in.
The biometric field character of each plant species can specify to which family and genre it belongs. The biometric evidences of plants can change according to variations in climatic conditions. If the biometric functions of animal world and plant communities are rightly recorded, it can help man tackle climatic disasters and other seasonal hazards that are taking place frequently.
The world observes March 29 as the World Earth Day to remove pollution from the earth and conserve energy. As the biological, social and economic pollutions are going on rampant throughout the world, especially in the developing countries; it is causing all types of climatic hazards. At the very beginning of the summer, the average temperature of the coastal province in Odisha has gone up to 42 degree Celsius and the rest part also is also sizzling under a burning sun.
This is symptom of man’s inept handling of environment and the mounting pollution level. Recently, an international team of scientists has manufactured synthetic chromosome, which carries out the genetic function of human as well as animal bodies.
(The writer is a former senior forest officer and an environmentalist)