Some clarifications on Aadhaar were warranted but Mamata's intervention was comical
The Supreme Court, we are taught right from school, is the last word. When it comes to privacy, the Supreme Court has laid down the law but on the government's Aadhaar scheme, thought up by Nandan Nilekani under the previous UPA Government and adopted wholeheartedly by the Narendra Modi administration, the apex court needs to take a decision one way or another. The backers of Aadhaar claim that it plugs gaps and leakages in the system. India is still an extremely poor country and despite hundreds of social schemes, more often than not, those who need help most do not receive it. Aadhaar, it is argued, as a way of identifying every single one of India's bonafide citizens and help plan social sector schemes better has met with some success. It has allowed the Government to roll out the fairly successful Ujjwala scheme, for example. As the amount of data held becomes more reliable, the Government will also be able to better plan schemes and programmes while simultaneously making them more cost efficient. There are two major problems around Aadhaar, though. The first is, of course, that many believe the Government has no business looking into our business. This would be a very valid complaint in a nation where tax compliance was high; unfortunately, it is not. Another problem with Aadhaar is that some believe that because it is being implemented by the current regime it must be opposed, a reflection of their antipathy to Narendra Modi overwhelming their common sense. Please step up, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, an exemplar of this mindset. For someone who screams from the rooftops that Modi is destroying the federal structure of India, it was entirely appropriate that she had to be schooled by the Supreme Court on how federalism works. Mamata's madcap ambitions to become a national leader have seen her jumping on to every perceived anti-BJP platform available. Maybe she should read former President Pranab Mukherjee's book and work out for herself why if even he, with his much greater stature and undeniable gravitas, couldn't be Prime Minister, why she is definitely not cut out for national politics of the serious kind.
Of course, the privacy debate has brought up the issue of data security and there are valid doubts on whether the Government and its agencies, regardless of political hue, can manage the data of 1.25 billion Indians safely. On that front, the Government's reassurances have not been sufficient. At the same time, flaws in the Aadhaar system are apparent, especially when agents have filled incorrect data. That said, the insistence on Aadhaar information for farm loan waivers in Maharashtra did its job as fraudulent entries were caught early. This is what Aadhaar was designed for, to catch social sector fraud. Those against Aadhaar, for obvious reasons, play up a death in a distressed area and claim a person died because s/he did not get rations due to a lack of Aadhaar card, and then quickly link it to the purported inadequacies of the system. And then the truth comes out and the protesters slink back into dark places from where they have emerged. The fact is that Aadhaar has its flaws. The Government must listen to the concerns of stakeholders and address those flaws. But, equally, the fact also is that without Aadhaar, India is doomed to another few lost decades.