Aadhaar data not an atom bomb, remove fear: UIDAI to SC
New Delhi, April 17: The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) on Tuesday told the Supreme Court that the collection of biometric and demographic information under Aadhaar was not an atomic bomb as it sought to dismiss the hyper phobia the unique identity card's critics have created around it.
"Collection of information under Aadhaar is not an atomic bomb. Please remove the fear and phobia created by the petitioners (opposing it). There is no question of leaking or sharing of information," the UIDAI told a five-judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra.
Buttressing the point, senior counsel Rakesh Dwivedi appearing for the UIDAI told the bench, also comprising Justice A.K. Sikri, Justice A.M. Khanwilkar, Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Ashok Bhushan, that the UIDAI has matching technology and not analysing technology which he described as learning algorithms.
Justice Chandrachud said: "The apprehension of the sharing of data is not symptomatic but real. The data available can be used to influence elections. We have seen this in past experience. Whether democracy can survive where data is used to influence the electoral outcome..."
Having adverted to the apprehensions, Justice Chandrachud asked Dwivedi: "You must think of what are the nature of safeguards that can be introduced."
"We can't have a blinkered view of reality" because of your limitations, Justice Chandrachud said, since "we are going to lay down a law that will affect future generations."
"How the requesting entities will use the data is a matter of concern," said Justice Chandrachud pointing out to data being used for election, an apparent reference to the leak of data of a social media site during the US Presidential election.
The court said this as Dwivedi said that they have some limitation of technological knowledge coupled with a little bit of exaggeration and lamented the "Hyperbole being created by the petitioner".
He said the information being collected under Aadhaar is not genetic information or genetic data but for simple identification and authentication.
Describing Aadhaar as a simple device for identification and authentication, Dwivedi said: "We can't analyse the data. It can't be surreptitiously obtained by any one. A lot of thought has gone into making the design and architecture of Aadhaar."
Telling the court that there are forces working against Aadhaar and that search engine Google and smart card companies do not want it, Dwivedi tried to make light of the plea for an interim order citing authentication failure in six crore cases.
"We welcome the test of fire. Unless we do it we can't win the trust of the people," Dwivedi said pointing to challenges being thrown at the implementation of Aadhaar.
"What is the purpose of opening Aadhaar platform to private entities," Justice Chandrachud asked as Dwivedi told the bench that the entire funding of the project is from the consolidate fund of India.
Dwivedi said in all major fields like aviation, defence, infrastructure there was public-private partnership, assuring the court that all the private entities were under their control and are "bound by law".
The court was hearing a batch of petitions, including by former Karnataka High Court Judge K.S. Puttuswamy, Magsaysay awardee Shanta Sinha, feminist researcher Kalyani Sen Menon, social activists Aruna Roy, Nikhil De, Nachiket Udupa and others challenging the constitutional validity of the Aadhaar scheme on the touchstone of the fundamental right to privacy.
Dwivedi will continue his arguments on Wednesday.
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Rupee falls 5 paise to 90.23 against US dollar in early trade
Mumbai (PTI): The rupee depreciated 5 paise to 90.23 against the US dollar in early trade on Monday, driven by rising crude oil prices and an unabated outflow of foreign funds.
According to forex traders, a volatile geopolitical situation and concerns over further US tariffs on Indian exports fueled the selling of Indian stocks by foreign institutional investors, even as traders awaited cues from macroeconomic data to be released this week.
At the interbank foreign exchange, the rupee opened at 90.23 and stayed weaker by 5 paise from its previous closing level.
On Friday, the rupee fell 28 paise to close at 90.18 against the US dollar.
Meanwhile, the dollar index, which measures the strength of the greenback against a basket of six currencies, was trading 0.14 per cent lower at 98.75.
Brent crude, the global oil benchmark, was trading 0.13 per cent higher at USD 63.44 per barrel in futures trade.
On the domestic equity market front, the 30-share benchmark index Sensex declined 356.49 points or 0.43 per cent to 83,219.75, while the Nifty dipped 94.90 points or 0.37 per cent to 25,588.40.
Analysts said several factors like the development related to Venezuela, Iran and US President Donald Trump's possible move towards Greenland are influencing the sentiment worldwide.
Foreign institutional investors offloaded equities worth Rs 3,769.31 crore on Friday, according to exchange data.
The latest weekly data released by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) on Friday showed India's forex reserves dropped by USD 9.809 billion to USD 686.801 billion in the week to January 2. In the previous reporting week, the forex reserves had jumped by USD 3.293 billion to USD 696.61 billion.
