Even State Bank of India does not trust Aadhaar anymore

[Sushubh]

more than 99% of aadhaar enrollment was done using two existing ids.

Almost all the Aadhaar numbers issued till date - 99.97 per cent - have been issued to people who already had at least two existing identification documents

'Most Aadhar Cards Issued to Those Who Already Have IDs'

 

[Sushubh]

not to mention a lot of people including me applied for aadhaar using pan card. now they would disable the same pan card if i do not link the same aadhaar card to that pan card. so if i do not apply, that pan card can be cancelled. on the basis of which the aadhaar number was generated. so basically the aadhaar nullifies itself.

 

[VivekA]

I do appreciate the difficulties caused by aadhaar and the subsequent flip flops by the authorities, have suffered as much. Just can't understand one thing- if one is OK with SOME id, say PAN card then why such hostility towards aadhaar (keeping aside the inconveniences)? PAN card frauds are not uncommon and numerous people have multiple PAN cards to avoid taxes and launder money.

 

[Sushubh]

Because pan card has a purpose. and it's optional. just like Driving License. And Voter ID Card. And Passport.
Aadhaar was supposed to be for welfare. No one had any problem with it. If you wanted government welfare, get it. It had a purpose. And it was optional.

if pan card had issues, the solution was to fix pan card. not to introduce a card that used pan card as one of the identifying document. and then use aadhaar to verify that same pan card.

even if there are people who are using multiple pan cards. is the loss to country big enough to justify thousands of crores of rupees along with millions of man hours spent on the project? and would continue to be spent for eternity? wouldn't it be easier to focus on people who are laundering money and avoiding taxes? maybe start by not giving bailouts to people who are close to government?

 

[VivekA]

Agreed. PAN card could have been made the universal ID with whatever modifications required. But it is difficult to believe that its administration would not have suffered in the same way as aadhaar. Secondly, if PAN card was to become universal ID, then, by definition it wouldn't remain optional.

 

[Sushubh]

why do we even need a universal card? aadhaar is not replacing pan card or voter id card or ration card or passport or driving license? people/business would still need them. though they tried using even this angle to save aadhaar.

 

[Sushubh]

also do remember that aadhaar has nothing to do with nationality. foreigners can get it. NRIs can't. none of the data on the card is verified. courts have repeatedly said that it is not a valid proof of age or address. the only thing it prove is that you are the person whose fingerprints and iris scan were submitted at the time of enrollment. and that too only after proper biometric verification.

 

[VivekA]

We need a universal card primary to efficiently target governments services (subsidies and benefits) to eligible beneficiaries and reduce pilferage. It can also be conveniently and cheaply used to target private services as we have seen. Aadhaar is not replacing PAN card because of the ho-halla raised by various parties including money launderers, privacy activists and various vested interests. Had Aadhaar been allowed to continue and its various implementation flaws been addressed, it can well replace other IDs. After all, info about one's financial transactions gets linked to an individual because everything (banks, MFs, CCs, wallets etc.) are linked to the unique PAN number. Replacing PAN number with Aadhaar would link everything to aadhaar.

 

[dextermorgan]

^ this is good in theory but like in india, it isn't doing its intended purpose.

in few states, land deals are tied to adhaar number so you'd think with pan---adhaar--bank--account linking, there will be no corruption right? nope, everything is going on as usual.

 

[unAadhaarit]

Universal Id strikes at the core of democracy. In democracy the government and politician are to be monitored and answerable to the citizens. Not the other way round. But here the political parties can accept anonymous donations (could be kickbacks from deals like Rafale where even the anti corruption clauses and sovereign guarantees are waived) and citizens have to leave a digital trail of their income, expense, education, relations, ...(i.e. whole life). And Rajya Sabha was sidelined, the only reason to accept this is if Aadhaar is limited to Consolidated Funds of India related subsidies,etc. On paper, Aadhaar is voluntary but reality is different.
The only reason one has PAN is to file income tax returns and for other money related matters. If it is compromised then correct those flaws. Don't use an unverified universal ID based on PAN card to track citizens from womb to tomb. And all that data can lead to manipulation of the masses. If private companies do it for profits then imagine what power hungry politicians would do.
Why data, not privacy, is the real danger

But this sort of data is so powerful that it produces results far more powerful than traditional advertising. For instance, Facebook offers the chance to pay not just for a certain audience size, but an actual business outcome, like a sale, an app download, or a newsletter subscription. Once upon a time advertisers paid a “CPM” — cost per thousand views — for a marketing campaign.That was just the chance to get in front of people. Now Facebook offers a rate based on “CPA,” or “cost per action,” a once-unimaginable metric offered because the company is so confident in its understanding of people and their preferences that Facebook can essentially guarantee a certain number of people will do certain things.

Think of voting as the action.

"There’s an incredible concentration of power there. So much data, so much influence, makes them a target for something like Russian hackers. To influence an election, you used to have to hack hundreds of newspapers. Now there’s a single point of failure for democracy."