.@SakinaDH begins the first session on NREGA with notes on "Aadhaar in Digital Payments"
Now at the #AadhaarTribunal : a brief explanation not how DBTs function with aadhaar.
There is no mechanism to even address or find out what went wrong or how we can fix it. People faced problems in the system are clueless and have nowhere to go.
@james_herenj describes how he tried to find out more about the phenomenon of an “inactive” #Aadhaar
First we asked @UIDAI then we were sent to Rural Dept. Jharkhand, then to Ministry of rural development, the NPCI, nobody had an answer until one officer in NPCI said it means the bank account was de linked from the UID. How can a worker deal with this? #AadhaarTribunal
On the ground, till date nobody knows what to do with an inactive aadhaar. It continues to remain elusive. @rajendran_naray presents the real story of Kanku Devi from Rajasthan who didn’t get her #NREGA wages because of inactive #Aadhaar
.@rajendran_naray talks about the case of same names and what happens when Aadhaar complicates problems of PMAY and CSP.
The people are then made to run from pillar to post to look for an answer.
The wages of one woman went to the account of a different woman with the same name. When they complained bank officials called them and threatened them. One said - the fingerprint is mine your machine says I am the right person but when your system fails it is my fault
The fault lay with the bank but it got off scot free of liability. People are playthings of a technological system that repeatedly fails. This is a chance case that we were able to find and follow up. We don’t even know how many actually occur. #AadhaarTribunal#AadhaarFail
@rajendran_naray key structural issues: 1. passing the baton of responsibility 2. Do we even need this system: fancy algorithms that destroy rights or systems that enable and support rights? 3. workers participate but have no say in the data, how it is used and disseminated
3. The trinity of the state, data, and citizen - if you aren’t in the system you don’t exist 4. There is an inordinate focus on leakages when the core issue is inclusion #AadhaarTribunal
.@rajendran_naray ends with the note that the core issue is of the unholy trinity of the State, the civilians and the Computer.
Reiterates the need to reclaim "efficiency" and understand possibilities of "social efficiency"
Advocates for Know Your Rights (KYR) instead of KYC.
.@rajendran_naray issues a very urgent reminder that if Aadhaar has had such devastating implications, there is every reason for all of us to strongly oppose NPR.
@rajendran_naray quotes @kentarotoyama author of the Greek Heresy - it’s not that technocratic ideas in general are bad but rather it is cultism and imbalance. New vaccines are good but not while health care systems go unfunded.. #AadhaarTribunal#Aadhaar
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As states suffer rising COVID-19 cases, the public distribution system is a lifeline for many who will be rendered food insecure. Aadhaar linkage increases the risk of transmission, and is a massive source of exclusion. This needs to go! A short thread:
1. Exclusion: In Kenjala village, Kombaru GP, Kadaba taluk: In the middle of a lockdown, people who made it to the PDS shop could not get rice - no mobile network. "staff had to move to the nearest hillock, searching for a proper.. network". daijiworld.com/news/newsDispl…
This is the tip of the iceberg. Reminder that a 2019 Lokniti-CSDS survey found between 28% to 40% persons (in the Hindi belt) had been denied foodgrains because of Aadhaar-related failures. indianexpress.com/article/explai…
Link to sign a statement demanding that government ensures equitable access to vaccines and medical resources to survive the pandemic blocksurvey.io/survey/1PfQfn6… statement is attached
Demands
-Increase access to vaccinations
-Ensure no barriers, including mandating Aadhaar, for access to diagnostics, hospital beds, oxygen cylinders, medication or other treatments
-Protect peoples’ rights over their data
-Permit vaccination for all without ID/residence proof
This is a difficult time for all of us. As we write we have relatives & friends searching for hospitals, medicines & oxygen, isolating at home, and more being infected with the COVID-19 virus daily. Many of us are caring for those who are ill or need other support.
Today, two years ago, on September 26, 2018, the Supreme Court of India passed the landmark judgement that decided the fate of the #Aadhaar project in India.
Link: indiankanoon.org/doc/116396036/
The Court’s failure to find the #Aadhaar project unconstitutional was widely criticised for not addressing the problems of social exclusion and destruction fundamental rights.
Link: epw.in/engage/article…
1/n Rethink Aadhaar & Article 21 Trust anchored a session on Surveillance & Technology at the Janta Parliament on 18 August 2020. More than 100 people attended & voted. Thread - Highlights from the session illustrated by @kruttikasusarlarethinkaadhaar.in/blog/2020/8/24…
2/n @PaliSamuel presided over the session and highlighted “mass ostracization and harassment” faced by those who had their personal information on health status, travel history released in the public domain. Key guiding question: where is “trust” between people & the Govt.
3/n Keynote address by Usha Ramanathan - similarities between the exploitation of natural resources & collection of data. Must be more transparency on the relationship between state & corporate entities on data extractive practices with minimum regulatory oversight
#JantaParliament thread with live tweets. @PaliSamuel introduces the 6th session on technology and surveillance - there is a need to ask who are excluded from their constitutional rights by technological solutions/interventions?
The people of Jammu&Kashmir have been denied internet access, migrant labourers asked to book trains online, rights bearing citizens reduced to data subjects #JantaParliament
Constitutional rights that form the architecture of governance must be present at the stage of design of technology (before even implemented or conceptualised) #JantaParliament
Join us tmrw at #JantaParliament for a session on Technology, Exclusion & Surveillance from 3pm to 6pm. Hear 20 speakers critically appraise govt policy on technology, exclusion & surveillance. Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Visvam will attend, Usha Ramanathan will give the keynote address