The line almost sounds like mockery now. Every time there is a story about a scam in connection with Aadhaar, the authorities insist that there has been no breach to the biometric database. When Airtel decided to open bank accounts and move subsidy money into them without asking people, when a journalist revealed that demographic data of any card was available for Rs 500, when fraudsters use Aadhaar one-time-passwords to steal money, the line is trotted out: The Unique Identification Authority of India confirms that there was no breach in the Aadhaar system.
The same script played out on Sunday when the Times of India reported on a massive case of pilferage in Uttar Pradesh, where authorities believe 2.2 lakh tonnes of wheat and sugar were stolen from the government across 43 districts. In a note shared on August 21, the state government reportedly said that Public Distribution System shop owners changed the Aadhaar number linked to a ration card in the electronic Point of Sale devices, and fed in new Aadhaar numbers instead. They then made withdrawals using the people to whom the new Aadhaar numbers belonged.
According to DNA, the story came to light when the Food Commissioner received a large number of complaints from ration cardholders saying they were not getting their benefits. Instead, the rations were going to those who had those other Aadhaar numbers, in some cases including people who did not have ration cards at all. According to authorities, 1.86 lakh fraudulent transactions took place all over Uttar Pradesh, with an inquiry still going on to determine the scale of the pilferage. To take one example, in Allahabad, just 107 Aadhaar cards were used 37,574 times to access rations. Once the fraud was carried out, the original Aadhaar number linked to that ration card was reinstated, to avoid detection.
Of course, the UIDAI has insisted there has been no breach of biometrics. But if criminals are able to steal money, open bank accounts, and pilfer rations without having to break into the UIDAI’s biometric database, what is the use of Aadhaar in the first place? Remember, this was a project built around the idea of plugging the leaks in India’s welfare distribution system. It was then expanded to become an all-encompassing identification document that also allowed for linked databases.
There is little proof Aadhaar technology has made the welfare system more efficient, and this massive pilferage makes it clear that it has not plugged leaks either. Instead, it has exacerbated exclusion and been misused to let people’s money be taken out of bank accounts. And while it has failed to improve welfare, the linking of databases and information generated by the project has made data leaks, surveillance and commercial profiling inevitable.
The Supreme Court is expected to soon deliver its judgment on a clutch of petitions challenging the constitutional validity of Aadhaar. But not everything is down to the court. Even if it finds that Aadhaar is constitutionally valid, incidents like this make it clear that the rationale for Aadhaar was flawed in the first place and that its very existence is potential hazard for the data, privacy and fundamental rights of Indian citizens.
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