“The security concerns raised around Aadhaar are complete nonsense, figment of imagination and a deliberate attempt to create an alarmist talk”, Nandan Nilekani , former Chairman of UIDAI (#Aadhaar) in an interview to CNN-News18.
Excerpts :
• On Aadhaar being mandatory: In principle, Aadhaar is voluntary, however if the universe of beneficiaries are required to have Aadhaar to get benefit under a particular welfare scheme, it’s the decision of the organization implementing that scheme. The connotation that it’s mandatory sounds like coming from a ‘Khan market liberal’!
• On Aadhaar for welfare schemes: Any welfare scheme requiring Aadhaar needs to give adequate time to the people to get enrolled in Aadhaar. Nobody should be denied a benefit if they show an alternative identity in the interim.
• On necessity of using biometric: 10 finger prints and IRIS scan of both eyes, called the biometric, was absolutely necessary to establish uniqueness across a billion people. The only purpose of biometric is for authentication of Aadhaar and the biometric data cannot be shared.
• On security of Biometric Data – In reality, the purpose of Biometric is for de-duplication. The law is clear that the Biometric will only be stored and not shared. It is absolutely secured. Not even a single case of data theft has been reported in the last 7 years as there is a whole process by which data is stored and encrypted in a very secured way..