Does Indian Ministers Mean What They Say?

India is an interesting place to live in. It has rich culture and nice people. But when it comes to its politicians one has no choice but to bang his head against the wall. No where in the world can we have greater double standards then the one adopted by Indian politicians. Take few examples in this regard.

Minister A. Raja has shown his willingness to amend the sole cyber law of India to make it strong. Surprisingly, the information technology act 2000 (IT Act 2000) was made impotent and cyber criminal friendly during his tenure only. He did nothing to stop the information technology amendment act 2008 (IT Act 2008) that not only made India a safe heaven for cyber criminals but also made Indian an official e-police state.

Minister P. Chidambaram has recently assured that they believe in protection of privacy of Indians at all costs. Somebody must remind him of the recent episode where the Natgrid was stalled due to lack of safeguards to protect privacy of India. On top of it is the recent telephone tapping episode that is neither the first one nor the last one.

Minister Sachin Pilot has recently assured that security agencies are looking into the matter of recent hacking reports of Indian computer systems by China. The fact remains that cyber security in India is an ignored world. The only cyber security centre that India has is managed by a private techno-legal firm Perry4Law.

Finally, the aadhar project of India has been portrayed as a great service to poor and Indian masses. However, the fallacies and shortcomings of aadhar project of India is nothing short of unconstitutionality and illegality. Thanks to the Aadhar Project Watch Initiative, the UIDAI has at least a chance to rectify the blunders it is committing.

The list is simply illustrative and it can go on and on. All I can say is that strange things do happen in India and public never take notice of the same.

SOURCE: CIO

The Irregularities Of Aadhar Project Of India

By
Ram K Kaushik

The UID project of India was started by the government of India with great disregard to the parliamentary democracy and constitution of India. Objecting to the same Praveen Dalal launched the Aadhar watch initiative of India that has been analysing the grey areas of aadhar project of India.

Although others have also joined in this fight of illegal functioning of aadhar project of India yet the aadhar watch initiative is different from those protests.

Firstly, it is not against the very concept of aadhar project of India. All it is doing is analysing the lacunas from which the aadhar project is suffering and is expecting that the government of India in general and UIDAI in particular would rectify the irregularities of the aadhar project before proceeding further.

Secondly, it is also the exclusive initiative of India that is analysing both micro and macro aspect of aadhar project in the most holistic manner. Surprisingly, Mr. Nandan Nilekani has still not though it fit to consider the serious ramifications mentioned at this initiative. He has not yet understood that the objections mentioned at the platform would arise in any case and may stall the aadhar project just like the Natgrid project.

It would be a good idea to consider the suggestions of Praveen Dalal for various techno-legal aspects of aadhar project. After all if the very foundation of aadhar project is based upon irregularities, it is bound to face difficulties in future. The starting point should be to remove various deficiencies and than proceed further, suggests Praveen Dalal.

SOURCE: CIO

EVMs Of India Can Be Fraudulently Used

By
V.K.Singh

The possibility of hacking and abuses of Electronic Voting Machines (EVMs) in India was raised by many experts. However, the government of India, as usual, did not pay much heed to the same. It is agonising why Indian government always considers a crucial issue only when it is picked up by foreign researchers. Indian techno-legal experts like Praveen Dalal is also of the opinion that EVMs can be manipulated in India.

Now an interesting research has been conducted by some researchers that prove that EVMs can be hacked. They maintain that with some preparation anyone with even momentary access to paperless voting machines can own the country.

No doubt EVMs have revolutionised the Indian election process. EVMs have many advantages over the traditional paper based voting system. However, all the advantages are futile if they can be abused and the election results can be manipulated.

SOURCE: CIO