A JOURNAL OF THE PRESS INSTITUTE OF INDIA ISSN 0042-5303 January-March 2018 Volume 10 Issue 1 Rs 60 Fight against surveillance – is it a losing battle? CONTENTS • UP civic polls: how different It is not just Aadhaar (a 12-digit unique identity number issued interpretations queered the to all Indian residents based on their biometric and demographic pitch / Bharat Dogra data), demanding finger printing, iris records and now, facial • The dichotomy in Indian sensibility / Samatha profiling, along with other personal details. The issue goes Sharma deeper, whittling away citizens’ autonomy in ways small and not- • How not to educate our so-small, says Sakuntala Narasimhan, who is also worried about schoolchildren / S. Muthiah other manifestations of intrusion, large and small, into our daily • Why does sport get such routines, thanks to the introduction of technological sophistication low priority in the media? in the name of ‘progress’ Alok Srivastava • Why should a happy marriage be out of reach for n a recent chilly January morning, while I was busy in the kitchen preparing the disabled? / Rakhi Ghosh breakfast, my mobile phone rang in the living room. I hurried to take the • Skills training boosts Ocall as I was waiting for confirmation of a medical appointment. The caller confidence of women with said “I am D.K. Shivakumar” and went on to offer greetings for the New Year. disabilities / Aditi Panda Shivakumar is a minister in the Karnataka Government (and has been under • A press club initiative investigation by the Supreme Court in a land grabbing case and also had searches spreads health awareness / conducted by the Income Tax Department for alleged tax evasion). I do not know Nava Thakuria him. This was a “promotional” call, seeking political mileage (elections for the • There’s so much that state are approaching). I resented the unwanted intrusion into my routine. Gandhians teach us / Once upon a time, before sophisticated technology made such unsolicited/ Sakuntala Narasimhan unwanted calls possible, politicians had to trudge from door to door with folded • An editor who brought hands, seeking votes; now they can save their energy and make me scurry to take fairness, moderation, into their calls. Intrusive? You bet. I am not even sure if it is a recording that some play / Mrinal Chatterjee assistant or clerk is put in charge of, to be sent to thousands of citizens. For all • Baahubali transforms I know, it could be, without the minister having to exert himself. It could even dynamics on the silver screen / C.S.H.N. Murthy be a prankster calling up and pretending to be the minister. Either way, it is an • A man from Canada who unwanted call, interfering with my routine when I could be busy or resting. As a made India his home / senior citizen, I resent the intrusion even more. Shoma Chatterji On my mobile again, I get messages reminding -- and urging -- me to listen • The romance of watching to the prime minister’s monthly Mann ki Baath broadcast. Thousands/ lakhs of Casablanca / Partab such messages are obviously being sent – at whose expense? If it is a commercial Ramchand promotional call for selling some product, the law allows me to register under a • Remembering Ritwik Do Not Disturb registry (but even that works only partially – as I will describe Ghatak, Girija Devi, Shashi presently). Do politicians’ calls of this kind come under the DND law? Why not, Kapoor, Rita Henley Jensen (Continued on page 3) January-March 2018 VIDURA 1 From The ediTor No invasion of our privacy, please t’s been a while now since freedom and expression seem to journalist S. Muthiah turns the we have been talking about matter so much more than ever spotlight on several problems that IAadhaar. Wikipedia defines before. bedevil education in India. He Aadhaar as a 12-digit unique The Unique Identity Authority says the majority of students from identity number issued to all of India (UIDAI) stresses that state syllabus schools are found Indian residents based on their Aadhaar is an identification tool, unemployable by organisations biometric and demographic data. not a profiling one. However, the around the country. If we are to turn How hard we have had to toil to confusion in the common person’s out employable college graduates, get our Aadahar card! We know mind continues. To compound we have to produce better high that too well, don’t we? There are matters, there have been been school graduates, he says. This so many stories, it would take a reports in the media about how not means that the graduates have to book recounting. having an Aadhaaar card can affect be focused not only on Maths and Aadhaar has been spoken about your life. A pregnant woman in the Sciences (and Accountancy, so much in recent times that Oxford Jaunpur District in Uttar Pradesh, if from the Commerce stream) Dictionaries chose Aadhaar as the for instance, was forced to deliver a but must be all-round students as Hindi word of 2017. Supreme Court baby at the gate of a medical centre knowledgeable in the Humanities judge D.Y. Chandrachud said he after she was allegedly turned away as they are presumed to be in would better want to be known as by doctors for not having a bank Maths, Physics and Chemistry/ a “nationalist judge” rather than account or Aadhaar card, a report Biology. Also, English language for an “Aadhaar judge” (the judge was stated. A Times of India report said teachers as well as students must be irked when a senior lawyer, while many people living in various old an area of strong focus, whatever making submissions on behalf age homes across Uttar Pradesh had be the medium of instruction in the of one of the petitioners against been denied pension benefits in the school. Aadhaar, used the term “Aadhaar absence of Aadhaar cards. I received an article from a judges”). The latest step taken by UIDAI schoolteacher conveying the Aadhaar has been the subject to increase Aadhaar security is to message that there is so much more of several rulings by the Supreme introduce face recognition. The to life than competition and success Court of India. One of the early measure, which is likely to be in an examination. How true! Wish orders stated that “no person implemented by July this year, will more parents and teachers thought should suffer for not getting be used in ‘fusion’ with existing like her. What do students think Aadhaar”. The question arose modes such as fingerprints, iris about school education? whether Aadhaar was voluntary recognition and one-time password An essay competition was held or mandatory. The apex court said (OTP) used for authentication. in Chennai to get students to that the government could not Will this be enough to quell fears indicate their views on the present deny a service to a resident who of the ordinary citizen? We are all state of school education in Tamil did not possess Aadhaar, as it was happy to comply with rules and Nadu and provide suggestions for voluntary and not mandatory. requirements as long as our privacy improvement. An article here that Then arose more pertinent is not compromised in any manner. lists out the observations made questions – will the Aadhaar card Is there a way the government can by students makes for interesting affect the privacy of an individual, guarantee that? The Economic Times reading. will it intrude into our lives, says the privacy debate will be Here’s wishing all of you a Very compromise our privacy? Sakuntala settled once and for all and that 2018 Happy New Year! Narasimhan’s lead piece in this is likely to be “Aadhaar's breakout issue addresses these questions year”, whatever that means. Well, Sashi Nair (of not just Aadhaar) – about we can only wait and hope that all [email protected] harassment and our privacy being ends well. lost so easily to all and sundry. These questions are especially here is some focus on education important in today's context when Tin this issue. Veteran editor and 2 VIDURA January-March 2018 (Continued from page 1) Illustration: Arun Ramkumar Illustration: if they disturb me and I do not want under DND? Doesn’t forcing me to access the landline. Which may be them? Where does one draw the listen to the call, instead of cutting a good thing, for people dependent line, in demarking the boundaries the call as soon as I realise that it on commercial or work-related of ‘intrusion’? is a promotional message, make a contacts, but not for everybody. I have registered under DND, mockery of the DND facility? However, a mobile has become but when I complained about Which means I am at the mercy almost a compelling need today, receiving promotional calls from of unwanted callers – sellers, whether one likes it or not. Even for some company, I was told that politicians, promoters – whether I those who do not need one and feel under TRAI (Telecom Regulatory like it or not. Just because I own a it is an intrusion. No one is asking Authority of India) rules, my phone or Internet facility. Should why. complaint cannot be taken up technology help citizens to enjoy While the debate on the unless I describe the contents of the freedom from intrusion and safety of citizens’ biometric call received. Why should I spend enhance our autonomy, or victimise data under Aadhaar (and the time listening to the contents of an us? Do these come under ads -- constitutional validity of its being unwanted call from some unknown selling their party ideology, or made mandatory) is being hotly company trying to sell me something themselves as political candidates discussed in and out of the apex and note the gist down, when I am for forthcoming election – which is court, I am also worried about in the middle of my work? Why is it what they are? other manifestations of intrusion, not enough if I provide the number Mobile phones put citizens at the large and small, into our daily of the caller who got through in mercy of callers at all hours, not just routines, thanks to the introduction spite of my having registered when they are home and able to of technological sophistication January-March 2018 VIDURA 3 in the name of ‘progress’.