India’s digital ID project could violate rights of millions

MUMBAI: India’s ambitious biometric identity project could lead to millions of people being denied access to essential services and benefits in violation of their human rights, campaigners said, ahead of key court hearings on the legitimacy of the programme.

India launched Aadhaar, now the world’s biggest biometric database, in 2009 to streamline welfare payments and cut wastage in public spending. The government has since made the card mandatory to access a range of services, including benefits such as state subsidies, pensions and scholarships. This “can obstruct access to several constitutional rights, including the rights of people to food, healthcare, education and social security,” said Aakar Patel, executive director at Amnesty International India. “The government has a legal and moral obligation to ensure that nobody is denied their rights simply because they don’t have an Aadhaar card,” he said in a joint statement with Human Rights Watch (HRW) at the weekend. Officials at the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which oversees the programme, did not respond to an e-mail seeking comment.