The U.S. State Department showed immense interest in the Unique Identification (UID) project being implemented by the Government of India and wanted to know details including “the name, model, and version of the biometric collection devices used for the ID.” The office of the Secretary of State, on December 17, 2009, sent a cable (240481: secret/noforn) under the name of Hillary Clinton asking the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi to find out the motivation behind the project and to collect as much information on it as possible.
The Government of India constituted the UID Authority of India (UIDAI) in January 2009 to provide all residents of India with a unique identification number and create a database containing biometric details, photographs and other information. A Cabinet Committee on UIDAI was formed on October 22, 2009.
‘Target' for extremists
The ostensible reason behind the interest in the U.S. was that the project “could present a vulnerable target for regional extremist groups — such as Lashkar e-Tayyiba — who could obtain fraudulent Indian ID cards during the large-scale enrolment for use in travel or as breeder documents to apply for passports.”
Hence, the State Department wanted to know what security features would be incorporated in the card, and anti-fraud measures adopted, and if any encryption method would be used. It wanted to know whether the standards would meet International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) norms.
The ICAO is a specialised agency of the United Nations with 190 contracting states, mandated to promote safe and efficient international air travel. It periodically recommends standards for aspects of air travel. Its recommendations have included machine readable travel documents with biometric enhancements.
Use in other sectors
It was clear from the cable that the U.S. interest in the UID project was not limited to anti-fraud measures. It was keen to know “what is India's strategic plan for utilizing biometric ID card technology in the military, law enforcement, and private sectors.” There was particular interest to know how the biometric card would be used at the borders, ports and airports, and whether it would be used to issue passports. The Embassy in Delhi was asked to find out the following: “Which foreign countries and/or corporations are assisting in the development of the ID card? Which biometric systems (i.e. fingerprints, facial recognition, iris scan, etc.) will be incorporated into the card? What systems, databases, or portals will the named biometric ID card collection devices in India communicate with?”
Specific instructions were given to Embassy officials to report on any efforts to ‘“spoof' or defeat biometric enrolment, such as fingerprint alteration.” The State Department impressed on them that their valuable inputs would be “incorporated into a strategic assessment for senior US policymakers on the regional implications in South Asia of the biometric ID program.”
(This article is a part of the series "The India Cables" based on the US diplomatic cables accessed by The Hindu via Wikileaks.)
Keywords: cable240481, U.S. State Department, The India Cables, cablegate, WikiLeaks, U.S. embassy cables, UIDAI, Unique Identification Number
Our political leaders and diplomats should not work as hired agent for any foreign country. It is our duty to protect our country's integrity ,nobody else is interested in it. Already our 'great' leaders showed us their loyalty in lot of arms deals and treaties .Those who are loyal to our homeland should raise their voice to such agency deals.
Its a worthy duty of indian government to protect the personal identies of its citizes. No foreign or diplomatic relations should hinder our internal security system, it must be carried on by our own government.
India should not submit any details about its citizens to any foreign state especially USA.It is the prime responsibility of the Indian govt to protect the privacy of citizens.Besides, we are ourselves able to look into various security matters and US must not be brought in.
Respected UID Board members & Mr. Nilekeni: In my view, a UID card one must carry FREELY at all times with him, so the best is to give a visible embossing prints like on Credit card, details only his UID No., Contact No.(other than his own) may be spouse or may be introducer, his photo and his signature. His name, address, and other information is not required on the card as India is a multi religion nation and these information on the card may lead to misutilisation, you understand like during riots etc. some people would not like to disclose their identity or at some other time a third party may misutilise the other informations. Besides this is issued in the interest of national security and of course all other informations could be easily obtain at any time from the central repository. This is like you have recorded each and every citizen or individual. Next if you can add the recording of all financial transactions, say above rupees one thousand, made by each individual, be his personal expense or a salary or a business transaction, I feel both the records of people and financial fraud / transaction can easily be under check and well controlled.
Please pressurise the authority to make it must carry card, mandatory and only for the Indian citizen and for foreigners, they always carry their passport, anyway. So no need to be confused.
Regarding UID no. it can be the first character of his given name, first character of his last name, three characters of his state of birth, eight characters of his date of birth i.e. DD MM YYYY and finally the 001, three digits serial numbers. All these 16 digits, you mast must have noticed quite easily remember-able, even by a most illitrate ones as he only has to remember the last three digits. Chances of duplication is again reduced by names, state, DOB and serial no.
Well sir, you must have designed in a better way, but please let me request you once again not to disclose MY ID and allow me to carry my card at all time or attach it to my financial transactions so that I have no choice but to carry it always with me.
Finger print is not sufficient unless eye scanner is to be installed. All transactions in cash to be made with providing unique identification. Must be scanned in all mode of travel. But defense details must not connected to online server directly to find alternate methods for safety
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