Why & Whose Aadhaar – Panel Discussion
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- Date
- Monday, August 1, 2016
- Venue
- Choksi Hall, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore
- Time
- 1800 hours
UIDAI is a central government agency of India. It issues a 12-digit unique identity number called Aadhaar to each resident. It is considered the world's largest national identification number project. As of March 2016, the original legislation to back UIDAI is still pending. However, on 3 March 2016, a new money bill was introduced in the Parliament for the purpose. On 11 March 2016, the Aadhaar Act, 2016, was passed in the Lok Sabha. Some civil liberty groups have opposed the project on privacy concerns. On 23 September 2013, the Supreme Court of India issued an interim order saying that "no person should suffer for not getting Aadhaar" as the government cannot deny a service to a resident if s/he does not possess Aadhaar, as it is voluntary and not mandatory.
Panelists
Colonel Mathew Thomas is a former defence officer and scientist. He pursued Post-Graduate in missile technology from Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He headed the missile manufacturing facility of DRDO from 1975 to 1982. He received the President's commendation for services to Defence Research. He then took voluntary retirement from board-level positions in companies, and retired as director of company. Additionally, he is a civic activist and founded the Bangalore-based NGO, Citizens' Action Forum.
Shiv Kumar Sethi did his B.Sc. followed by a M.Sc. and a Phd. in Physics at the University of Delhi. His thesis was on "Phase Transition in the Early Universe". He was then a Post-Doctorate fellow at the Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics, Pune, Institut'd Astrophysique de Paris, France, and a visiting fellow at Mehta Research Institute, Allahabad. Subsequently, he taught at the Harish Chandra Research Institute, Allahabad. He is presently Professor at the Raman Research Institute, Bangalore. He writes regularly on socio-political issues for the web magazine, Sanhati.