PRESS INVITE:Press Conference on “Are Aadhaar like biometric identification projects in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan legitimate?”

PRESS INVITE:Press Conference on “Are Aadhaar like biometric identification projects in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan legitimate?”

PRESS INVITE  

Press Conference on “Are Aadhaar like biometric identification projects in India, Nepal, Bangladesh and Pakistan legitimate?”

Date: Wednesday, 30^th March, 2016

Time: 3.30 PM

Venue: The Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia

AB-19, Mathura Road, New Delhi: 110001

Tel: 91-11-23388535, 91-11-23385518 

Speakers:  Mr P D T Achary, former Secretary General, Lok Sabha     

Dr Usha Ramanathan, noted jurist

Kavita Krishnan, Secretary, All India Progressive Women Association (AIPWA)

Dr. M Vijayanunni, former Registrar General and Census Commissioner (TBC)

Col. Mathew Thomas, former Defence Scientist (TBC)

Dr Gopal Krishna, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL)

and other eminent citizens and representatives from neighboring countries 

Now that Aadhaar Act, 2016 has been notified in the Gazette after it received the President’s assent, the press conference is aimed at examining the constitutionality and legitimacy of such initiatives in a global and South Asian context. Supreme Court of India is seized with the matter. Election Commission of India has refused to link Aadhaar with Voter ID in compliance with Court’s order. Governments of India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal appear to have been compelled to adopt biometric identification for its residents ignoring the fact that countries like UK, USA, China, Australia, and France have scrapped either their identity projects or indiscriminate use of biometrics. But the same has been bulldozed in India, Bangladesh, Pakistan and Nepal. In the aftermath of disclosures by Wikileaks, Edward Snowden, Grec Greenwald and Citizen Four and access of a locked iPhone, it is evident that illegitimate advances of transnational entities are being legalized. Mass surveillance is harming democracy. It is silencing minorities of all ilks.  

Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) has been working on the issue of biometric identification and related issues since 2010. It had submitted testimony before India's Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance that examined the Aadhaar Bill, 2010 that was meant to legitimize Unique Identification Authority (UIDAI) of India.

To discuss this and allied issues we cordially invite you to join us onWednesday, 30^th March, 3.30 pm at Foreign Correspondents’ Club of South Asia.

For Details: Gopal Krishna, Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), Mb: 09818089660, 08227816731, E-mail-1715krishna@gmail.com, Ramesh, Indian Social Action Forum, Mb: 9818111562 Email: rameshinsaf@gmail.com