Ms Nirmala Seethaaraman- be Raksha Mantri not Kaamwaali Mantri

Attention: Ms Nirmala Seethaaraman, Raksha Mantri, Govt of India

Shame on you! With the first order you signed you have reduced (!) yourself from the Raksha Mantri of this nation (also known as a sub continent!) to a Kaamwali (to borrow a term from my Hindi speaking friends) Mantri! If you were really not interested in the security of the Nation and matters military you could have said that to the Prime Minister who could have created a new ministry for Swatch Bharat to be headed by a Cabinet Minister and installed you there!

I had seen and heard you a few times as the spokesperson of BJP and had been impressed with your understanding of the subject you were speaking on and the way you articulated them. But you reinforce the fact that juggling with words as an armchair expert is a different game from putting your shoulder to the wheel and working to produce tangible and perceivable results.

I have no doubt about the need for and urgency in a mission like Swatch Bharat. I have no idea either of how much taxpayers’ money has been squandered on the project and how much of it has really been spent on producing results. But in the township I live in, the only municipality in Kerala headed by the BJP, I know some effort had been made to earmark places for dumping garbage and signposting them but ultimately what has happened is that the Municipality has declared its intention to withdraw from its primary duty of keeping the town clean! The last date for their employees collecting segregated waste from homes (on payment, of course!) has been extended from 31 Aug 2017 to 01 Oct 2017! If they have created practical alternate arrangements for waste disposal I am not aware of it! By the way this local self governing body has been directly responsible for polluting fresh water sources like ponds by routing storm water (cum sewage!) drains to ponds and more than once the Ombudsman for Local Self Governing Bodies had directed it to clean them up without any effect! To be honest, this is not a problem with this Municipality only.

Coming back to matters military, do you know that it is the man behind the machine and his morale that is the ultimate battle winning factor? And when I say that this factor- morale - has been on slippery slope for years believe me as the voice of the voiceless. Yes, over the years, since the day we are told we got independence, there is nothing that the governments of the day have done to give him the justice and honour that is due to him. Worse, all of them have only worked towards exacerbating his plight! Even by the simple principle of equal pay for equal work one can say the Sepoy of the Indian Army deserves better pay and perks than the Cabinet Secretary of the Union Government. And to quote Aravind Kumar, Jurist and lawyer ('Needed high speed legal redressal', Pioneer, Kochi, 01 Aug 2006): Justice is an intrinsic human need. We suffer much privation but we cannot suffer being wronged. Absence of justice, we must not forget, is one of the causes of crime. Fortunately our soldiers are not inclined to crimes and the simplest of those that are committed are punished with a heavy hand. In fact they are in the most unenviable situation because their official tasking demands either they do or die. But that does not give anybody the liberty to task them with any and every errand in the world. By the way, can you ensure that your babus, led by the IASwallahs and wallies, the ones who have reduced government administration to a synonym for corruption and treason, keep their offices and premises clean without the help of safaikaramcharis?

I rest my case here for now. You may also read my blog at http://raviforjustice.blogspot.in/2014/02/for-whom-soldiers-sacrifice-their-lives.html

Yours truly,

(P M Ravindran)

raviforjustice@gmail.com /   25 Sep 2017

Adhaar-incorrect verification and inaction on complaints

File: Pers/comp-u min eit-adhaar verfn-020818                                                       02 Aug 2017

Sri Ravi Shankar Prasad (

Union Minister for Law, Justice, Electronics & Information Technology

Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, (Government of India)
Electronics Niketan, 6, CGO Complex, Lodhi Road, New Delhi: 110003

COMPLAINT: UIDAI-AUTHENTICATION FRAUD

1.      I had learnt from information in public domain that a project like UIDAI had been tried in the US of A, UK and Australia and had been given up on two counts- cost and privacy. But still the previous UPA government had gone ahead and invested thousands of crores of rupees of tax payer’s money in UIDAI which was then only seen as a scam on the lines of 2G, Coalgate and Vadragate. Even the BJP had opposed it tooth and nail then. But horror of horrors, the same party, since its coming to power in 2014, has been pursuing it more vigorously than its predecessor. And that, even while many cases are pending in various courts, including the apex court! Personally, I never needed any certificate from anyone or even any orders from any court to believe that though the concept is very good, it is not implementable. This comes from the experience with issue of ration cards which has not been streamlined even now. The Government of Kerala had even faced a crisis situation because of its failure to reissue these cards in the context of Food Security Act. And it was only on 29 Jul 2017 that the local media reported that 25000 persons, including government employees, had been removed from the Priority List in just Palakkad district!

2.      With that as prelude, here is the actual complaint. 

3.      I got my Adhaar card on 24 Apr 2017. And in less than a month I got an e mail  addressing me as Ravi Kumar Ojha and intimating that an adhaar bearing number xxxx xxxx 5222 had been successfully used to authenticate a transaction involving Idea Cellular Ltd! (the screen shot of the mail is given as Annxure 1).

4.      I complained to help@uidai.gov.in and adhaar@uidai.gov.in on 18 May 2017 as follows:

Quote begin

Refer your email of 14 May 2017.

I am not Ravi Kumar Ojha! Nor have I ever dealt with Idea Cellular Ltd in my life!

Now please explain how this mail has been sent to me.

Is it that Ravi Kumar Ojha's finger prints match mine?

Even if it was so, how did Ravi Kumar Ojha's adhaar number get linked to this e mail id?

And why only to the e mail id and not mobile number provided at the time of registering for Adhaar?

Quote end

Continued….

-2-

5.      In response I was asked to provide the following details through an e mail from help@uidai.gov.in of the same date, that is 18 May 2017:

Quote begin

Your case (20170518000392) has been registered with us. Please find below our response against your query:

Query 1(Subcase Id :2017051800039201)

We request you to please confirm if email ID and last four digits of Aadhaar Number (as mentioned in the received email) belong to you.

In case the email id and last four digits of Aadhaar number belong to you, we request you to please revert immediately with following additional information for Aadhaar team to investigate the case:

a. Full Name (Mandatory)

b. Address with State and pin code (Mandatory)

c. Phone number (Mandatory)

UIDAI Team might contact you for more details.

Quote end

6.      My response of 10 Jun 2017, to the above mail, was as follows:

Quote begin

Mr Administrator,

The fact is established that the original mail had come from your e mail id.

Hence, firstly, you are required to respond to the queries raised in my complaint which are repeated below:

Now please explain how this mail has been sent to me.

Is it that Ravi Kumar Ojha's finger prints match mine?

Even if it was so, how did Ravi Kumar Ojha's adhaar number get linked to this e mail id?

And why only to the e mail id and not mobile number provided at the time of registering for Adhaar?

Next, isn't it possible for you to identify my registered e mail id and adhaar number from my name which I had used in my e mail for lodging the complaint? By the way, the Aadhaar bears only this name and not my full name and my full name is not in your records because the proof of identity used by your franchisee had only this name and he NEVER asked for my full name! Now, I shall provide my full name only AFTER receiving a satisfactory response to my queries.

My address along with PIN code and mobile number are registered with you and is correctly mentioned in my adhaar document also.

I also take this opportunity to place on record the fact that your failure to disclose your identity is not acceptable. Public servants have no right to privacy in their professional communications.

Quote end

Continued….

-3-

7.      I haven’t got any response to that till now. However I have got another e mail, dated 26 Jul 2017, intimating another such fraud authentication with Punjab National Bank! Screen shot of this mail is attached as Annexure 2.

8.      I request you to get the matter investigated and arrange to get the system corrected before the problem becomes too complicated to correct. The role of those responsible for investigating complaints and their failure to provide satisfactory answer to my complaint registered with them as Case No 20170518000392 also need to be investigated.

Yours truly,

Major P M Ravindran (Retd)