While the debate on Aadhaar has been alive on Twitter, with many claiming that it would be the death knell for privacy, the process of signing up for the ID turned out to be a process in breach of privacy for Mahendra Singh Dhoni. This led to a Twitter spat between Information and Broadcast Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad and Dhoni’s wife Sakshi Singh Rawat.
An agency which helps Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) enroll citizens for Aadhar has over enthusiastic shared the personal details of ace cricket M S Dhoni on social media. Union Law and Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who was informed about the breach by Dhoni's wife Sakshi on Twitter, was prompt to promise action.
The agency's Common Services Center (CSC) has posted a tweet yesterday through its handle @CSCegov saying "Ace cricketer Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his family get their Aadhaar updated at VLE Mariya Farooqui's CSE at Ranchi, Jharkhand". Prasad was tagged in the tweet. It included a photograph of the cricketer with a CSC representative and another of his personal details on what appeared to be the Aadhaar website. The tweet with the details was later deleted.
Earlier in the day, RS Prasad tweeted: “VLE of @CSCegov_ delivers #Aadhaar service to @msdhoni. Legendary cricketer's #Digital hook (shot).” However, this seemed to anger Sakshi who claimed that MS Dhoni’s personal information was leaked.
She wrote: “@rsprasad @CSCegov_ is there any privacy left ??? Information of adhaar card including application is made public property!#disappointed”
When RS Prasad asked whether his tweet divulged any personal information, Sakshi said that Dhoni’s Aadhar form was leaked by CSC’s twitter handle. She wrote: “Sir personal information filled in form is leaked.”
Reacting to Sakshi’s allegations, an embarrassed Ravi Shankar Prasad promised to take serious action. He wrote: “Thanks for bringing this to my notice. Sharing personal information is illegal. Serious action will be taken against this.”
Interestingly, earlier on Monday, the Aadhaar was the subject of debate in Rajya Sabha where CPI(M)’s Sitaram Yechury slammed the government for making the Aadhaar card mandatory, saying that the Unique Identification scheme is leading to a surveillance state in the country. "I don’t have an Aadhaar card, if you want to make it compulsory, bring a bill. You have a government that doesn’t have the courage to come forward and say ‘I’m abolishing this Constitution,’" Yechury said during a debate over the Finance Bill.
Yechury further stated that there were lakhs of complaints against the scheme and it should be removed soon. "There are lakhs of complaints against the scheme, and much like the Matrix, an Aadhaar number can just vanish and you won’t be a citizen anymore," said Yechury. "Why is the Modi government so keen on building a secret surveillance architecture, devoid of all constitutional safeguards" he asked. Yechury also expressed doubts over how secure the Aadhar data is and which private company can have access to it.
Later, Yechury urged that all non-tax matters must be removed from The Finance Bill. "This House must return this bill to Lok Sabha with serious concern asking for amendments. This is a financial bully, not a bill,: said Yechury. Earlier in the day, speaking in the Rajya Sabha, senior Congress leader Kapil Sibal tore into the government for allegedly violating the Supreme Court orders over the use of Aadhaar card.
With inputs from ANI
