Explicit consent

A new era dawns online, and it could mean a shift in the balance of power from apps to users

- AJIT BALAKRISHNAN

I feel energised when, during my daily evening exercise walk in Colaba, I see fisherfolk from the nearby Sassoon docks whip out their mobile phones, point at the QR code at a pavement fruit shop, and pay for their mangoes. I feel immensely proud of our Unified Payments Interface (UPI) and Aadhaar card systems, which are helpful for all levels of Indian society.

However, my nationalist pride in India's digitisation was shaken last week, when I began reading Rahul Bhatia's well-written book The Identity Project: The Unmaking of a Democracy. It argues that Aadhaar, which I (like most Indians) love to showcase as an example of our country's advanced technology, has created an unprecedented infrastructure for state surveillance. He explores the dangers of having such a vast and centralised collection of personal and biometric data.

When I set out to explore whether any other writer and thinker held similar views about Aadhaar, I discovered several. Ritika Khera's book Dissent on Aadhaar: Big Data Meets Big Brother has a collection of essays from experts belonging to various fields—economists, lawyers, technologists, and activists—which attempt to provide a comprehensive critique of the Aadhaar project from multiple angles.

Then there is Jean Drèze, a Belgian-born Indian development economist and activist, who argues that imposing a fragile, internet-dependent technology on the poorest and most vulnerable populations is a "leap into barbarism" and it functions more as a tool of exclusion rather than inclusion.