Middle Finger, literally
My virtual and real life friends already know that I have been very skeptic and resentful about the trigger happy policy of linking of Aadhar to all activities of an average citizen of India. The irony is that while having Aadhar is not a proof of citizenship, every citizen nevertheless needs to possess an Aadhar registration for leading her humdrum life. For those who do not take any benefit from Government welfare programme
s, and have documents to establish identity, insistence on Aadhar to operate a bank account or use a mobile phone does look like a State surveillance mechanism to monitor all individuals, on the principle of 'everybody suspected as likely to commit crime, till proved innocent'.
Anyway, hopefully Supreme Court would shortly rule in these areas. I was disappointed that pending a decision, the Hon'ble court did not stay operation of the linking of Aadhar to bank accounts and mobile phones. After all, law abiding risk averting average citizens would grudgingly do the linking before the indicated last date to avoid inconvenience, and any Court decision after that date will be just for academic interest.
I am a risk averter by temperament. So with a heavy heart, I visited the Airtel store in the neighbourhood for biometrically linking Aadhar to my post paid number of almost 20 years now. Even the machine could read my mood. It refused to recognise my thumb print. Once, twice, thrice.The person at the store theorised that as I had taken Aadhar more than 8 years ago, the biometric details perhaps need updation!
I came away, dejected. My husband suggested that perhaps we should try at a different store. On two visits to Delhi thereafter, I tried at two different stores, surprisingly none of them agreed to deal with post paid number linking, they were supposedly equipped only for pre paid linking.
Then there was this press release about facility of linking SIM number to Aadhar by individuals without need of biometric authentication, from December. Some relief!! But wait!! What is my SIM number? How to know? Google search. Initial elation, then despair. The indicated procedure does not work for SIM cards that have been cut smaller to fit in smartphones. So, a visit to the Airtel store again.😞
This time there was a different person at the desk. A pleasant helpful youngman. He heard my woes patiently. He checked and wrote out the formidably long array of digits of the SIM, and asked me to try at the machine once more and with another finger.
Wonder of wonders. I am a polite prim and propah person by default, but yes, the finger print that the savvy omniscient machine recognised was that of the middle finger!!😃
My virtual and real life friends already know that I have been very skeptic and resentful about the trigger happy policy of linking of Aadhar to all activities of an average citizen of India. The irony is that while having Aadhar is not a proof of citizenship, every citizen nevertheless needs to possess an Aadhar registration for leading her humdrum life. For those who do not take any benefit from Government welfare programme
s, and have documents to establish identity, insistence on Aadhar to operate a bank account or use a mobile phone does look like a State surveillance mechanism to monitor all individuals, on the principle of 'everybody suspected as likely to commit crime, till proved innocent'.
Anyway, hopefully Supreme Court would shortly rule in these areas. I was disappointed that pending a decision, the Hon'ble court did not stay operation of the linking of Aadhar to bank accounts and mobile phones. After all, law abiding risk averting average citizens would grudgingly do the linking before the indicated last date to avoid inconvenience, and any Court decision after that date will be just for academic interest.
I am a risk averter by temperament. So with a heavy heart, I visited the Airtel store in the neighbourhood for biometrically linking Aadhar to my post paid number of almost 20 years now. Even the machine could read my mood. It refused to recognise my thumb print. Once, twice, thrice.The person at the store theorised that as I had taken Aadhar more than 8 years ago, the biometric details perhaps need updation!
I came away, dejected. My husband suggested that perhaps we should try at a different store. On two visits to Delhi thereafter, I tried at two different stores, surprisingly none of them agreed to deal with post paid number linking, they were supposedly equipped only for pre paid linking.
Then there was this press release about facility of linking SIM number to Aadhar by individuals without need of biometric authentication, from December. Some relief!! But wait!! What is my SIM number? How to know? Google search. Initial elation, then despair. The indicated procedure does not work for SIM cards that have been cut smaller to fit in smartphones. So, a visit to the Airtel store again.😞
This time there was a different person at the desk. A pleasant helpful youngman. He heard my woes patiently. He checked and wrote out the formidably long array of digits of the SIM, and asked me to try at the machine once more and with another finger.
Wonder of wonders. I am a polite prim and propah person by default, but yes, the finger print that the savvy omniscient machine recognised was that of the middle finger!!😃
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