Who says that privacy is only an issue in the First World? According to The Times of India residents of Palsora and Lal Bahadur Shastri colonies have demonstrated against “alleged irregularities in the biometric test, which is being carried out in the slum areas to check “impersonation at any level.” The problem, it seems, is that people have been impersonating other people, sometimes twice, to register or occupy property.
A couple of interesting things about this. First off, this is not just any old biometric test. The administration, the story says, plans to test “all those living in slums [who] will have to furnish details of their fingerprints, photographs, face recognition, voice recognition, signature, shape of the hand, and other such details.” This sounds quite advanced. (Shape of the hand? Is this a first? ) Slumdwellers would also be asked to submit the usual stuff, such as “personal details, including date and place of birth, father’s name, number of family members, present address, et al.” All in all, that’s quite a survey. The government is going to have more data on the slumdwellers of Chandigarh than probably anyone else on the planet.
Slumdwellers are now protesting outside the regional government offices, probably as we speak. Well, not today, as it’s the Hindu New Year, I believe. However, they are not up in arms about this apparent invasion of their privacy (voice recognition?), but that “genuine people were being ignored in the survey.” I take this to mean (and I could be wrong) that the survey teams seem to be focusing mainly on impersonators. (Can that be right? – Ed) If true, this might be the first recorded Protest Against A Survey of Slumdweller Impersonators.