Tech2 Talks: Digital rights activist, Nikhil Pahwa explains what's wrong with Aadhaar and how to fix it

Having given the constitution to govern ourselves, it is vital that we first understand that the leaders we have selected are not our rulers but are our representatives. With that said, Pahwa believes that despite representing us, they are becoming rulers in the sense that they are forcing Aadhaar upon the citizens of India.

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The founder of MediaNama says that "we have to be very conscious, very vigilant and active citizens and track what the government is doing with our biometric and personal Aadhaar data."

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However, there is also an "authentication plus" service - where other details such as gender, age and address are stored, which a querying agency or service provider can access because the law requires them to carry out a 'know your customer' (KYC) verification process. This allows any business to verify the identity of its clients.

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For instance, an e-retailer already has the detailed spending and buying profile of customers. A cab aggregator has the travel profile, including home, office and other frequent stops, of riders.
If all of these add Aadhaar identification numbers to their databases, it becomes an easy way to match these databases.
"The Aadhaar number is a means to getting more information," Nikhil Pahwa, a digital rights activist, told the BBC.

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"The Aadhaar number is a permanent ID. As it gets linked to more services, it becomes a single point of failure," Mr Pahwa said.
"Once compromised, all someone needs is another verification number, such as a copy of the thumb and/or fingerprints, or a one time password to gain access to personal information or the bank," he added.

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