Not citizens, it’s the state that needs an ID card
A fundamental aspect of the relationship between you, as an Indian citizen, and the Indian state may soon radically change: so far, you are in the eyes of the state constitutionally presumed innocent unless proved otherwise. This presumption of innocence, not in a court of law but in everyday affairs, will no longer be valid if Indian citizens are required to carry, and produce on demand, identity cards issued by the state.
Though the ID card proposal mooted by Delhi’s Lieutenant-Governor seems to have been dropped after a flurry of protests from various politicians, jurists and citizens’ groups, a Multi-Purpose National Identity Card project (first mooted by L K Advani during the tenure of the NDA government) is still in the pipeline. The avowed purpose of ID cards is to strengthen security. But in effect, as many have pointed out, mandatory ID cards for citizens merely increase the risks of police and other official harassment of citizens who, in order to demonstrate their bona fides have to produce the required documentation, a failure to do so being tantamount to a determination of guilt.
In practical terms, the introduction of a generic ID card (as distinct from use-specific cards such as the Voter ID card, the PAN card, the ration card, etc) would greatly increase the scope for police corruption and intimidation, hazards which are already entrenched in our day-to-day lives. However, it is in the constitutional relationship between the citizen and the state that the more insidious and the greater damage would be done. Unlike the French judicial system where the accused is required to prove his innocence, in Indian law (as derived from British jurisprudence) the presumption of innocence is a fundamental right of the citizen.
It is a right, however, that is often grossly violated in countless cases of wrongful detention, the use of third-degree methods to obtain a ‘confession’, lethal ‘encounters’, and other instances of the state’s misuse of its powers.
And the powers of the Indian state – in theory if not in practice – are already only too formidable when viewed from the perspective of the common citizen who has little or no protection from repressive laws which often make a cruel mockery of our democratic and supposedly free society. In the sacred name of national security, the common citizen – whose security and safety should be the paramount concern of the nation state – has been subjected to the often vicious implementation of laws such as TADA, and its subsequent avatars of POTO and POTA, cute-sounding acronyms that disguised an official sanctioning of state brutality.
Though TADA and its successors have been scrapped, the Armed Forces Special Powers Act, 1958 continues to provide protective camouflage to state terror perpetrated against individuals in the name of national security. Far from strengthening national security, the misuse of the state’s powers has deeply undermined the foundation of the polity, as witnessed by the frightening fact that some 160 districts of the country, comprising over 180 million people are under ‘Naxal’ control.
So much for ‘national security’. Using the mantra of national security, the state has progressively encroached on individual liberties: from phone-tapping to cyber-snooping, from police barriers that impose daily stress on already harried commuters to the ‘bandobast’ for ‘VVIP movement’ which totally dislocates the normal functioning of city life.
At the end of his tether, thanks to official zulm , it is not the common citizen who ought to be asked to prove his credentials by an extra ID card. Rather, it is officialdom that needs to produce a clean chit certifying that, despite evidence to the contrary, ours is not in fact a police state but still a democracy. Or is it? Is the state innocent, or guilty? And how is it going to prove it, either way?
Source : Times of India
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BULLA VENKATA RAMBABU said,
June 19, 2008 @ 1:50 am
sir, i aplly pan before two months, CARD Was dispatched last month but AM NOT AVAILABLE FOR OLD ADRESS WT DO I DO NW ANY REFERENCE TO COLLECT MY CARD AND WHOM I CONTACT THIS ISSUE
anil reddy said,
January 18, 2009 @ 3:01 pm
for processing of pan cards in and around hyd contact anilreddy 963756857
Gauri Vijay Desai said,
January 21, 2009 @ 5:48 pm
Dear Sir / Madam ,
Please suggest me how to apply duplicate PAN card, because my PAN card as broken so i want apply, tell me procedure to apply
Thanks
Gauri Desai
9881724145
Ajay Eknathrao Suryawanshi said,
February 1, 2009 @ 12:48 pm
Respected sir,
sir I have submitted pan card application form and some reason it rejected . Please can you send me the reason of rejection .
Thanking
Ajay
logesh said,
February 9, 2009 @ 7:12 pm
hello madam i had applyed my pan card before 6 months still now i never received it .. i wasapplyed in bangloore ……
parveen jain said,
February 27, 2009 @ 7:46 pm
maine three years ho chuke hain pan card aplly karte hua aaj tak nahi aaya hain m. no.9215700365
parveen jain said,
February 27, 2009 @ 7:48 pm
m9215700365
vinay said,
March 13, 2009 @ 12:46 pm
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thanking you
ALTAF SHAHID ANSARI said,
March 23, 2009 @ 10:15 am
my status
asif said,
March 23, 2009 @ 10:16 am
s
vinosdkumar.n said,
April 18, 2009 @ 10:00 pm
Dear sir,
This is to informing you that I have applied for P A N Card on 13th March, 09 but till date I have not received. So please check it up and send my PAN Card my address.
Application no: 050366383
Coupon no: 031927284
Pan Card no: AINPV9527G
Thanks&Regards,
vinodkumar.N
Hyderabad.
vinodkumar.n said,
April 18, 2009 @ 10:01 pm
Dear sir,
This is to informing you that I have applied for P A N Card on 13th March, 09 but till date I have not received. So please check it up and send my PAN Card to below given Address.
3. Application no: 050366383
4.Coupon no: 031927284
5.Pan Card no: AINPV9527G
Thanks&Regards,
Vinodkumar.N
Hyderabad.
pooja singh said,
May 15, 2009 @ 12:07 pm
dear sir,
wen i hav applied for pan card i was in hyderabad but now i hav shifted to lucknow permanently so my address has been changed and i had given my hyd. address while applying will i face any problem in future regarding address or it will be fine. Plz rply satisfactory answer.
Thanking you