The Jammu and Kashmir administration is planning to create an authentic database of all families in the Union territory with each of them having a unique alpha-numeric code -- the object💛ive being easy selection of eli𒅌gible beneficiaries of various social welfare schemes.
The proposed move to allot "Family ID" has been welcomed by the BJP but panned by other parties which 🌳rai𓄧sed concerns over personal data safety .
At the recent national conference on e-governance in Katra in Reasi district, Jammu and Kashmir Lt Governor Manoj Sinha and Chief Minister of Haryana Manohar Lal ꧋Khattar released the Digital J&K Vision Document, unveiling the government plan to create an authentic, ver🐽ified and reliable database of all families of the Union territory.
According to the vision document, "Each family will be provided with a unique alpha-numeric code called JK Family ID. The data available in the family database would be used to determine eligibility through automatic selection o🗹f beneficiar🦩ies for receiving social benefits."
ꦑ"The database would identify each and every family in J&K and would collect the basic data of the family, provided with the consent of the family, in a digital format."
The document fur🐭ther reads that all the applicable laws and regulations in rཧespect of data protection shall be complied with in the management of data.
To thwart risks and protect sensitive and c𝕴ritical data, it said the Jammu and Kashmir government plans to work on an information security policy and also envisages formulation of appropriate cyber🦩 security framework.
Commissioner Secretary of the IT Department Prerna Puᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚᩚ𒀱ᩚᩚᩚri said the objective of creating the database, which will be at par with Haryana's 'Parivaar Pehchaan Patra', is that families or individuals will not have to apply to receive benefits under each individual scheme.
"Once the data in the JK Family ID database is authenticated ๊and verified, a 💖beneficiary will not be required to submit any more document to avail a service," she said.
The Congressཧ, National Conference and the 🅺PDP slammed the proposed move.
Congress chief spokesperson and former legislato🍰r Ravinder Sharma questioned the government's intention and also its capacity to protect 🐈such digital databases from cyber attacks.
&q൩uot;Why does the government wish to peek into everything? They already have enough data through Aadhaar and are providing benefits through direct bank transfer (DBT) mode," Sharma said.
Referring to cyber attacks by Chinese entities and ransomware attack on the AIIMS servers, he said in such a situation, protectionౠ of personal data of the people is a major challenge.
National Conference provincial president Rattan Lal Gupta termed the exeဣrcise &q🃏uot;unproductive use of resources".
"They already have a database of every individual because of Aadhaar. So, creating another database is not 🀅fruitful...the administration is keeping the staff busy with data collection while 🍬people are left devoid of basic facilities," he said.
The People's Democratic Party (PDP) asked who the government wa🍒nted✤ to identify through this database.
"There are a lot of problems in J&K which the government ignores. Now who the government is trജying to identify through this database?” PDP leader Virendra Singh Sonu said.
However, the BJP welcomed the move and said the people wh🦩o have to stand in queues to get various benefits and certificates will benefit once a verified database i🌜s prepared.
"The new database will be helpful in many ways as people have been alleging that Census 2011 was not correct and many people have been 🌠wrongly added under BPL category," he said, addi🍎ng a similar family database is already there in Haryana and so there is nothing to worry about.
The vision document itse⛄lf acknowledges that in the absence of coherent policies 🌄relating to data security and privacy, the progress of digital transformation is bound to be slow and fraught with several risks.
Senior Superintendent of Police, Seꦗcurity, M Y Kichloo said vulnerabilities and possibilities of cyber attacks will remain when it comes to digital storag♕e of data.
꧑"We will face the same problems in Jammu and Kashmir which are faced across the country viz- a-viz data. Whenever a database is prepared by the government, an IT audit is conducted by experts,” he said.
As far as data protection is concerned, the officer said, the Jammu and Kashmir government wil𝔉l soon issue a notification under Section 70 of the Information Technology (IT) Act to declare all infor𒀰mation structures of government offices and public sector undertakings as protected systems.
"In case of data breach, the quantum of punishment would be 10 years which would work as a d𝓡eterrent," Kichloo said.
Chief Town Plann😼er of the Jammu Development Au♎thority Jagdish Raj Hans said the exercise would be helpful in more ways than just extending benefits of government schemes.
"Currently, JDA is conduct🍸ing a socio-economic survey for revising the master pla🌳n and a door-to-door survey of nearly 9,000 households is being undertaken with the help of a Delhi-based consultancy firm. If a bigger database with all social indicators of families of J&K becomes available, then we would not have to do this sample survey,” he said.
According to the vision document, over the next five years the government aims to enhance the efficiency, effectiveness, transparency and equitability in the delivery of public services and all the functions of the government using emerging technologies.
