UPA government Archives

‘UPA awarded Aadhaar card projects without tenders’

by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate, Corporate finance, Economy, News

Mumbai:(IANS) Aadhaar card projects of the UIDAI worth over Rs.13,000 crore were awarded without issuing tenders by the previous UPA government, according to a RTI response, an activist said here on Saturday.

RTI activist Anil Galgali had submitted queries under the RTI to the UIDAI officials, Public Information Officer S.S. Bisht and Deputy Director-cum-PIO R. Harish who provided the replies about the amount spent on the projects which was then headed by technocrat Nandan Nilekani.

In the reply, the UIDAI officials disclosed that total project contracts worth Rs.13,663.22 crore were awarded without any tenders of which an amount of Rs.6,563 crore has been already spent on issuing 90.3 crore Aadhar Cards till May 2015.

They further informed that a total 25 companies were awarded different responsibilities for the massive project and their empanelment was done under the process guidelines of Request For Empanelment of May 19, 2014.

“This is shocking as various sections of people, including the Supreme Court and civil society groups have expressed serious concerns about the right to privacy with sensitive personal data of 125 crore population going in the hands of private companies,” Galgali told IANS.

He urged Prime Minister Narendra Modi to order a probe into the UIDAI to ensure transparency in the award of contracts for Aadhaar cards.

“The sensitive datas of finger prints and iris of each and every Indian could be unsafe with private companies,” cautioned Harsheet Shah, cyber law expert-cum-researcher.

According to the information, some of the companies awarded more than one project works include: Tata Consultancy Service, Mac Associates, Wipro, HCL, HP India Sales Pvt. Ltd., National Informatics Centre, Sagem Morpho Securities Pvt. Ltd, Satyam Computer Services Ltd, L1 Identity Solutions, Totem International Ltd., Linkwel Telesystems Pvt. Ltd. Sai Infosystems India Ltd, Geodesic Ltd, ID Solutions, NISG, SQTC, Telesima Communications Pvt. Ltd.

Others which secured a single contract include: Reliance Communication, Tata Communications, Aircel, Bharati Airtel, BSNL and Railtel Corporation of India Ltd.

“Employment schemes for Kashmiri youth should continue”

by admin | May 25, 2021 | Corporate Jobs, Employment, Government Jobs

Srinagar:(IANS) Congress leader Ghulam Nabi Azad here on Thursday said the Centre should continue the job schemes that the erstwhile UPA government had initiated in Jammu and Kashmir.

His remarks came as he expressed solidarity with National Youth Corps (NYC) candidates who are on hunger strike for the past 17 days demanding joining orders and regularisation.

“When the UPA (United Progressive Alliance) was in power, we had initiated more than half a dozen job schemes in the state so that youth can be part of the progress and the development of Kashmir,” Azad, who was minister of health and family welfare in the previous Congress-led UPA government, said.

“The government should immediately adjust these youth in various state government departments according to their qualifications. And such job schemes must be continued and expanded,” he said.

The former chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir promised the protesting NYC candidates that he would take up their issue with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi.

More than 400 NYC volunteers, including dozens of female candidates, have staged a sit-in and have been on a hunger strike since September 1 in the city’s uptown Pratap Park.

Asif Ali Bhat, state president NYC, told IANS: “We have adopted a democratic and peaceful way to agitate for our demands but so far we have received only hollow assurances and nothing else. During these days many of our volunteers had to be hospitalized as their health condition deteriorated.”

In 2010, under the national NYC scheme, more than 6,000 youth were engaged as contingent workers and a cabinet decision of 2014 had decided to adjust them in the state education department.

“We are demanding the implementation of the 2014 cabinet order but we have been left to fend for ourselves and now we are without any pay since November 2012,” Bhat said.

More than half of protesting NYC volunteers have been put on glucose drip during the ongoing hunger strike.