When Theresa May - UK Home Secretary called the UK ID Card scheme, "Intrusive Bullying", she was uncannily right. People of UK escaped being bullied by their government because those who would have perpetrated the diabolic scheme were voted out of power. 

Indians however are already having a taste what she meant. UID, with the brand name - "Aadhaar" - is according to Nilekani, voluntary. He had an ace or two up his sleeve, which seems pretty long now. While promoting UID as voluntary, he added that it would become "ubiquitous and service providers may ask for it". With just a few million UID numbers given, AP government has made UID numbers compulsory for supply of LPG. This gives the lie to UIDAI and government's claim of the voluntariness of the UID scheme. 

In Karnataka, the government wants all LPG consumers to register their electric meter numbers. Lakhs of people have done so. According to Times of India of 27 July 2011, LPG connections of Lakhs who have failed to do so have been suspended.

How electric meter numbers of LPG customers would be useful is a bureaucratic-political mystery. Ostensibly, it is meant to identify fake LPG connections. Are not consumer numbers given by oil companies adequate?

Other questions arise. Has any investigation been done to find out the causes and persons responsible for siphoning away LPG? If so, did it come to the conclusion of the need for linking LPG connections to customers' electric meter numbers? If not, why are customers being asked to provide their electric meter numbers?

Is it not possible to detect siphoning of LPG merely by examining the consumption pattern of customers?

Does the State government have any legal locus standi  to issue orders to oil companies? Can the State government abridge or modify the contracts oil companies have with their customers? 

 

 

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