135 million Indian government payment card details leaked

Re: Indian IT at it's finest

Why is it not an option? I am **pissed as hell** that the Indian government now wants to make Aadhaar mandatory even for paying taxes, which effectively means it's mandatory period. (The original idea was that it was mandatory only if you needed government benefits -- subsidised stuff for instance).

As a protest, I have now stopped using my credit card for anything less than 2000 rupees (an arbitrary limit I set; could vary depending on circumstances but that's the general idea).

Yes, ATMs have been (slyly, without any announcement or explanation, by the way) mostly dry for months now, but I go to my bank and get cash once in a couple of weeks or once in a month, and that works out fine. So far.

Am I at risk of being mugged or robbed, since this is cash? Maybe. I don't use public transport so I should be mostly OK. Does this form of protest actually register? Surely not -- its not as if Modi is worrying himself at night thinking "OMG, Sitaram is going against my cash-less dream". Is it any use then? Yes -- my own psychological satisfaction, plus the opportunity to talk about Aadhaar and explain its problems to everyone who asks me "why are you carrying so much cash".

I was a solid supporter of his anti-black money initiative last November, but Aadhaar is where I draw the line; I am now an ardent Modi- and Jaitley- hater.

But don't read too much into that -- Aadhaar was created by the corrupt crooks who are currently in opposition -- the Congress (spelled c-o-r-r-u-p-t-i-o-n) party. So, unless the Supreme Court does the right thing, all Indians are royally screwed in terms of their biometrics and other data being essentially public. Forever.