New rules every day

The frenetic activity over Aadhaar with repeatedly postponed last dates and the prolonged agony of do-we-need-it-don't-we-need-it are too recent to be forgotten. The Aadhaar phenomenon represents one of the typical reasons behind the growth of unreasoning fear.

When the Supreme Court at long last did pronounce that it was not mandatory for anything but direct benefits, almost every single official agency in a citizen's life had forced individuals to submit Aadhaar details upon pain of refusing service. The fears about exposure of private data were ignored.

And in spite of the court, organisations such as banks continued to demand Aadhaar details — following 'orders from the top'. The familiar relationship between the court and the rest of the polity seemed no longer valid; there could always be direct 'orders from the top', unchecked, to whoever the 'top' pleased to order.

This rupture of the inner logic of administration by which transactions between the citizen and institutions followed certain rules based on rights and duties is somewhat like having the ground pulled away from beneath. It encourages the feeling that anything can happen, you better keep following every new rule every new day, or else. And now, NRC. This disorientation is now part of daily life.

-Srikanth Purohit, Secunderabad