Lessons from the East XXIII: Can a locker put a Nation at Risk?

What is the new Gold? Not physical gold, not copper, not crude.

Humans have over 180 cognitive biases, who are exploiting them?

Is anyone else responsible for protecting the nation beyond soldiers fighting at the borders?

Determination through Generations - The exemplary efforts

The name “Israel” was first recorded in 1200 BCE in the Egyptian Merneptah Stele (Victory stone slab of Pharaoh Merneptah).

In the next twelve centuries, several wars decimated the population of Jews in Israel and Jerusalem. In 70 AD, the Roman general - Titus - stormed Jerusalem and destroyed much of the city in a bloody battle.



Thus Israel ceased to exist on the map of the planet with no country for Jews. The residual Jews who survived spread all across the planet, however, the spirit of one nation, one religion and one culture never died. Whenever two Jews met, they closed the conversation by greeting each other that they will meet in Jerusalem. No one knew when, no when knew how, but a deep-rooted belief existed that it will happen one day.

Over eighteen hundred years, they waited patiently generation after generation, with a single dream, our land, our control, our dominion. After a series of conflicts that started in 1920, on 14th May 1948, the land of Israel which was dominated by Arabs but was under the control of Britishers was declared independent by Israelis.

Centuries of struggle, determination and sacrifices, led to the formation of a country that Jews can call theirs.

In 1960, border disputes escalated between Palestinian Guerrillas and Israeli forces. In June 1967, a full-fledged war erupted between Arab nations and Israel. In a Six-Day War from 5th June to 10th June 1967, Israel defeated the combined armies of Egypt, Syria and Jordan, capturing the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Gaza Strip, the Golan Heights and the Sinai Peninsula.

Post the War, journalists asked the leaders of Israel if they could return the captured land as a goodwill gesture and maintain peace in the region. They have already defeated the combined forces and it's unlikely that they will attack back. The leaders of Israel said, "The ink of my pen doesn’t have the power to erase the line drawn by the blood of our soldiers.”

Generosity, grandeur or a mistake?

Since India and Pakistan got independence in Aug 1947, the relations between both countries were never harmonious. India gave more than its share of cash and resources so that Pakistan could flourish independently but, extremism never left the mindset of Pakistan thus creating a nuisance for India and in the Indian sub-continental region on an ongoing basis. (One may argue that Pakistan was fed and influenced by Western Powers, however, the Pakistani leadership never opposed any of their intervention and used the West & their friendship opportunistically to fulfil their own vested agenda.)

On the eve of Dec 3, 1971, unprovoked, the Pakistan Air Force raided the forward air bases and radar installations of the Indian Air Force and a major war broke out between India and Pakistan. In a 13-day war, India brought the Pakistan Army to its knees and took 93000 Pakistani soldiers in captivity. The land of East Bengal was converted into an independent nation - Bangladesh, thereby freeing up 75 million people from the atrocities of the Pakistanis.

The Navy, the Army and the Airforce of India worked cohesively and in 13 days, a new country emerged. India not only freed East Bengal but also conquered 15,010 sq. km of the West Pakistan Territory. This included land from West Punjab (Pakistan's Punjab), Sindh in Pakistan as well as parts of Pakistan- occupied Jammu & Kashmir (POJK).

In 1972, under the Simla agreement, the land captured by India including the POJK was given back to Pakistan along with their 93000 POW (prisoners of War). However, 54 soldiers and officers of the Indian Armed Forces who went missing in action during the War of 1971 are still in the prisons of Pakistan (to date).

This begs the question - Was India right in doing so?

What if India had not given back the captured land in 1971, could the genocide that occurred in Kashmir in 1989 and Kashmir becoming a war zone be prevented?

Why this theory? Two reasons -

1. It generally does not matter who wins or who loses the war, the maximum destruction happens where the war is fought. The land or the location where the war is fought is the recipient of maximum turmoil. In the case of 1971, Pakistan lost but didn’t face any material setbacks as the war was not fought on Pakistani Soil.

Another example to substantiate this - is the case of the current Ukraine and Russia War. It doesn't matter who will win, but surely Ukraine faces a bigger challenge in rebuilding the country that has been demolished, smashed, destroyed by War.

2. Pakistani perpetrators who created fear and a genocidal environment in 1989, could have been prevented from freely entering Kashmir if POJK would have been under Indian military control, as they had to first win over POJK to enter Kashmir Valley.

Moreover if one has control or access to someone else’s material things or land, there is always room for negotiation if adversity falls on oneself.

The Ancient teaching

This teaching also comes from the ancient text of Mahabharata, where Pandavas were given the forest land of Khandavprastha instead of Prospering Hastinapur. Pandavas with the help of Shri Krishna and their Purushartha created Indraprastha so magnanimous that Kauravas who controlled Hastinapur became jealous of it.

The result was Kauravas and their Uncle Shakuni hatched a plan to invite Pandavas to play Dyuta or a game of dice, through which they intended to not only take over their Indraprastha but everything Pandavas had and make Pandavas their slaves.

After building Indraprastha, another great event happened in the lives of Pandavas. Yudhishthira, the eldest of the Pandavas became the Chakravartin Samrat or the Emperor of the complete planet Earth with everyone surrendering to his Supremacy.

Arrogance came and Buddhi, Vivek and wisdom vanished. Yudhishthira took all his brothers and wife to Hastinapur to play Dyuta or the game of Dice.

There he lost everything, including his brothers and wife in the game of Dyuta.

This seeks the question - What if Yudhishthira had gone only with Bheem or Arjun or could have declined the offer to play Dyuta or could have set the limits on how much to play with?

But as one says

Vinash Kale Viprit Buddhi -

विनाश काले विपरीत बुद्धि

Meaning - “As (one’s) doom approaches, (the person’s) intellect works against one's own interest.”

That is why, during the good times or bad times, decisions should be made thinking of not only the first level of impact but the third level of impact.

As one knows, every action generates a series of reactions or outcomes. But, what is visible is only the first degree of the outcome but what one should start thinking, probing and calculating is the second and third degree of the outcome which is not instantly conspicuous to the conscious mind.

The Present Context

One such incident that recently occurred that can have long-term possibly unfavourable ramifications with limited upside is a tie-up between Digi locker and Google Inc.

For the people who don’t know about Digi locker - DigiLocker is a platform created and controlled by the Ministry of Electronics & Information Technology, India for the issuance and verification of documents & certificates digitally, thus eliminating the use and necessity of physical documents.

One carries an Aadhar Card, Pan Card or driving license or voter id, for physical verification. It’s difficult to carry all the documents physically as well as risky. What if they get lost or mugged?

Digi locker is the solution to it, and it lets one store a range of documents such as school and college mark sheets, passports, ID proofs and many more in digital form and is legally valid as the original. Digi locker, created by the Government of India, started in July 2015 and allows 1 GB of space free of cost to all its users. Access to this locker can simply be done by Aadhar Number.

Digilocker has data of 143.76 million users comprising 5.62 billion documents issued by 2311 agencies including education boards like CBSE, ICSE, BSEB, PSEB, Maharashtra State Board, Jharkhand Academic Council, NIOS, etc.

Digilocker is an app that can be accessed by Android or IOS systems on the phone. So all good till now, progressive thinking.

Then comes the twist in the tale.

On 19th Dec 2022, Digi locker announced a tie-up with Google to localize these certificates on the Google files app so that Android users can access government-verified documents from the Google file app in India.

The thinking behind this tie-up was ease or convenience. However, this brilliant idea has a small challenge.

Now Google which is a US firm listed on the US bourses and owned by several shareholders with the sole motive of maximizing profits and adhering to the US government's interest has data of over 1.43 billion users and government-issued certificates and id cards that they can manage to exploit the way they wish to.

Imagine a future scenario - The year is 2029 and the Identity cards including Voters Card and Aadhar Cards have been digitized for a large Indian populace and one is accessing it through Digilocker.

Voting for General elections is underway and Google is aware of the ones who have not pulled out their Voter’s id from Google Files (Google working in collaboration with Digilocker) to cast their vote. Google through their search behaviour knows if they are floating, or the decisive electorate. Google starts pushing notifications and content that influence the floating vote. Swing voting changes the outcome that otherwise would have been different.

A UK-based firm Cambridge Analytica did this with Facebook on FB data in the US elections and many other national elections of other countries. 

Also if the data of Digi locker is localized in the phone in Google files, it is susceptible to being stolen. If the phone is hacked, all the data, identity proofs, address proofs, and birth records of individuals can be hacked.

Furthermore, imagine if on one of the occasions, India dissents the opinion of the United States and does what is in her best interest, then Google can arm-twist India to pursue their suggestion. This can occur, despite all the rules, legal paperwork and undertaking Google is willing to give or will promise to give in the future.

One saw how a rift occurred when India initially started buying Russian oil at a discount when the war started between Russia and Ukraine, as against the liking of the US government.

If India can create UPI without anyone’s help, and make RUPAY a success in a mere decade when Mastercard and Visa took over four decades to reach where they are, then why does India need Google android to localise Digilcoker documents?

Data the New Gold

From here one has to guard data as one's life.

The new gold, the new business, the new money-making machine is people's behaviour, people's biases and people's mindsets and data simply decipher all of it.

In the next two decades, the sovereignty and independence of a country's sovereignty will be determined by the data of its citizens it can guard beyond guarding its borders.

Google already know about one's

- Physical Location

- Communication content (via email)

- Search linked to IP

- To whom one is making or receiving the payments (via Gpay)

- Which apps one is using (Android & Playstore)

- Which videos one is watching (YouTube)

Google has been recently penalised by the Competition Commission of India for its monopolistic behaviour. In this case, the Supreme Court even declined to provide any relief as the matter pertained to Google using and abusing its dominant position in multiple markets in the Android mobile device ecosystem.

Imagine what can happen when Google will know even more - How one is spending one's life. When one is using Government issued documents to open personal bank accounts, make personal investments, buy jewellery, travelling overseas. Practically everything.

Furthermore, Aadhar has fingerprints, and eye scans, that now can be traced by google via Digi locker.
This pleads a question -

Is it advisable?

Is it necessary?

Can a small convenience today turn into a big catastrophe in the future?

A decision of a few wise men who may not have thought of third or 4th-degree impact can lead to the entire nation being held ransom when times are most demanding for India as it happened to Pandavas.