In a shocking revelation, it has been discovered that Govt. of India has not only sold your private data related with driving license and vehicle, but also earned a substantial amount of money.
The question now arises: Who actually owns this data, and how can the Govt. sell this data without users’ consent?
Or there is something we are missing here?
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Govt Of India: We Sold Your Driving License Data To Pvt. Firms
When a question was asked in the Lok Sabha to Minister of Road Transport and Highways Nitin Gadkari about data monetization from driving licenses data of Indians, a shocking truth came out.
Your private data related with driving license and vehicles was sold to 87 private companies, and 32 Govt. entities.
After selling this private data, the Govt. earned Rs 65 crore revenues as well.
This question was raised by Congress MP Husain Dalwa.
From Where This Data Came From?
Ministry of Road and Transport, also called The Vahan and Sarathi ministry maintains a massive database of 40 crore datasets, which includes users’ driving license, vehicle information and more.
This database is called the Centralized National Registry and the National Informatics Centre maintains it.
Out of this, 25 crore datasets are pertaining to vehicle registration records across India, and 15 crore datasets are related to driving licenses.
Centralized National Registry through the National Informatics Centre
Why Was This Data Sold?
Ofcourse, the objective was to earn money.
As the Minister informed the nation, Rs 65 crore revenue was generated from the selling of this data, but the worrying fact is that 87 private companies, who paid money to access your private data.
32 Govt. entities too received the data, but the financial details of this transaction is not available.
Is There Any User Consent Here?
The bulk data of driving license and vehicle registration records were sold to private and Govt. entities under “Bulk Data Sharing Policy & Procedure” policy, which was created by Road Transport and Highways Ministry.
As per the provisions of this Ministry, data related with driving license of Indians, and vehicle registration records can be sold to anyone, who is willing to pay money.
While private firms need to pay Rs 3 crore for FY 2019-20, educational institutions need to pay Rs 5 lakh for the same. However, if they use this data commercially, then they too need to lay Rs 3 crore.
The aspect of users’ consent is still debatable though, and there has been no mention of the same.
We will keep you updated, as we receive more updates.
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