The subject of the evolution of surveillance and its incorporated technologies is a topic that is important to examining the state of surveillance and its impacts on contemporary society. This paper attempts to summarize the Power, Panopticism and Surveillance and the controversial Aadhaar project. The twentieth century witnessed the emergence of technology as the new face of governance. E-governance and many modernization government programme were introduced to improve the quality of governance especially in the field of national security. Post 9/11 era when war against terror and related paranoia ruled the world possibilities of national biometric identity cards were proposed with haste in various countries. In 1980s efforts were there in Australia to issue national identity cards, similar attempts in Canada, Philippines, China, and United Kingdom. The real ID project of the Bush administration in the US also attracted attention worldwide. This paper explores the details about the Indian government's controversial project of Aadhaar. The paper discussed about the power centric panoptical perspective on the Aadhar.
Power, Panopticism, Surveillance, Aadhaar, Democracy, National Identity, UIDAI
