In 2009, I became extremely concerned with the concept of Unique Identity for various reasons. Connected with many like minded highly educated people who were all concerned.
On 18th May 2010, I started this Blog to capture anything and everything I came across on the topic. This blog with its million hits is a testament to my concerns about loss of privacy and fear of the ID being misused and possible Criminal activities it could lead to.
In 2017 the Supreme Court of India gave its verdict after one of the longest hearings on any issue. I did my bit and appealed to the Supreme Court Judges too through an On Line Petition.
In 2019 the Aadhaar Legislation has been revised and passed by the two houses of the Parliament of India making it Legal. I am no Legal Eagle so my Opinion carries no weight except with people opposed to the very concept.
In 2019, this Blog now just captures on a Daily Basis list of Articles Published on anything to do with Aadhaar as obtained from Daily Google Searches and nothing more. Cannot burn the midnight candle any longer.
"In Matters of Conscience, the Law of Majority has no place"- Mahatma Gandhi
Ram Krishnaswamy
Sydney, Australia.

Aadhaar

The UIDAI has taken two successive governments in India and the entire world for a ride. It identifies nothing. It is not unique. The entire UID data has never been verified and audited. The UID cannot be used for governance, financial databases or anything. It’s use is the biggest threat to national security since independence. – Anupam Saraph 2018

When I opposed Aadhaar in 2010 , I was called a BJP stooge. In 2016 I am still opposing Aadhaar for the same reasons and I am told I am a Congress die hard. No one wants to see why I oppose Aadhaar as it is too difficult. Plus Aadhaar is FREE so why not get one ? Ram Krishnaswamy

First they ignore you, then they laugh at you, then they fight you, then you win.-Mahatma Gandhi

In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.Mahatma Gandhi

“The invasion of privacy is of no consequence because privacy is not a fundamental right and has no meaning under Article 21. The right to privacy is not a guaranteed under the constitution, because privacy is not a fundamental right.” Article 21 of the Indian constitution refers to the right to life and liberty -Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi

“There is merit in the complaints. You are unwittingly allowing snooping, harassment and commercial exploitation. The information about an individual obtained by the UIDAI while issuing an Aadhaar card shall not be used for any other purpose, save as above, except as may be directed by a court for the purpose of criminal investigation.”-A three judge bench headed by Justice J Chelameswar said in an interim order.

Legal scholar Usha Ramanathan describes UID as an inverse of sunshine laws like the Right to Information. While the RTI makes the state transparent to the citizen, the UID does the inverse: it makes the citizen transparent to the state, she says.

Good idea gone bad
I have written earlier that UID/Aadhaar was a poorly designed, unreliable and expensive solution to the really good idea of providing national identification for over a billion Indians. My petition contends that UID in its current form violates the right to privacy of a citizen, guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution. This is because sensitive biometric and demographic information of citizens are with enrolment agencies, registrars and sub-registrars who have no legal liability for any misuse of this data. This petition has opened up the larger discussion on privacy rights for Indians. The current Article 21 interpretation by the Supreme Court was done decades ago, before the advent of internet and today’s technology and all the new privacy challenges that have arisen as a consequence.

Rajeev Chandrasekhar, MP Rajya Sabha

“What is Aadhaar? There is enormous confusion. That Aadhaar will identify people who are entitled for subsidy. No. Aadhaar doesn’t determine who is eligible and who isn’t,” Jairam Ramesh

But Aadhaar has been mythologised during the previous government by its creators into some technology super force that will transform governance in a miraculous manner. I even read an article recently that compared Aadhaar to some revolution and quoted a 1930s historian, Will Durant.Rajeev Chandrasekhar, Rajya Sabha MP

“I know you will say that it is not mandatory. But, it is compulsorily mandatorily voluntary,” Jairam Ramesh, Rajya Saba April 2017.

August 24, 2017: The nine-judge Constitution Bench rules that right to privacy is “intrinsic to life and liberty”and is inherently protected under the various fundamental freedoms enshrined under Part III of the Indian Constitution

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the World; indeed it's the only thing that ever has"

“Arguing that you don’t care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don’t care about free speech because you have nothing to say.” -Edward Snowden

In the Supreme Court, Meenakshi Arora, one of the senior counsel in the case, compared it to living under a general, perpetual, nation-wide criminal warrant.

Had never thought of it that way, but living in the Aadhaar universe is like living in a prison. All of us are treated like criminals with barely any rights or recourse and gatekeepers have absolute power on you and your life.

Announcing the launch of the # BreakAadhaarChainscampaign, culminating with events in multiple cities on 12th Jan. This is the last opportunity to make your voice heard before the Supreme Court hearings start on 17th Jan 2018. In collaboration with @no2uidand@rozi_roti.

UIDAI's security seems to be founded on four time tested pillars of security idiocy

1) Denial

2) Issue fiats and point finger

3) Shoot messenger

4) Bury head in sand.

God Save India

Friday, November 20, 2015

9069 - Mumbai: Property transactions to become easier - DNA

Monday, 16 November 2015 - 7:00am IST | Place: Mumbai | Agency: dna | From the print edition

The electronic registration — which is linked to biometric authentication through Aadhaar numbers — can be done at empanelled service providers, who are presently numbered around 50 in Mumbai and the department plans to hike their numbers to 200 by March 2016.

Soon, property transactions will become easier as the department of registration and stamps will include more documents like allotment letters issued by the MHADA Mumbai board and mortgages in the list of papers that can be e-registered. Dr Ramaswami N, inspector general of registration and controller of stamps, told dna that they were including the allotment letters for the MHADA Mumbai board in the documents which can be registered electronically. "We have already customised the documents and incorporated them in the e-registration site," he noted. "The plan is in final stages and we have sent a template to MHADA for approval. The final testing is underway," said a senior official from the department. A MHADA official confirmed that the e-registration of the allotment letter, which is the ownership document of the flat, would begin soon.

The electronic registration — which is linked to biometric authentication through Aadhaar numbers — can be done at empanelled service providers, who are presently numbered around 50 in Mumbai and the department plans to hike their numbers to 200 by March 2016. By mid-October, around 300 leave and license documents were registered in Mumbai through e-registration. The decision to include more documents in the process will boost e-registration. These service providers will charge Rs700 for these services (of which Rs 150 will be paid to the department) and an extra Rs 300 for home visits. For e-registration, the parties to the document and their identifiers need to be Aadhaar card holders.
People with the necessary hardware like biometric fingerprint scanners and software can also complete the process from the comfort of their homes. "We are also planning to include registration of mortgage in the list of documents for e-registration. We have already allowed e-filing of the notice of mortgage," added Ramaswami. He, however, admitted that they would have to tread cautiously on including more documents in the e-registration process as many transactions like those involving sale and purchase are sensitive in nature and involve transfer of rights.
The department has already allowed e-registration of leave and license agreements, first sale of flats by developers and allotment letters by the MHADA Konkan board. The department is gradually making it mandatory for those who want to get leave and license agreements registered to go in for e-registration rather than getting this done in the sub-registrar offices (manual registration).
The move has already been initiated in Mumbai with four offices. This will reduce footfalls in these offices as these agreements form a bulk of the registration burden in the city and will help officials undertake back-end work on recovering stamp duty on around 50,000 documents in Mumbai (of a total 1.25 lakh in Maharashtra) pending for registration. However, this is not being done "openly" due to the Supreme Court's order.
Officials say that this Aadhaar-based e-registration will help people file documents at their convenience, do away with the necessity of coming to government offices and being fleeced by agents and lawyers charging hefty fees. However, this may inconvenience people who do not hold Aadhaar cards or are unaware about the facility.
Mumbai has 25 registration offices including five in the city, six at Andheri, five at Kurla and nine at Borivali. Of the around 3 lakh leave and license documents registered across Maharashtra, around 2.5 lakh were in Mumbai. Leave and license agreements, which can be registered for a period of up to five years, give protection from the provisions of the Maharashtra Rent Control Act, 1999.