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

Tuesday, December 29, 2015

9196 - Infrastructural, legal issues are hurdles to Digital India’s success - Live Mint

Last Modified: Tue, Dec 22 2015. 03 35 PM IST


Concept huge responsibility on law ministry to ensure laws are updated and not ambiguous for someone to misuse, say analysts

Srishti Gupta and Harveen Ahluwalia

The Digital India initiative aims to provide Internet access to remote parts of the country through a wireless network.

New Delhi: The implementation of many e-governance projects is no measure of the success of the Digital India initiative, as experts are of the view that it has been unable to make the desired impact due to legal and infrastructural issues.

“The Digital India concept is glorified by India but it is a huge responsibility on the shoulders of the law ministry to make sure that the laws are updated and not ambiguous for someone to misuse,” Ashish Chandra, general counsel of Snapdeal, said at the 43rd National Convention of Company Secretaries organized by the Institute of Company Secretaries of India held in New Delhi on Friday.

“The legal challenges that Digital India might face are that the laws are still outdated. There are spectrum issues, data privacy issues and product liability issues,” he added.

The Digital India initiative aims to provide Internet access to remote parts of the country through a wireless network.

“It is not a Digital India but a bureaucratic India; not from the government’s side but from a legal aspect. Though certain laws have been made like IT Act, yet the laws are not keeping pace with the changing technology,” he said.

Speaking at the event, Premkumar Seshadri, executive vice-chairman and managing director of HCL Infosystems Ltd, said the concept of digital divide has changed with respect to the number of Internet users from across the nation.

“Digital power, in the hands of the citizens, is the first step towards the empowerment of the citizens. We have been able to make things easier by bringing transparency in the processes, making them online and removing human intervention,” he said.

Seshadri also emphasized that with the digitized Aadhaar unique identity number project, real-time e-governance has emerged. The legal case against Aadhaar violating privacy is to be heard by a yet-to-be-constituted constitution bench of the Supreme Court.

However, the execution speed of digital initiatives will have to be expedited. Law secretary P.K. Malhotra said Digital India is an ambitious project launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, but in reality, it has been going on for more than two decades. “But the government can’t succeed unless the entire industry participates as a whole,” he said.

In a session on ease of doing business, experts echoed that rules and laws that will lead to an environment that fosters easy business needs to be emphasized.

“There is a lack of time frame in the government and even when there is a time frame, nobody follows it. There is a certain inability in the department to take calls because the architecture of legislation is complex,” said Ketan Dalal, chairman of the direct tax committee of Indian Merchants Chamber, a lobby group.

Dalal believes that in India, there is a tendency to over-legislate, which becomes an impediment to business. “We have to move faster. Everything has to have a time limit. There is a need for a holistic approach,” he said.

India ranked 130 among 189 nations in the World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business 2016 rankings. The National Democratic Alliance government has launched a drive to improve the country’s business environment, speed up approvals for businesses to boost manufacturing and job creation, and bring transparency and stability to tax rates.
srishti.g@livemint.com