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

Monday, March 7, 2016

9399 - Linking Aadhaar to better healthcare - The Hindu

MUMBAI, February 27, 2016




US health expert says India’s unique identification system and mobile phone penetration can be tapped for treatment of cancer and other ailments

The Aadhaar card’s utility has so far been limited to getting an LPG subsidy, or as an address and identity proof, but it found an unlikely mention as an effective health tool on Friday on the first day of a massive oncology conclave, ‘A Conference of New Ideas in Cancer — Challenging Dogmas’, organised by the Tata Memorial Centre to mark its platinum jubilee.

According to a presentation by Edward Trimble, director of the Centre of Global Health at the US National Cancer Institute, India can tap its unique identification number and mobile phone penetration for better patient care.

Speaking to The Hindu , he said: “In my own country, the US, we don’t have a unique personal identifier used routinely in the healthcare system, which makes it very difficult to link the records from the doctor’s office, the hospital, the pathology laboratory and the pharmacy. So what is impressive to me is that India has set up the Aadhaar system. I have been to the headquarters, I have seen the fingerprints, the iris scan, the very quick turnaround (30 seconds to identify a person). If this is integrated into the healthcare system, India is probably further ahead of many other countries in terms of being able to link all this data.”

The linking of data can come in handy in the treatment of various medical conditions, particularly cancer. “Once the data are linked, you can track if people have been screened for cancer, if they had a positive screen and if they received the appropriate evaluation and what treatment did they get for their cancer and did they get the right prescription,” Dr Trimble said.
He cited the example of France, that he said had a very good system, where each citizen has something like a data card. “When you go to see a doctor, you give them your data card and the doctor puts it in the computer and can see if there are any previous issues, laboratory studies. At the end of the visit, the doctors types on the computer and that data automatically go on to the data card. So France is possibly the furthest ahead in terms of being able to capture the data. In the UK, the NHS does a pretty good job of gathering the data because probably 90 per cent of the people are treated in the same health system,” he said.

This kind of compiled data can be an effective tool. During his presentation that was on the future of oncology and out of the box ideas, Dr Trimble mentioned the need to go beyond cancer registries and the need to map the burden of risk factors for cancer, the details of treatment, patient reported outcome and links to other key datasets. Aadhaar, with its biometric identifiers, could fill in for the need of datasets for healthcare.
India’s mobile phone penetration, which crossed the one billion mark in January, can also be used to improve access to healthcare, with phones allowing patients to reach doctors or nurses through a text message, Dr Trimble said. “India has great computer experts and we should be able to help develop the software, so that you could get a quick response from a doctor or nurse using mobiles," he said.