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

Sunday, March 13, 2016

9500 - NDA govt 'gracious' in taking forward Aadhaar: Nilekani - Money Control

Mar 12, 2016, 10.43 AM | Source: CNBC-TV18 
Former UIDAI Chairman and ex-Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani says he feels "great" after the government today passed the Aadhaar bill using the money bill route in the Lok Sabha.



Former UIDAI Chairman and ex-Infosys chief Nandan Nilekani says he feels "great" after the government today passed the Aadhaar bill using the money bill route in the Lok Sabha. In an interview with CNBC-TV18's Shruti Mishra, Nilekani shared his thoughts on the journey that the platform has taken since he helmed it, the change it can potentially bring about and whether the bill addresses concerns that had existed around it. 

Below is the transcript of Nandan Nilekani’s interview with CNBC-TV18's Shruti Mishra. 

Q: You are a happy man today. The Aadhaar Bill got passed in the parliament this afternoon. How do you feel? A: I feel great. It is a very good bill. I wrote about this a couple of days back. It has got some really very strong provisions on privacy, best in class provisions and it is laying the foundation for India's economy and business to become paperless, presence-less and cashless, transforming and reimagining every sector of the economy. So, it is a great day. 

Q: It is also a landmark date. We have 100 crore already enrolled. So, how does it feel, how has the journey been like for you? 
A: The journey we had lot of twists and turns and ups and downs in the last six years but by the end of March, early April we will have one billion people on the platform making it the world's largest digital ID platform and it is not just the platform, on that we have many services like authentication and KYC and all that. All that will lead to a transformation of Indian business and government. 

Q: Now that Aadhaar gets a statutory status what are the next steps we can expect in the use of Aadhaar for the rollout of schemes like direct-benefit transfer (DBT), liquefied petroleum gas (LPG), fertiliser? 
A: That is for the government to speak. If you go by the public statements of the government they intend to use it for kerosene, they are planning for pilots in fertiliser, they are using biometric authentication for physical update (BAPU) for rice and for public distribution system (PDS). Then there is talk about using it for seed subsidies. So, the government side of it will take off with the cash transfer. The other exciting thing now is that with the new private banks and the small banks coming the new banks will use this technology to really create next generation banks. So, the private usage for providing services and also the Securities and Exchange Board of India (SEBI) is now looking at how to use for mutual funds. So, we are seeing a lot of other players looking at using it for the next wave of innovation. 

Q: Jayant Sinha has commented that Aadhaar statutory status will help save 15-20 percent of the subsidy bill. Do you believe this is an accurate estimation? 
A: Easily, as the government has said publicly, from LPG alone they saved something like Rs 12,000-15,000 crore. So, you are looking at a minimum of Rs 50,000 crore a year of savings on subsidy bills and that is just on the central government subsidy bills on LPG, kerosene and food and fertiliser. There is also electricity and water which is state governments. Even that can be cash transfers. Then interest subvention can be cash transfers. Minimum support price (MSP) purchases we can make it cash transfers. So, there is a whole tonne of things which in the next 5-10 years we will have huge economic benefits. 

Q: Since the very beginning privacy and security these have been concerns since the very beginning. Even in the parliament today there was a debate over privacy and security. Do you feel these concerns are exaggerated? 
A: Aadhaar has the best security architecture that we have of almost any government system around. It is highly secure, it is minimal data, it is encrypted, it is kept offline, it has multiple layers of security. So, it is a very secure system and anybody who actually understands technology and studies it will be able to understand that. On privacy this bill has very strong provisions. You can't share biometric data. You need user consent. You need informed consent. So, a lot of very state of the art cutting edge ideas on privacy in the bill. So, on both counts it is a very good bill. 

Q: But the bill says that in case of national security, biometric information will be given out. Is that not a misuse? 
A: No, biometric information will not be given out. They need to look at that. My understanding is that biometric information is not given out under any circumstances. In any case, national security in any country if the conditions are there then [they] do open a data. And if you look at what is happening in the US if something happens like 9/11 then you do get all the data. So, national security is a legitimate requirement. Obviously you would have safeguards that that is used in a very proper manner. 

Q: BJD's Tathagata Satpathy says that the definition of biometric information is too wide and that is why he is opposing the bill. Your comments on that? 
A: I don't know what he is talking about, with all due respect to the honourable member of parliament (MP). It is very clear we have the photograph which is there in many systems. The key biometrics which is different here is the 10 fingerprints and the iris and that is by the way so many countries today when all these propel travel abroad they are giving their biometrics to foreign governments. So, biometrics is a well known sort of thing now and India has taken a huge amount of care to make sure it is very private. 

Q: You obviously have studied the current bill and it is not the same UPA bill. Do you support the current bill and anything that would want should have changed? 
A: That bill was conceived in 2010 and now it is 2016 and a lot of water has flown under the bridge. The power of this platform for subsidies have come out. So, the fact that they are using it as the platform for subsidies is a very good thing. The privacy concerns have been addressed. So, this is actually the best of both the governments. The UPA was very gracious in giving me a chance to build this platform and the NDA government also has been gracious in taking it forward. So, I am a happy man because the country is benefitting from this.