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

Saturday, April 9, 2016

9776 - Row over Aadhaar bill: What Congress wants to achieve by moving SC - Hindustan Times

  • HT Correspondent, Hindustan Times, New DelhiUpdated: Apr 08, 2016 12:37 IST

The Narendra Modi government brought the Aadhaar bill to give legal backing to its ambitious programme of allotting a unique identity number to people and using it for a wide range of government services. (HT Photo)

Congress leader Jairam Ramesh on Thursday filed a writ petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Aadhaar bill being classified as a money bill.

The Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Bill, 2016 was passed after finance minister Arun Jaitley sought to allay the Opposition’s apprehensions concerning the bill during the Budget session this February.


The move is likely to kick up another political storm between the BJP-ruled centre and the Congress. A breakdown of what the Aadhaar bill is and what could come of the petition.

Why is there a bill for Aadhaar?
The Narendra Modi government brought the Aadhaar or the UIDAI bill to give legal backing to its ambitious programme of allotting a unique identity number to people and using it for a wide range of government services. As the Aadhaar scheme was launched through an executive decision, the Centre faced legal hurdles to make it mandatory for different activities like distribution of scholarships, wage payment, etc.

On what grounds has former rural development minister Jairam Ramesh moved court?

Ramesh expressed reservations about how the bill was passed, rather than the bill itself.

“I am not opposed to the Aadhaar bill. But I am opposed to the way it was passed as a money bill. I have appealed to the Supreme Court to know if the Aadhaar bill could indeed be called as a money bill.”

According to the law, any bill that has provisions for imposition and abolition of taxes, for appropriation of moneys out of the Consolidated Fund, etc., are certified as money bills. The Parliament rule says it is for the Lok Sabha Speaker to decide if a bill is fit to be a money bill.

Why has the Congress moved court now?
For a political party, taking legal recourse is always the last recourse. One may argue that the principal Opposition party had an opportunity to move court when the Aadhaar bill was introduced in the Lower House on March 3. But the Congress had raised objections then as well and Ramesh himself had moved three key amendments to the bill in Rajya Sabha. The Lok Sabha had rejected the amendments and passed the bill by a voice vote.

What does the Congress want to achieve?
Ramesh says the Aadhaar bill is just an example of how the Modi government is pushing the Rajya Sabha — where the government is in minority — to irrelevance. “The bill had grave implications for the future of the Upper House. It showed that in this way, the government can push any bill in Parliament as a money bill because it has a brute majority in the Lok Sabha. PM Modi has actually shown how the Rajya Sabha can be completely marginalised,” Ramesh said.

What if the apex court declares Aadhaar bill as not a money bill?
In all probability, the current bill will be considered null and void. The government will have to go back to the Parliament to pass a fresh bill if it wants to give Aadhaar a legal backing. Ramesh, however, denied that he wants this current bill to be scrapped.

“My submission to the Supreme Court is on a limited point of the Constitution: Whether or not it’s a money bill?”


Any result is unlikely to come soon as proceedings on such constitutional issues generally take time to be decided in court. Effectively, uncertainty on the Aadhaar law will continue for a long time.