AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 9935 - Checking frauds? Govt looks at ways to link Aadhaar and PAN

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

Wednesday, May 11, 2016

9935 - Checking frauds? Govt looks at ways to link Aadhaar and PAN - Hindustan Times

Checking frauds? Govt looks at ways to link Aadhaar and PAN

Timsy Jaipuria, Hindustan Times, New Delhi | Updated: May 05, 2016 13:34 IST

The linking of Aadhaar with PAN would help the department to weed out duplicate PANs, and curb tax evasion. (PTI File)

In a bid to link 12-digit unique identity number – Aadhaar -- with the permanent account numbers (PANs), the income tax (I-T) department is “brainstorming to come up with more incentives” for taxpayers, which will also reduce the direct interface with the taxman.

Aadhaar is the number issued by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), which is unique to every individual as it captures biometric information like fingerprints and iris scan.

PAN is a 10-digit alpha-numeric number allotted by the I-T department and is mandatory for conducting tax transactions and high-value financial transactions.

The linking of Aadhaar with PAN would help the department to weed out duplicate PANs, and curb tax evasion.

A senior tax department official confirming the development said that the Income Tax Act does not have the provisions to make it mandatory to ask people to submit their Aadhaar numbers.

“The department is of a view that by offering more incentives, genuine taxpayers would be encouraged to provide Aadhaar numbers on ITR forms. This would also help the department to maintain the database where bank accounts, PAN, ITR, and Aadhaar would be linked, and it would help in forming a seamless tracking system to catch hold of scrupulous entities,” the official added.

As per the I-T department data, more than 240 million PAN numbers have been issued, and less than 10% of them file income-tax returns (ITRs). Out of this, around 11,00,000 have been declared invalid due to various reasons, including multiple issuance of PANs to the same taxpayer.

Last year, the I-T department had introduced a column in the ITR form, where the taxpayers can mention their Aadhaar number. But, it is voluntary.

In the PAN application form as well, there is an additional column to provide Aadhaar number. But taxpayers have an option to leave that blank as well.

As an incentive, the department said that linking of the Aadhaar with PAN would spare them from sending the tax verification papers to Bengaluru.

It added that providing Aadhaar number would help in faster processing of the returns and early issuance of tax refunds.

The department also activated the Aadhaar and net banking-based e-filing verification system for taxpayers to file the first appeal before a tax officer, in case of disputes.

With over one billion Aadhaar numbers generated, which covers around 93% of adults, so far, the department is hopeful that linking of Aadhaar with PAN would help in stopping duplication of more PANs, and thus the government is mulling more incentives to make the taxpayers voluntarily submit their Aadhaar numbers.

The department believes that a broad database of Aadhaar can be a ready source to cross-check the identities of genuine people.

Aadhaar, has also been identified as a new weapon in the government’s armour to fight black money, put an end to benami transactions and check frauds. So far 254.8 million bank accounts are linked with Aadhaar.

“Since it is now the largest online digital identity platform in the world, the tax department wants to use the Aadhaar database to expand tax research further,” the official added.