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

Friday, June 24, 2016

10143 - Modi’s Smart Welfare Hits States Roadblock Swarajya Staff - Swarajya


June 15, 2016, 8:05 pm

State governments are proving to be big impediment in Modi Government’s ambitious work of covering all National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) workers with Aadhaar cards and making sure that their payments are made through the Aadhaar-based payment bridge. The states ruled by the opposition parties in particular are among the big laggards, but some BJP-ruled states are not doing great either.

The Economic Times (ET) report (14 June) says that many big states, especially those ruled by the opposition like Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, and Karnataka, are set to miss the Centre’s July-end deadline of seeding all MGNREGA workers with Aadhaar cards.

Last month, the central government had set an ambitious target of achieving 100 percent success in making all MGNREGA payments to the beneficiaries by direct bank transfer, after getting their consent. For this purpose, it directed the state governments to set up special camps. However, the results show that the state governments are failing. The ET report tabulates the performance of six big states. Here are its findings:

West Bengal has 1.34 crore MGNREGA workers. Only seven percent (22 lakh) of them are receiving Aadhaar-based payments. Since 15 May, when the special camps were launched, Mamata Banerjee’s government has been able to get the consent of only 1.67 lakh workers.

The situation is worse in Uttar Pradesh. It has 1.04 crore MGNREGA workers, but only five percent of them are receiving Aadhaar-based payments. The Akhilesh Yadav government could only register 1,178 workers in past one month.

Karnataka fares relatively better in the number of MNREGA workers currently receiving direct payments through Aadhaar mode. The state has 61.25 lakh workers, with 26 percent of them receiving Aadhaar-based payments - a respectable figure compared to other states. But it has performed worse than even Uttar Pradesh in acquiring people’s consent during the camps. Only 528 people have enrolled so far, less than half the number that UP could manage.

Bihar’s record in both the regular enrollment and on the latest drive is terrible. The state has 42.21 lakh MGNREGA workers. Only one percent of them are getting Aadhaar-based payments. Nitish Kumar’s government could enrol 3,674 workers in the camps since 15 May.

Are only the non-BJP governments proving to be the laggards? Not by a long shot.

In Madhya Pradesh, out of the 90.84 lakh MGNREGA workers, only 12 percent (10.63 lakh) are getting Aadhaar-based payments. The state has managed to add just 18,364 workers in the past month.

Gujarat’s record is slightly better, but not satisfactory. The Anandiben Patel’s government was able to enrol 41,340 more workers. This is certainly much higher than what others have accomplished; besides, it only has 18.39 lakh workers under MNREGA program. However, only 8 percent of them (1.39 lakh) are receiving Aadhaar-based payments, which is same as in other poorly performing states.

Weeding out duplicate beneficiaries and eliminating middleman are key to ending big-ticket corruption in these kind of schemes. The Prime Minister cannot drag the country through this ‘smart welfare’ revolution if the states refuse to do the heavy lifting.
Unless the states cooperate, the JAM Trinity (Jan Dhan-Aadhaar-Mobile) will fail. We cannot afford such failures.