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

10147 - PLUGGING FOR THE POOR IN A WELFARE STATE - Daily Pioneer

Wednesday, 15 June 2016 | Uttam Gupta | in Oped

The Modi Government has sought to plug the leakages in the welfare delivery mechanism. It must now sustain the momentum to achieve double-digit growth rates

Three decades ago, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi estimated that only 15 paise out of every rupee meant for the poor actually reached them because of leakages in the delivery system. This was a tacit admission that brazen loot of public money was happening but nothing was being done to curb it. Successive political establishments happily recalled the statement but never introspected on its seriousness.

In his two years in office, Prime Minister Narendra Modi not only analysed the modus operandi of how the resources meant for the poor was being misappropriated, but also galvanised the entire Government machinery to stem the rot. The outcome of team Modi's efforts, especially in key areas of subsidy on LPG, food under the public distribution system (PDS), kerosene, pension and payments under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MGNREGA) are there for all to see. All of these point towards immense opportunities for garnering huge savings, badly needed to fulfil the bare minimum needs of the poor.

Using the Aadhaar-based system for direct benefit transfer ( wherein subsidy is directly credited to the beneficiary's bank account, duly authenticated with Aadhaar number), the Government has identified ‘bogus’ beneficiaries and excluded them from the ambit of welfare schemes. In LPG, a whopping 35 million bogus beneficiaries have been weeded out, leading to a saving of Rs21,672 crore (Rs14,672 crore during 2014-2015 and Rs7,000 crore during 2015-2016).

In food, 16 million bogus ration cards were identified in Andhra Pradesh, Telengana, Puducherry and Delhi alone. By stopping the release of subsidised food on these cards, the Government saved about Rs10,000 crore. Likewise, weeding out duplicates under MGNREGA resulted in a saving of Rs3,000 crore during 2014-2015. Leakages in scholarships and pension schemes in Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Kerala and Madhya Pradesh also plugged savings to the tune of Rs2,000 crore.

All put together, the Government saved Rs36,500 crore. This is just the tip of an iceberg. When wholesome coverage all-over India is achieved, savings will be mammoth. According to officials, putting PDS and MGNREGA payments under Aadhaar-based system alone will save about Rs100,000 crore. And these savings will accrue every year.

These savings are 0.8 per cent of India's gross domestic product (about two trillion dollars). Thus, by eliminating bogus beneficiaries, during the current year, the Government can achieve fiscal deficit of 2.7 per cent against a target of 3.5 per cent. For 2017-2018, it can touch 2.2 per cent as against the three per cent target — as per its fiscal consolidation roadmap. This will have unprecedented beneficial effect on the economy by way of low inflation, lower interest rates, higher sovereign rating and more of foreign direct investment.

Second, savings can be used to increase coverage for the poor under welfare schemes. Modi has amply demonstrated this in the case of LPG. By leveraging exclusion of 35 million bogus connections and another over 10 million households surrendering under ‘Give It Up’ campaign, the Government provided connections to 30 million poor households. Another 50 million will be covered in the next three years.

The same approach is being adopted for kerosene wherein in Haryana alone, 600,000 bogus connections were stopped and more will follow as direct benefit transfer has begun (in select districts). This will be good for the environment as well as for kerosene which is being diverted for mixing with diesel adding to pollutants in the air.

A third positive spin-off will be increased availability of resources for investment in infrastructure viz, roads (including rural roads), highways, ports, railways etc. For building infrastructure to the required level, the country needs an investment of one trillion dollar (equivalent to half of India's GDP) of which 50 per cent has to be contributed by the Government. Savings by plugging leakages in subsidy pipes will come very handy to achieve this goal.

Finally, once the corruption money is released, the economic system is laundered producing all sorts of ill-effects. For instance, this money is used for hoarding food items and creating artificial scarcity. It goes for hoarding real estate/property leading to skyrocketting prices. In short, it can inflict serious damage in every sector. Most of it will stop once the leakages from welfare schemes are plugged.


Hopefully, the momentum will be sustained in the years to come; thus, laying a solid foundation for India to traverse on a double digit growth trajectory and ensure a decent living for the citizens.