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, August 27, 2016

10308 - AADHAAR CARDS NO PROOF OF NATIONALITY FOR OUTSIDE STUDENTS - PUNE MIRROR


By Yashpal Sonkamble, Pune Mirror | Aug 4, 2016, 02.30 AM IST


Ex-naval officer’s son Aditya Singh Jhuria was denied admission, his ‘nationality’ questioned in the absence of a nationality certificate. It was the same for other out-of-towners as well. (PIC: MANOJ BIDKAR)

Nearly 200 DTE candidates face admission hurdle in the absence of nationality certificate; CoEP director steps in to mandate an acceptance of notarised birth certificate as proof of nationality

The nationality debate is nastily spilling onto college application forms now. The birth certificate and Aadhaar card are enough to serve as proof of nationality during admission. But for the Directorate of Technical Education (DTE), this unique identification card has no value, especially if the student is from outside the state.

The son of a former Indian Navy officer from Rajasthan's Jhunjhunu district learnt this the hard way on Tuesday. Aditya Singh Jhuria had applied for a Computer Engineering course via the Central Admission Process (CAP), submitting both the documents as proof of being an Indian citizen to the College of Engineering, Pune (CoEP) administrative staff, only to be snubbed with a firm rejection.

Administrative officer Yashwant Kolekar demanded a nationality certificate given by the district magistrate instead, even shooing Aditya out of the admission hall.

"I came to Pune with my father, Vijay Singh Jhuria, on Monday and had applied for admission to the first-year degree course in Computer Engineering at CoEP's student facility centre. All of Tuesday morning, I stood in the queue, form and documents in hand. But, when I submitted my form and other original certificates, the administrative officer told me to get my nationality certificate, refusing to accept the Aadhaar card. Kolekar got so miffed that he asked me to leave the hall. Today is the last date to submit the form. I don't know what to do," rued a distraught Aditya.

Ex-serviceman Amar Kulkarni, a friend of Aditya's father, said, "The incident is unfortunate. The Aadhaar card is a Government of India initiative. Then why is it not considered as proof of nationality for getting admission? I request the government to consider it as one." Aditya's is not the only case of rejection by the engineering college. Though the official figures point at 20-25 complaints by students from other states, Pune Mirror's queries with students revealed almost 100 to 200 such students seeking admission were being harassed by the CoEP administration.

Akhilesh Verma, who hails from Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, told Mirror, "I am applying for the first-year Mechanical Engineering degree. I don't have a nationality certificate, but do possess an Aadhaar card. But, they refuse to accept this as proof of nationality. I have requested the CoEP staff to accept my application and give me some time to submit a new nationality certificate, but they are not even responding to that." A fellow student from Lucknow, Niraj Pandey, had the same disappointment to share. "We are camping in the city for the last two days, and are facing a volley of obstacles. I am applying for the Electronics Engineering course, but the CoEP staff did not accept my admission form as I don't have a nationality certificate."

The birth certificates issued in other states already have state government stamps and are, therefore, more than acceptable as proof of nationality. Patna resident Rocky Robert claimed they did not ever need a nationality certificate in home state Bihar. "They accept the Aadhaar card as proof of nationality. But in Maharashtra, I am facing a lot of problem with the admission process. Around 100-200 students from various other states are also in a similar plight," he stressed.

Kiran Sali, a student leader from the city who is communicating on behalf of these students with CoEP director Dr B B Ahuja, told Mirror, "Yesterday, Aditya told me about the misbehaviour by CoEP staff and the student facility centre's refusal to accept the Aadhaar card as proof of nationality. I was shocked to hear the much publicised Aadhaar card wasn't seen as valid proof of citizenship. I spoke to Dr Ahuja, requesting him to accept birth certificates as nationality proofs for now, giving them some time to produce nationality certificates. He assured me that the admission forms of all out-of-state students will be accepted."

However, Ahuja clarified, "We run the student facility centres according to the directives of the state Directorate of Technical Education (DTE). Its rules entail that we demand certificates that are listed as compulsory for first-year engineering degree admissions. The list says it is mandatory to submit a Nationality Certificate along with the forms. But out-of-state students don't have Nationality Certificates, so they show us the Aadhaar card as proof of being Indian. We got 20 to 25 complaints from students for misbehaviour by our staff in their demand for Nationality Certificates. I am not aware of any student being roughed up, which is a remote possibility. Still, I ordered the staff to behave calmly and accept the forms by taking a notarised copy of the birth certificate and other authentic documents."

But Kolekar, accused of being rude by Aditya, said in his defence, "I do my duty in keeping with the rules given by DTE. For nationality proof, we need the passport, birth certificate in which the Indian citizenship is specifically mentioned or school-leaving certificate. We will not accept Aadhaar cards as a proof of nationality. I might have flared up as it is stressful to handle so many students. I would like to apologise if anybody has been hurt." Ahuja also spoke of instances where people living outside the country possess Aadhaar cards and PAN cards even. "There are so many cases where people living in the US or other countries have PAN cards and Aadhaar cards. But, they are not proper Indians. To avoid fake Aadhaar card cases, the DTE denies it as proof of nationality," he insisted. State director of technical education Dr Subhash Mahajan couldn't agree more. "According to the DTE rules, we cannot consider the Aadhaar card as proof of Nationality. But, we will not have any student losing out academically. So, we have given such cases an extra day and admission round. If anyone is not able to submit a nationality certificate, I have given orders to the Central Admission Process (CAP) committee to accept his form with a notarised copy of the birth certificate and the school leaving certificate."

█ We have received complaints about staff misbehaviour. I have ordered them to be calm and accept forms by taking a notarised copy of the birth certificate and other authentic documents

- DR B B AHUJA, director, CoEP