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

Sunday, August 28, 2016

10315 - HE MULTIPLE FACETS OF AADHAAR - Daily Pioneer


Monday, 08 August 2016 | Himanshu Lal | in Oped

The Government’s decision to link direct benefit transfers with Aadhaar can be a game-changer in a sense that it will empower not only various schemes but also numerous sections of the society. Sooner or later, Aadhaar has to become the aadhar of the country

Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique   identification number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for all residents in the country on a voluntary basis. The number is stored in a centralised database and is linked to basic demographics and biometric information-photograph, 10 fingerprints and iris of each individual. It ensures uniqueness and there can be no space for duplicity in the future as per the present technology.

Initially, Aadhaar was used only for identification purpose, but now, it is being used as a device for direct benefit transfers (DBT) to the poor and needy under various Government schemes. Aadhaar is a real game-changer for this country. Till now, due to various cases in the Supreme Court, only a few schemes related to the poor and needy viz, the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (MNREGA), the National Social Assistance Programme, the Pradhan Mantri Jan-Dhan Yojana, various scholarship programmes, LPG subsidy etc, could become Aadhaar-based.

The total savings on behalf of leakages due to Aadhaar-based seeding, during the last five and a half years, tantamount to billions of rupees. A World Bank study which applaudes the Aadhaar-based seeding points out, “India’s fuel subsidy programme, implementing cash transfers to Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, to buy liquefied petroleum gas cylinders, saved about one billion dollar per year when applied throughout the country.”

According to another report, the implementation of Aadhaar enabled four States viz, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Pondicherry and Delhi save a total amount of Rs 2346 crore.
On the other hand, the Government estimates to have saved over Rs 27,000 crore by cash transfers for payments to beneficiaries under various welfare schemes in the last two years. DBT has resulted in significant savings across welfare schemes. It has also resulted in weeding out of duplicate beneficiaries. For instance, over 1.6 crore (16 million) bogus ration cards have been deleted, resulting in savings to the tune of Rs 10,000 crore.

Similarly, 3.5 crore duplicate beneficiaries were weeded out in the PAHAL scheme, resulting in savings of over Rs 14,000 crore in 2014-2015 alone. Similar efforts in MGNREGS led to a saving of Rs 3,000 crore — roughly 10 per cent of the entire annual budget of the reform. Several States and Union Territories too have achieved significant savings through DBT.

On April 4, UIDAI generated the 100th crore Aadhaar. Also, the Aadhaar (Targeted Delivery of Financial and other Subsidies, benefits and services) Act, 2016, was passed on the March 11 by the Lok Sabha.

The generation of the 100th crore Aadhaar and the passage of the Aadhaar Act will be remembered as two landmark events in the history of India. With this, Aadhaar has become the largest online digital identity platform in the world. Not only this, presently, it is the world’s one of the most secured data repository system too. Functionally, it is better than the digital identity system of Chile, Ghana, Pakistan, South Africa, Turkey or Egypt.

Very few people are aware of the fact that Aadhaar-based identification system is more mammoth, more secure and more unique than the United States’ Social Security number-based identification system which does not cover the biometrics and iris of individual. It covers only the demographic data of an individual and hence, it cannot be unique and secure. It can be fudged, altered or manipulated which is not true for Aadhaar-enabled system in India.

The passage of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, will facilitate the formation of a statutory unique identification authority of India and the linkages of Aadhaar-enabled system to various schemes, programmes and services of Government of India, starting from taking benefit of a scheme to railway reservations, to income tax collections.   Every scheme and service in India can be connected to the Aadhaar network.

This new Act provides for several measures for the security and confidentiality of information. There are restrictions on sharing of information and there are punishments and penalties for misuse of information/impersonation in the Act.

Hence, the new Aadhaar Act, at one time, provides for the facilitation of the Aadhaar-based linkages with the different schemes/services of Government of India which will help save billions of exchange every year. At the same time, it has tried to secure the information provided by citizen in the best possible way by having various provisions to ensure the security of information.

The future of it lies in the speed with which the services and schemes are linked with Aadhaar in as little time as possible.  Every activity of business, enterprise or Government has a potential of being linked with Aadhaar-based system which, at this time, is one of the most well-secured information infrastructure of the world.

Even mobile companies can make their mobiles Aadhaar-enabled. This will help the citizens avail any service from a click of a mobile in a secured way. Also, the Government of India spends huge money in elections and in managing the election structure. Aadhaar-enabled voting system, if implemented in the future, will not only help the Government save billions of rupees, which are being incurred in providing EPIC cards, revision of electoral rolls, and eliminating duplicate entries from such lists, but will also help generate every individuals vote. Sooner or later, Aadhaar has to become the aadhar of the country.

This very Aadhaar programme,  ideally supports the motto of ‘maximum governance and minimum Government’, that was echoed by the NDA Government at the Centre. This will surely help in heralding a new age in India’s governance system which is badly in need of an immediate overhaul.

While bringing governance to the maximum use of people, through the medium of information and communication technology, Aadhaar can truly be regarded as one step ahead in an emerging global power like India. Indians having an identity
proving to be more than what they have in the past, Aadhaar needs to be promoted across the country through education campaign in schools and in news media in a massive way what it is done today.

(The writer is Additional Director General of UIDAI)