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, August 31, 2016

10328 - Aadhaar-linked joint accounts pose a new hurdle for MGNREGS wages - Live Mint


With banks linking the numbers of only the primary account holder, secondary beneficiaries are not getting paid

According to government estimates, there are 280 million workers under MGNREGS, of which 109.8 million are active workers. Photo: Priyanka Parashar/Mint

New Delhi: Payment of wages under the government’s rural job guarantee programme to beneficiaries who hold Aadhaar-linked joint bank accounts, or one that is shared by more than two people, are being held up because of procedural problems.
With banks linking the Aadhaar number of only the primary account holder, other holders of the same bank account are unable to receive payments.

The rural development ministry is unable to credit wage payments to many workers under the Mahatma Gandhi national rural employment guarantee scheme (MGNREGS) since 1 April, when payments to workers moved to the direct benefit transfer (DBT) platform, requiring them to hold an Aadhaar-linked bank account where the money is deposited.

The ministry of rural development has written to the department of financial services in the ministry of finance highlighting this issue, said two government officials familiar with the matter.

According to government estimates, there are 280 million workers under MGNREGS, of which 109.8 million are active workers.

However, these 109.8 million active workers only have 80.7 million bank accounts, as many of the women and the adult children are joint account holders with the male head of the family.

“There are instances where there are two workers who hold a joint account. The banks are saying that we will seed the Aadhaar number into only the name of the main account holder. 

But what about the wives or the adult kids? How will payments be made to them? Joint account is creating a problem. The rural development secretary has written to the department of financial services secretary on this,” said one of the government officials cited above. Both spoke on condition of anonymity.
Launched in 2006, the rural employment programme has been a key source of livelihood for millions of rural households. The programme guarantees up to 100 days of unskilled work in a year to every rural household and was credited with raising rural household incomes.

One of the criticisms of the programme, which has been largely lauded for reducing poverty and providing jobs to unskilled labour, is that it has created assets like village ponds that have no durability.

“We have written to the finance ministry and so far, we have not heard from them. Around 12% of all bank accounts under NREGA are such joint accounts. We had a video conference last week with states and urged them to ensure that accounts opened for payments have only one name to avoid problems,” said the second official.

Around 95% of the wage payments are being directly deposited in the bank accounts of beneficiaries.

Most of the areas have been covered under DBT with the exception of Arunachal Pradesh and some districts such as Cooch Behar in West Bengal.

Y.P. Issar, a former banker, said the main purpose of Aadhaar is identification of the beneficiary and facilitating payments.
“One needs to find a practical solution. So far, I have not heard of seeding two Aadhaars with one bank account as the focus of banks till now has been to ensure that every bank account is seeded with Aadhaar,” he said, adding that a better solution may be to ensure that every beneficiary gets an individual bank account.