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, September 11, 2016

10398 - Aadhaar enrolment figures rises to 105 crore - Live Mint

Thu, Sep 08 2016. 05 19 PM IST

Aadhaar enrolment figures rises to 105 crore

Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad announces the milestone in a tweet

Komal Gupta and Kshitiz Goliya

New Delhi: Enrolment in the government’s Aadhaar card scheme has reached 105 crore, Union minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said in a tweet on Thursday.

“I am delighted to share with you all that today out of a population of 125 Crore, India has 105 Crore #Aadhaar holders @UIDAI,” Prasad tweeted.
Accoding to Prasad, 98% of Indians have been enrolled for Aadhaar.

The announcement came soon after J. Satyanarayana, the new part-time chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), and part-time members Rajesh Jain and Anand Deshpande were administered their oaths of office.

Satyanarayana succeeds Nandan Nilekani, who was the first chairperson of UIDAI and held the position from 2009 to 2014. The post of chairman had been vacant since Nilekani quit.
Jain is founder and managing director of netCORE solutions, an IT-based firm, while Deshpande is founder and chief executive officer of Persistent Systems, which specialises in software product development.

UIDAI enrollments rose by more than a crore of within a month, up from 103.8 crore by July end, with the current rate enrollment touching 6 lakh per day, UIDAI said in a statement.
Overall, 82% of Indians have been enrolled, which besides adults also includes children, at the current rate of 6 lakh enrollments per day.
While 17 states have more than 90% aadhaar coverage, the rest of 11 are still between 75-90 percent.
UIDAI has already missed two deadlines of June 2015 and December 2015 for universal aadhaar coverage.
Prasad also administered the oath of Office and secrecy to newly appointed UIDAI part-time Chairman J Satyanarayana, who became the first person to occupy the post since Nandan Nilekani resigned in March 2014.
About 3.8 lakh authentication devices were deployed in August 2016 and 241.6 crore authentication transactions have happened since the service started in 2013, UIDAI said.
The government has paid Rs25,113 crore under Direct Benefit Transfer of LPG (DBTL) or Pahal scheme, as of August 31, leading to savings of Rs22,000 crore in last two financial years, UIDAI said in a statement.
The total number of Unique aadhaars linked to bank accounts stood at 31.7 crore at the end of August.
Total numbers of banks using Aadhaar Payments Bridge (APB) stood at 786, with 131 crore transaction done using the APB.
APB is a payment system implemented by National Payments Corporation of India (NPCI), which uses Aadhaar number as a central key for transferring the government subsidies in the aadhaar linked of the intended beneficiaries.
Mint had earlier reported that UIDAI has been organising special camps to increase the rate of enrolment.
Komal Gupta and Kshitiz Goliya

CLICK ON TITLE TO SEE ORIGINAL ARTICLE - Posted by
Labels: ,