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, September 17, 2016

10441 - Lack of Aadhaar will not deny a person government benefits

By Aman Sharma & Surabhi Agarwal, ET Bureau | Sep 15, 2016, 02.58 AM IST
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The most important regulation, UIDAI Chief Executive Officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey told ET
NEW DELHI: Ahead of crucial hearings in the Supreme Court on the Aadhaar project, the government has brought out a set of new regulations to take care of the data security and privacy concerns around the project as well as address the political concerns that people could be denied benefits for the want of an Aadhaar. 

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), as per a set of five new regulations accessed by ET, will set up an online system for an Aadhaar number holder to "lock" his biometrics for a specific duration or permanently, and unlock it temporarily when needed for biometric authentication to get a service. 

Further, an Aadhaar number holder shall have the right to access his authentication records online - like how many times he has used Aadhaar and for what. For highvalue transactions, entities can use "multi-factor authentication" like combination of fingerprintiris matching and One-Time-Password to eliminate any chance of fraud. 

The most important regulation, UIDAI Chief Executive Officer Ajay Bhushan Pandey told ET, is that any agency requiring an individual to furnish Aadhaar to get a service will ensure his enrolment for one, in case he does not have an Aadhaar. This will mean the agency becoming a UIDAI registrar itself and set up enrolment centers at "convenient locations" to give an Aadhaar there-and-then. 



"This takes care of the concern that people without Aadhaar risk losing out on benefits or that people without an Aadhaar will have to run around to get one to get a service. Now, the responsibility has been cast on the agency to provide Aadhaar," Pandey said. Many political parties and states like West Bengal have objected to Aadhaar being made mandatory for a host of services while many people are still without Aadhaar. 

Pandey said around 37000 enrolment centers of UIDAI are operational around India to provide an Aadhaar but now all agencies providing Aadhaar-based services - like ministries, states and private entities - can also become UIDAI Registrars to give an Aadhaar at their own level. "If a person claims wrongly before the agency that he does not have an Aadhaar to procure a service, his immediate Aadhaar enrolment will expose the lie. 

So it addresses concerns of both sides," Pandey said. The UIDAI will also put in place a system of audit, as per these new regulations, where all authentication logs of citizens will be audited by an agency to determine whether they were used for the purpose they were intended to. As per these regulations, people will also be able to share a digitally signed e-KYC with banks or other agencies which accept Aadhaar based KYC - this will be an alternative to having to keep and furnish a physical copy of Aadhaar. 

All requesting entities and authentication service agencies shall have their servers used for Aadhaar authentication and routing to Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) to be located within data centers "located in India", the regulations accessed by ET say. 


By opening up a person's authentication history to him, the system will be much more secure. "It will be a statement of sorts, so that there is no confusion, if a person didn't consent to any transaction, there will be an ability to go back and check," an official said.