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

Friday, December 9, 2016

10574 - IDFC Bank using micro-ATMs to make inroads into un-banked areas - Hindu Businessline


NS VAGEESH


Versatile, handy and less expensive, these devices help the bank gain market share

MUMBAI, OCTOBER 31:  

As a recent entrant to the world of universal banking, IDFC Bank is trying to change the vocabulary that one associates with the physical reach of the banking industry.
Given the advantages that incumbent players have in terms of branch network, it knows that replicating that will take time and cost money. So, if it has to reach the top, IDFC Bank cannot get there by doing more of the same but has to find a new way to drive its costs lower while expanding its distribution and acquiring more customers.
Rajiv Lall, the bank’s founder MD and CEO, says that the bank’s customer acquisition and servicing strategy has to be branch agnostic. He says it is not the number of branches that matter but the points of presence that matter, and these can be anything — a kirana store with a micro-ATM, a business correspondent outlet or a branch.
Eventually, of course, these points of presence may not be necessary as customers become more sophisticated and connect digitally — through internet or an app on the smartphone. IDFC Bank knows that in rural areas, that would take a little longer. For now, the emphasis is on getting rural customers to come on board.
A key tool
The key tool in the IDFC Bank strategy to target lower-income customers in non-urban or rural areas is a small device — a micro-ATM.
At a glance, it looks like a large tablet. It has an attached biometric scanner and thermal printer and is Aadhaar-enabled and interoperable. It can do everything a regular ATM can — and more.
Using multiple identifiers — whether it is your mobile number, Aadhaar number, debit card number or bank account number, one can perform all basic banking transactions.
So, you can do an account opening, deposit cash into any bank account, withdraw money from your account, undertake balance enquiry, get your statements, make funds transfers, remittances, etc. And customers of other banks can also transact on these instruments.
Importantly, these micro-ATMs come at a fraction of the cost of regular ATMs — estimates put them at about one-tenth the cost. So, that would be ₹50,000-60,000 per micro-ATM.
These micro-ATMs are handy and can be placed anywhere — in every village with connectivity; perhaps at a grocer, a chemist or panchayat office — and, of course, they can easily be disconnected and taken home by business correspondents.
In rural areas, where going to an ATM after nightfall may be difficult, this facility is helping improve financial access significantly, IDFC Bank officials say.
“You don’t need to go 10 km to reach an ATM or a branch now. Many farmers are now able to withdraw their fertiliser subsidy through this facility,” a bank official said.
The bank is also actively using the micro-ATM model to enable all government payments and direct benefit transfers, including pensions and scholarships, through interoperable Aadhaar-enabled payment services (AEPS) in Krishna district of Andhra Pradesh.
The bank will soon implement this model for the public distribution system (PDS) in partnership with the AP government. This will make PDS payments cashless and help take digital banking to the next level in rural areas.
The bank has made significant strides in AEPS through mirco-ATMs and has been among the top two banks in this area during the first half of this fiscal.
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  • Market share
    Careful placement of these micro-ATMs (where there are no other ATMs or branches) and the interoperability feature — through which the device can be used either through a phone number, card or Aadhaar number — has helped the bank gain market share.
    After its success in making a dent in un-banked areas, IDFC Bank is also deploying these devices in metros such as Delhi and Mumbai to facilitate remittance of money from labourers and daily wage earners to the hinterlands. The bank has deployed about 820 micro-ATMs so far. It plans to double this number in the next six months.
    (This article was published on October 31, 2016)