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

Monday, January 16, 2017

10670 - Money bill battle erupts in Rajya Sabha - Telegraph India


Basant Kumar Mohanty


New Delhi, Dec. 1: Senior Congress leaders in the Rajya Sabha had a battle of words with the government and the Chair over alleged misuse of the money bill route to get bills passed in Parliament.

A brief discussion on a demand for a committee to examine the use of the money bill route led to the verbal duel between the treasury benches and deputy chairman P.J. Kurien on one side and Congress leaders P. Chidambaram and Jairam Ramesh on the other. Samajwadi Party leaders Naresh Agrawal and Ramgopal Yadav had called for the committee to be set up.

Opposition parties have in recent months frequently complained that the Narendra Modi regime has been taking the money bill route for ordinary bills to bypass the Rajya Sabha, where the government is in a minority. The Rajya Sabha does not have voting rights on money bills.

When the Aadhaar Bill was passed as a money bill in March this year, Ramesh had objected. Finance minister Arun Jaitley had then pointed to the Lok Sabha website and cited precedents during Congress rule. Jaitley cited the African Development Bank Bill (ADB), 1983, and the Juvenile Justice (JJ) Bill, 1986, to prove his point. But Ramesh had dug out Rajya Sabha records to argue that the two bills were not money bills. Parliament's records were more authentic than the website, he said.

The Aadhaar law aims at delivery of government benefits and services to people after verification of their Aadhaar number.
Ramesh today raised the Aadhaar bill to accuse the government of misusing the money bill provision, drawing a sharp reaction from the treasury benches. The Congress leader made certain references against Jaitley which were expunged by Kurien.
"The issue is not whether this is a money bill or that is not a money bill, but the issue is the use of the money bill route to deliberately bypass the Rajya Sabha," he said.

Ramesh then targeted the Chair citing a recent ruling on the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation (Amendment) Bill, 2015, introduced in the upper House as a private member's bill by K.V.P. Ramachandra Rao. The bill seeks special status for Andhra.
Every member has the right to bring a bill on any matter as a private member's bill.

The government has been pleading that this bill was a money bill. The Rajya Sabha referred the bill to the Lok Sabha Speaker, who ruled that it was not a money bill. However, the Lok Sabha secretary-general had given the opinion that since the bill has a provision to establish a separate high court for Andhra, involving expenditure, hence it is a Financial Bill of Category 'A' that can be introduced in the Lok Sabha only.

The bill was sent to the ministry of law and justice, which said it was Financial Bill of Category 'A'. On November 18, the Chair gave the ruling that it was a Financial Bill of Category 'A' and terminated further discussion on it. Ramesh criticised the Chair for that ruling.

Led by urban development minister Venkaiah Naidu, the treasury benches criticised Ramesh for "casting aspersions" on the Chair. "This is something unheard of.... He cannot cast aspersions on the Chair," Naidu said.

Chidambaram supported Ramesh and said any constitutional authority can make mistakes and that the Opposition was urging the Chair to reconsider its ruling.

Kurien expunged all aspersions against the Chair. "All aspersions against the leader of the House and the Chair are expunged... nobody can question the ruling of the Chair. It is final," Kurien said.

Plea to President
Sixteen Opposition parties, including Trinamul and Left, today petitioned the President - as the custodian of the Constitution - to intervene and stop the stifling of the legislative process, alleging that their rights as Lok Sabha MPs were being trampled upon.

The immediate provocation was the manner in which the Taxation Laws (2nd Amendment) Bill was passed on Tuesday, without discussion and prior notice to the MPs.