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

Thursday, February 9, 2017

10828 - Articles on Aadhaar Dated 7th February 2017



findBIOMETRICS
As Aadhaar, India's national biometric ID program, continues to extend its reach into everyday life in the country, some are taking advantage and ...



Business Standard
In a major push for cashless transactions, point-of-sale (PoS) machines for credit/debit cards as well as Aadhaar-based transactions will be installed at ...






The Indian Express
The government on Monday informed the Supreme Court that an Aadhaar-based mobile phone subscribers' verification mechanism has been put in ...



Scroll.in
In his Budget speech on February 1, Finance Minister Arun Jaitley announced that Aadhaar-based smart cards were being introduced for senior ...






Calcutta Telegraph
Jharkhand has the ingenious ability to spawn scams. And, the latest involves India's flagship unique citizen identity. Aadhaar card enrolment centres ...






The New Indian Express
NEW DELHI: The government on Monday said that it has not made Aadhaar mandatory to get work under rural employment guarantee scheme and if ...
Aadhaar leeway hope on job scheme - Calcutta Telegraph



Deccan Herald
Aadhaar number is not mandatory for getting job cards under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Sceheme (MGNREGS), ...






Chandigarh Tribune
Official sources said a majority of the 26.40 lakh ration cards had already been Aadhaar-enabled and the beneficiaries would have to make biometric ...






India Briefing
The Aadhaar is a 12-digit unique identification number issued by the Indian government to every Indian citizen. The number serves as proof of identity ...






Oneindia
NC questioned purpose of linking utility services with Aadhaar as most people in J&K have not got their Aadhaar cards due to non-payment of dues by ...






Livemint
New Delhi: The cost of e-sign, an Aadhaar-based electronic signature, is expected to halve as new private companies are licenced to issue these ...






Deccan Chronicle
Mobile phones to be verified with Aadhaar card. DECCAN CHRONICLE. | J VENKATESAN. Published Feb 7, 2017, 12:44 am IST. Updated Feb 7 ...






Biometric Update
The Maharashtra, India government is expected to choose a technology vendor this month to equip fingerprint, iris and face scanners to police stations ...






National Herald (blog)
The J&K National Conference today questioned the purpose of linking various utility services with Aadhaar, as most of the people in Jammu and ...






Economic Times
This could be something as simple as helping a person apply for an Aadhaar number, the biometricbased digital identity that's becoming crucial for ...






Business Standard
The much discussed JAM (Jan-Dhan + Aadhaar + Mobile) trinity holds great promise for India, in our view. When everyone has bank accounts, can be ...






Scroll.in
Centre tells SC it will verify details of all mobile subscribers within a year, use Aadhaar to do so: Those with prepaid connections will be asked to ...






Hindu Business Line
He further added: “With technology and digitisation, our drive is Aadhaar-enabled KYC and our simplified process will enable account opening in five ...






DailyO
The noteban also worked as a catalyst on which different payment modes, like UPI, USSD (unstructured supplementary service data), Aadhaar pay, ...