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, April 8, 2017

10985 - Aadhaar Articles dated 7th April 2017


YourStory.com
Pushing the envelope one step further, the government will soon be making the Aadhaar card a mandatory document to fly. IT major Wipro has been ...
India to link Aadhaar to air travel - Security Document World (press release)



The Hindu
A large number of people, especially those in the south of the country, feel hassled by the Centre's decision making Aadhaar mandatory for filing ...



Livemint
New Delhi: The Aadhaar biometric authentication failure rate in the ambitious rural job guarantee scheme is as high as 36% in Telangana, data ...






Asianet Newsable
Aadhaar, India's identification project that captures demographic and biometric data and offers a unique 12 digit number has over 1.13 billion ...



gulfnews.com
Abu Dhabi: The Indian government has exempted Non-Resident Indians (NRIs) from the requirement of quoting Aadhaar (Indian biometric ID card) ...






Moneycontrol.com
At a time when the legality of making Aadhaar mandatory is being debated. The government has made Aadhaar mandatory for over 40 welfare ...





Times of India
Asharfi Nand Prasad, state convener, right to food campaign, said the recent order of the state government to make Aadhaar mandatory for availing ...






The Hindu
Paramakudi Sub Collector G S Sameeran has ordered the closure and sealing of an Aadhaar enrolment centre for charging exorbitantly for Aadhaar ...






The Tribune
While government has made it mandatory to submit the Aadhaar cards of both parents and students during the time of admission, another order states ...






DailyO
In a series of moves, the central government has issued 15 notifications linking social welfare schemes to Aadhaar. The most worrisome among them ...






The Quint
A string of critical commentary and analysis of the Aadhaar system led its creator and former Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chief ...





MENAFN.COM
"Electronic Health Data Privacy, Confidentiality and Privacy in India" that will permit collecting Aadhaar numbers associated with medical records has ...






Deccan Herald
Some offered 'home delivery' services, collected money. Sources said that in some cases Aadhaar cards were issued based on incorrect and ...






Economic Times
Only those who are eligible to obtain Aadhaar will need to quote the number while filing income tax return, the income tax department has clarified.






ExamsWatch
Aadhaar card in AKTU exams Providing Aadhaar number has been made mandatory for most of the competitive examinations for seats in ...






India Today
Even as India debates over Aadhaar and its growing prevalence in decision making, a major breach has caught the Bengaluru police foot in mouth, ...



NDTV
Mid-day meal has been made a legal entitlement by a 2001 order of the Supreme Court and reports of the government's making Aadhaar mandatory ...






NDTV
Nandan Nilekani, the architect of biometrics-based citizen identification program Aadhaar, said on microblogging site Twitter: "It looks like WhatsApp is ...






National Herald
MGNREGA hit by low funding and Aadhaar hurdle: The innovative rural employment guarantee scheme is facing fund cuts/ delay in payment in many ...






NYOOOZ
... only and shall be energised through prepaid meters to prospective consumers who have valid documents such as Aadhaar card/PAN card etc.






Deccan Herald
The alarming thing is that many of the Rohingya muslims who are now in Jammu have already got the Aadhaar card, Mahtab said, adding that the ...






The Wire
The signatories had accused the government of continuing the abuse of process where vital debates on the controversial Aadhaar Bill, 2016 were ...