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

10997 - Will making Aadhaar mandatory help at all? dna India




 DIPSHIKHA GHOSH | Thu, 30 Mar 2017-08:10am , DNA
Policy watchers weigh in on Aadhaar use and abuse

There are dozens of instances of the government (and even private companies) making Aadhaar compulsory, which directly violates the Supreme Court’s orders, which only allow Aadhaar to be used on a voluntary basis for a limited number of government schemes. Apart from contradicting the SC order, Aadhaar has security and privacy problems. Aadhaar Pay is to be launched in April. CIS has shown that multiple UIDAI-approved fingerprint devices that are on the market today allow you to copy people’s fingerprints. This means shopkeepers who collect your fingerprints for Aadhaar Pay can surreptitiously sell your fingerprints and Aadhar number, which is enough to defraud you of money. How will you prove you didn’t authorize a transaction when it was your fingerprint?

We don’t have a privacy law in India, so there is no protection against private companies misusing Aadhaar while collecting personal data about you, and selling that data without your consent. We need a strong privacy law, and we need to stop using biometrics as a “password”.

Pranesh Prakash, Policy Director at the Centre for Internet and Society
Aadhaar would be effective if it was to be made mandatory for voting. That would reduce dependence on voter booths. Those with access to the internet could stay at home and do a simple scan and cast their votes. A big bulk of poll expenses are spent on the polling day itself. Workers and booth organisers, in the case of Odisha at least, need to be around constantly. They work in shifts and are responsible for herding rural voters to the polling booths. What also tends to happen is politicians automatically invest in booth workers from villages who have local support so that they can influence his/her close ones to vote for them. In some cases private enities lik microfinance companies who hold Aadhaar data in rural areas of customers can sell the data for a mere four per cent of the loan they gave. I do not stand with the Bengaluru tech mafias who want to make Aadhaar mandatory.

Tathagata Satpathy, MP, Odisha
Aadhaar comes with immense benefits and this is the reason there has been expansion in its uses. The new Aadhaar Act has no legal constraints for expansion. The biggest advantage is that there will be no leakages or duplication of Aadhaar identities, which seems to be a pervading problem with both PAN and ration cards. It also helps in direct transfer of benefits. Thirdly, it makes it much easier to know who is accessing benefits. Many schemes are spread over different databases. Integrating schemes into one Aadhaar database helps understand who is accessing what benefits and whether there are any overlaps. Any argument against Aadhaar is specious and lacks substance.

GVL Narasimha Rao, BJP spokesperson

As told to Dipshikha Ghosh