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

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

11069 - BHIM, Aadhaar Pay misuse not possible: UIDAI CEO - Economic Times


By Surabhi Agarwal, ET Bureau | Updated: Apr 18, 2017, 09.39 AM IST
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The finance minister said that by September 2017 banks will enrol 20 lakh merchants on BHIMAadhaar Pay.

The BHIM-Aadhaar Pay system is more secure than any debit card or credit card network, said Ajay Bhushan Pandey, CEO of Unique Identification Authority of India, which issues the 12-digit identification Aadhaar number. In an interview to Surabhi Agarwal, he also spoke about the incentives that the government will offer to merchants accepting payment through Aadhaar and the plans for scaling up. Edited excerpts: 

What is the aim behind launching BHIM-Aadhaar? 
It is meant for those who cannot use other means of digital payment, particularly if they don’t have a mobile phone or they are financially illiterate to handle usernames, PINs, passwords. Such people can use their fingerprint and Aadhaar number for digital payments. Now the system is ready, more than 56 crore bank accounts are linked with Aadhaar and more than 75% Jan Dhan Yojana accounts have been seeded with Aadhaar. Even if bricks-andmortar banks are not there or business correspondents are not available, local kirana, medicine shops, hospitals or fertilizer shops or ration shops can start accepting payments through BHIM-Aadhaar Pay. It will provide great convenience to people. 

In terms of infrastructure, how many people accept payment through it at present? 
The finance minister said that by September 2017 banks will enrol 20 lakh merchants on BHIMAadhaar Pay. Now that the whole scheme has been launched, activity on this front will gather steam. The PDS (public distribution system) shop owners, the fertilizer shops or even common service centres will be the likely target merchants for it. Parallelly work will be done to enlist the merchants – such as kirana and medical shops. The good thing is that the merchants don’t have to pay any MDR (merchant discount rate); merchants will rather receive an incentive of 0.25% of the transaction value subject to certain caps, which will be prescribed. Customers will not be charged anything. And this is a very, very safe method of making a payment. 

How much has the government budgeted for the incentives to be given to merchants? 
The total amount is being still estimated. The government has already made the commitment. The ministry of IT is working on this; it is trying to estimate how much money will be required month-wise and then it will make the fund available. 

For how long will the incentives be given? 
Any incentive is always subject to some further review. You start with the incentive and then go on fine-tuning the old structure as you go along to make the scheme more effective. I don’t think any time period has been prescribed at this stage. 

How would you respond to concerns being expressed over the security of Aadhaar Pay? 
I would like to assure you that it is fully secure. The merchant will use an application which will be developed by the bank itself and then it will be security tested by the NPCI (National Payments Council of India) and also other appropriate security agencies. The bank’s software will make sure that any biometric will be encrypted at the time of capture and that it is not capable of any misuse. 

Supposing that some issues still happen, the money will go from, let’s say, my account to the merchant’s account. So the person who has misused will easily be identified. Here the merchant has been clearly identified and enrolled by the banks. Therefore, there is absolutely no possibility of a misuse and if any misuse happens then 100% the person will be caught and will have to face the consequences of the law. So the fears of security and misuse, as far as BHIM-Aadhaar Pay is concerned, are completely unjustified. 

What is the current scale of the merchants’ network for the payment system? 

It is around 1.75 lakh merchants. But I would like to reinforce that it is the most secure payment system. This is much more secure than any debit card or credit card platform. The merchant’s account is seeded with Aadhaar; it is validated with the bank accounts. It is not a case where on an Internet site you make a payment and the merchant is present in some foreign country island or something that we can’t trace it. On BHIM-Aadhaar, the merchant is within the country, so wherever the money goes, it can be traced.