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

Friday, April 28, 2017

11163 - In Chhattisgarh’s Kardana, Biometric Failures Are Depriving Old Villagers of Their Pension - The Wire



The government is not releasing pensions for people who have failed to submit their Aadhaar number to the bank. This is not only a violation of Supreme Court orders but also an infringement of the fundamental right to life.

Villagers in Kardana, Chhattisgarh. Credit: Vipul Paikra

Kardana village is situated in Batauli block of Surguja district in Chhattisgarh – about 12 km from Batauli and 60 km from the district headquarters in Ambikapur. It is surrounded by hills and inhabited by Adivasis, including particularly vulnerable tribal groups (PVTGs). The village has 946 residents, of which 195 are widowed or elderly pensioners.

There are no bank branches in Kardana nor does it have mobile connectivity. The nearest connectivity spot is in Chiranga, about 9 km away across the hill.

Pensions in Kardana used to originally be paid in cash and later through post-office accounts. More recently, pension payments were shifted from post offices to banks. Pensioners were told to open accounts with the Union Bank of India (UBI), which has only one branch in the district, far away from Kardana, in Ambikapur.

Pension payments have also gone through many technological changes. The latest development is the introduction of biometric point-of-sale (PoS) machines, handled by bank mitras, also known as business correspondents, in places where there are no banks. The PoS machine requires connectivity and since there is none in Kardana, UBI has appointed a bank mitra in Chiranga.

The system works as follows. Pensions are paid into the recipients’ accounts. Meanwhile, the bank mitra authenticates the recipients by verifying their fingerprints against the Aadhaar database over the internet using the PoS machine and gives them a receipt. He then collects the aggregate pension amounts of the authenticated pensioners from the bank in Ambikapur and distributes them to those who have authentication receipts. 

In other words, the bank mitra acts as a proxy for the authenticated pensioners when he goes to the bank. But what if there is no connectivity when the pensioners come to Chiranga, or if the machine does not recognise someone’s fingerprints?

These hurdles have affected many villages in Chhattisgarh. Kardana pensioners, many of whom walk with great difficulty, have had to trek 9 km down the hill to Chiranga to collect their meagre pensions. Even when they manage to reach, it often happens that the PoS machine refuses to recognise their fingerprints, forcing them to walk back in vain. They live, literally, at the mercy of the PoS machine. In Kardana village alone, seven persons have stopped getting their pension since biometric authentication was introduced.

Before biometrics were introduced, cash payment of pensions through gram panchayats was replaced with post-office payments to avoid rent-seeking behaviour. The post office turned out to be short of staff for this purpose, so banks took charge. The bank mitra system, however, is also vulnerable to corruption. Many pensioners are not clear about the amount they are supposed to receive. With payments often kept pending for two or three months, they are unable to keep track, all the more so as they get flimsy receipts that become illegible within a few weeks as the ink vanishes. In the absence of any bank branch nearby, they are unable to get their passbooks updated. In this confusion, many villagers claim that the bank mitra often cheats the pensioners. The PoS machine is no protection against this sort of fraud.

Going to the bank in Ambikapur is very difficult for old people in Kardana (the nearest bus stop is in Batauli). Travelling to Ambikapur would also cost them half of their monthly pension. In any case, bank employees often refuse to print passbook entries on the pretext that ‘the machine is not working’. There again, pensioners are often victims of the tyranny of the machine!

The use of Aadhaar in welfare schemes has been a contentious issue lately. The government’s desperate attempt to link numerous facilities with Aadhaar has put many people in a difficult situation. Even if they have an Aadhaar number, correctly seeded in the relevant database, they are vulnerable to biometric failures. The locus of authority, which is supposed to lie with the people in a democracy, seems to be shifting to inanimate machines. It also emerged, in a recent discussion with government officials, that pensions are not being released for people who have failed to submit their Aadhaar number to the bank. This is not only a violation of Supreme Court orders on Aadhaar but also an infringement of the fundamental right to life inherent in Article 21 of the constitution.
Seven persons in Kardana have stopped getting their pensions due to biometric failures

NAME
FATHER/HUSBAND'S NAME
CASTE/CATEGORY
AMOUNT DUE (RS)
1
Bhinsari (f)
Bhuthal
Pahari Korwa (PVTG)
4,550
2
Kondaha (m)
Bhothi
Nagesia (ST)
4,550
3
Budhram (m)
Khora
Majhwar (ST)
2,150
4
Sukhmania (f)
Devnath
Kanwar (ST)
4,550
5
Sarojini (f)
Devnath
Kanwar (ST)
4,550
6
Suni Bai (f)
Thibal
Nagesia (ST)
4,900
7
Devnath (m) (deceased)
Jethu
Kanwar (ST)
1,750
Source: Vipul Paikra Get the data
Created with Datawrapper

Of the seven persons in Kardana who stopped getting their pension because of biometric failures, one (Devnath) died waiting for his pension. The causes of biometric failure may be many, from old people having rough hands to technical glitches with the PoS machine. But there is an injustice being done by denying the needy their pensions. Unfortunately, this is not getting enough attention in the din of the Aadhaar debate.

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