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 29, 2017

11179 - Why These Rural Women In Rajasthan Want Aadhaar - NDTV


All India | Written by Harsha Kumari Singh | Updated: April 28, 2017 01:02 IST

Bhamashah card is like a social welfare single window card made in the name of woman of the household.

VILLAGE PARA, AJMER:  Rajasthan is among the first few states in the country that has gone almost completely online for the transfer of social security benefits to the poor by linking them with the Aadhaar card and then its own unique card, called Bhamashah.

The Bhamashah card is like a social welfare single window card made in the name of the woman of the household. All rations, healthcare and welfare schemes by the state government are delivered through the Bhamashah card while the Aadhar's UID number, linked to the beneficiary's bank account, is used for online transfer of money for all central welfare schemes.

These online transfers are, however, doing more than eliminating the middlemen. They are giving the poor, especially rural women, a sense of dignity and self-respect.


Shanti Devi's husband has been crippled for 15 years. Her family in Ajmer's Para village has only four bighas of land and three goats. She depends largely on wages earned through MNREGA and a Rs.500 old age pension every month to survive.

Rajasthan has gone online for transfer of social security benefits to poor inking them with Aadhaar

Earlier, the postman would come to her door and hand over her pension to any family member he could find. Now, that has changed. Old age pension for women like Ms Devi is now directly transferred into their accounts using the Aadhar card.

"Earlier we would never know when our pension arrived. If we were not at home they would give it to our son or our daughter-in-law but now I can withdraw the cash R
s.
100 or 200. If my daughter comes home I can offer her a cup of tea from my money," says Ms Devi, who now has a say in how her money is to be spent.

Other women like her, old and vulnerable, have found a new sense of dignity and self-respect.

Kailashi Ram Gopal, a widow adds, "Earlier if a poor woman received money like me, some drunkard or somebody in the family would extract the money from her, but now it can only be taken from the bank and without a card and a finger print, nobody can take it out of your bank, so the money is ours."

Nearly five lakh families have been linked with the Bhamashah card in Rajasthan.

But it's not just pensions and rations, the online transfer of money is also helping doctors work towards bettering health indexes in rural Rajasthan.

At the primary health centre in Para village, linking institutional deliveries to the Aadhar card is helping the government monitor maternal health. Women are given Rs.1,400 after delivery under the Janani Suraksha Yojana, a central government scheme.

But doctors say the mother has to stay at the health centre for 48 hours to be eligible for the dole. Those 48 hours after birth are crucial to prevent both maternal and infant mortality.

"Patients are not given cash or cheques, the money is transferred online to their accounts before they leave the hospital," said Dr Kaislash Chand Mittal, the Chief Medical and Health Officer in Kekdi Block.

The women and their newborns will also be tracked for vaccinations and to ensure their children are enrolled in schools, there are financial incentives at each stage - all transferred online into the mother's account.

"Earlier if you got cash the money could be used by anybody in the family but now it is in the mother's name so it is beneficial for us women," said a new mother, Sonia.

Nearly five lakh families have been linked with the Bhamashah card in Rajasthan and the Aadhar coverage is almost 80 per cent in the state. But there are drawbacks, mainly with the link to bank accounts as more than half the state's  population is yet to be linked to formal banking.