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, May 9, 2017

11273 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 7th may 2017



Economic Times
Aadhaar internalises this dynamic of modern reality. It is useful for efficient administration and dispensing of government services. It saves the ...



The Hindu
The Union government's plan to make Aadhaar number mandatory for Employees' Provident Fund (EPF) subscribers has hit a hurdle in the ...






Times of India
Aadhaar enrolment is done through registrars -- state government, banks, Common Service Centres (CSCs) which employ enrolment agencies ...



Times of India (blog)
Aadhaar is merely an instrument to ensure that state benefits reach the intended beneficiary and don't experience the proverbial transmission losses.






The Indian Express
Rebel AAP MLA Devinder Sehrawat on Saturday suggested comparing Aadhaar information with the voter list to delete bogus names. “Voters list that ...






Hindustan Times
After linking the mid-day meal scheme with Aadhaar, the Centre now wants to assess the efficacy of the scheme and if it should continue in its existing ...






The Quint
Perspectives on Aadhaar depend on who you're talking to. With every stakeholder, a different clutch of arguments emerge on Aadhaar dealing with ...



NDTV
CBSE has published a notification regarding the entry to the NEET exam centre and the same has invited some confusion among the candidates ...
NEET to be held countrywide today - The New Indian Express



Firstpost
The recent news about government websites leaking Aadhaar data has been unsettling for many supporters of the scheme. Details like users' names, ...






Oherald
PANJIM: NGO Savera has filed a complaint against Goa Electronics Limited (GEL) for alleged gross violations of Aadhaar Act, 2016 by leaking ...






Times of India
Going by preliminary investigation reports, instances of one Aadhaar card identity was used at point of sale (PoS) machines to benefit multiple ...






Deccan Chronicle
Belagavi: Seven illegal immigrants from Bangladesh, who had got their Aadhaar and ration cards done in Belagavi to legalise their stay, have been ...






The Quint
In his weekly column in The Times of India, Swaminathan Aiyar writes that Aadhaar is not the biggest threat to privacy as there are several other ways ...






The Hindu
It makes sure that fake documents are eliminated through Aadhaar-enabled authentication. The documents stored in the cloud can be accessed in ...






The Hindu
Labour day on May 1 saw one more investor-friendly initiative launched by the Employee Provident Fund Organisation — the Aadhaar-based Online ...






Rising Kashmir Daily English Newspaper (press release)
He was informed that the technology is used to seed the ration card data base with Aadhaar numbers which eliminated bogus, dead and duplicate ...






India Today
Pagare had requested a woman of his acquaintance to give him her Aadhaar card as he wanted to buy an internet data card. He bought the data card ...






Firstpost
A statement issued by the NITI Aayog said that the BHIM-Adhaar merchant interface would pave the way for making digital payments on the Aadhaar ...






NorthEast Today
Aadhaar & Direct Benefits Transfers (DBT): Aadhaar saturation in the State is only 65%. Efforts should be made to make it over 90% in next few ...






Firstpost (satire)
New Delhi: Recently Government asserted Supreme Court, by linking Aadhar to PAN card will weed out fake PAN cards which are used for terror ...






E-Pao.net
Imphal, May 06 2017: Following the implementation of Aadhaar linkage system in all Government related proceedings by the State Government, the ...