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, August 18, 2017

11787 - India's neoliberal path to perdition - Catch News


| Updated on: 14 August 2017, 19:22 IST


Since the 1980s, the world has been governed by an economic philosophy known as neoliberalism. This is a faith in the universal rationality of the market, the importance of an individual as a utility-maximising agent and a fervent belief that governments have 'little' to do with economic policy – that little being the enforcement of a minimum of laws.

It was this philosophy that guided Ronald Reagan in the US, Margaret Thatcher in the UK, and the policies of the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and the World Bank. The IMF and the World Bank promoted this around the globe under the fancy name of 'The Washington Consensus'.

It was in 1981 that India took a loan, which the then Finance Minister R Venkataraman said the country really did not need, from the IMF. This loan indeed was paid off early.

In 1982 the public sector auto maker Maruti Udyog was set up, based upon the mess created by Sanjay Gandhi, the younger son of the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, who played a prominent role in the Emergency. Maruti Udyog was set up to make a 'people's car', and the considerable resources of the Indian state were devoted to ensuring the success of the automobilisation of India.

The incredible mess on the Indian city streets today has its origin in that decision. Some call this progress.

It is important we remember both these points as we consider the economic path India has chosen. From a 'socialistic pattern of society' and 'growth with social justice', the country today looks to the Sensex and the GDP growth rate as indicators of success. The government was to be business friendly with the 'ease of doing business' is its holy grail.

ON A DIFFERENT PATH?

In 1991, the country embarked on economic reforms based on a prescription of Structural Adjustment recommended by the World Bank. The government undertook a process to control its fiscal deficits.

One way to do this was by privatising many public sector units – remember BALCO? Another was by withdrawing from many activities it was earlier involved in, and leaving them to the forces of the market.

Some 25 years later, we have a high rate of growth – well above 5% – and the Sensex, which is one indicator of corporate India's performance, hitting record highs. One-third of the population is still below the poverty line. Government deficits are still not under control, but there is no longer any panic on this front.

THE FALL OF THE FORMAL TO THE INFORMAL
What is not publicised is that formal employment is not being generated, that the quality of jobs has changed from formal to informal, that for most people the daily hours of work has gone beyond eight. There has been a systematic casualisation of labour through outsourcing. Casual labour means that workers do not get benefits like paid leave, medical care and so on.
Pensions will no longer be paid to civil servants who join after 2005. Inequality has increased tremendously, with the rich increasing their share of national income. And within the rich, the top 1% has grabbed the largest share.

While this is well known, it is difficult to research this issue because the government has stopped publishing Income Tax data that it used published from 1922 to 2000.

THE PUBLIC-PRIVATE TUSSLE
In the name of 'efficiency', the government has been withdrawing from many areas, especially in the social sector. In the complete faith that the public sector is inefficient, and that the private sector by definition efficient, the government has moved from running schools to encouraging the private sector to set up schools and even universities.

With mounting evidence that the quality of education is poor across the country, the focus is on encouraging parents to send their children to private schools.

In the health sector, the government is clear that it cannot provide the services, and must depend on the private sector to set up hospitals. It has introduced various schemes that bring in the insurance companies. What ever evidence is available shows that access, forget treatment, remains a problem for many, not just the poor. What was once seen as entitlements of citizenship are now seen as services that people must pay for. In some cases, subsidies can be considered, but then subsidy is a bad word.

The government is encouraging cities across the country to hand over the provision of drinking water to the private sector as they are more 'efficient'. Cities like Delhi and Bangalore have seen sharp increases in the cost of drinking water, and a deterioration in the quality of it, especially for the poor and the vulnerable. The system of fair price shops proving subsidised food grains to the poor is being replaced by a system of direct transfer of benefits to the 'target groups' through bank accounts.

In all this, the government has placed its faith in the modern information technology and 'eGovernance'. Well-meaning engineers like Nandan Nilekani have proposed a biometric identity for people, called the Aadhaar. This raises many issues of privacy and surveillance that are complex. Aadhaar has become a Frankenstein monster they no longer control.
The issue is now before a Constitution bench of the Supreme Court. The judgement they render will have a great bearing on which way India will move. We have to wait and see. Meanwhile, I remain an (irrational) optimist.

The author is a Professor and Vice Dean, Jindal School of Government and Policy, Sonipat.

Edited by Jhinuk Sen

First published: 14 August 2017, 19:21 IST