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, August 29, 2017

11923 - Why are Indian banks harassing their customers over Aadhaar? - Quartz

SPARE US THE ORDEAL

WRITTEN BY
August 29, 2017 Quartz India

It was meant to be a one-stop solution to the identity conundrum of over a billion Indians. Aadhaar, the massive 12-digit biometric authentication platform, was expected to make the routine transactions, which citizens enter into with the government and private entities, more transparent.
However, this unique identity number may only have rendered the system more opaque.

The banking sector is a case in point.

Due to a confounding mix of lack of communication, multiple authorities, and parallel sets of instructions, millions of Indians now face the risk of their banking transactions being disapproved and accounts being frozen, even as lenders refuse new customers—all over Aadhaar.

The confusion
At the heart of the problem is the dichotomy between what the government and the sector regulator, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI), say about the documents required to transact.

A June 01, 2017, notification from India’s finance ministry says that the prevention of money-laundering rules, 2005, have been modified to make it mandatory to link bank accounts to customers’ Aadhaar numbers by Dec. 31.

The ministry’s communication also says that one can use either Aadhaar or one’s permanent account number (PAN) to open new accounts. “In case the client…does not submit the Aadhaar number or the PAN at the time of commencement of an account-based relationship…the client shall submit the same within a period of six months from the date of the commencement of the account-based relationship,” it further states.

However, reports contradict this, suggesting that it’s now compulsory to submit Aadhaar numbers to even open new accounts.

Meanwhile, the RBI’s know your customer (KYC) guidelines, the primary document required to open a bank account, state that Aadhaar is only one among several options that can be used to open new accounts. The other legitimate documents are passport, driving licence, voter’s ID, PAN card, the central government’s job guarantee card, etc.

“The RBI has not yet communicated to the banks that Aadhaar is mandatory for all activities and they are the final word as far as banking regulations are concerned. So I think there is a lot of confusion because the interpretation from the government notification has been different,” said the executive director of a private bank.

An email sent to the RBI over the issue remained unanswered.
In the absence of a clear directive from the central bank, some bank executives believe they cannot ignore the finance ministry’s guidelines. “Since it’s a gazetted notification, the belief is that the regulator’s approval isn’t required,” said the executive director of another mid-sized-private-sector bank, requesting anonymity.

Customers suffer
Quartz India writer Itika Sharma Punit was unable to open a joint account with her five-month-old child in Bengaluru as she doesn’t have an Aadhaar number yet. “Bank officials at ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank said Aadhaar was mandatory,” said Punit.

But ICICI Bank denied this. “One can submit any of the eligible identity and address proof documents to open an account,” the bank said in an email.

Another Quartz India writer, Sushma UN, faced trouble over Aadhaar at an Indian Bank branch in Chennai which wouldn’t allow her to close a joint account she has with her brother. Again, a bank official clearly denied that this was their policy.
Possibly, branch personnel are unaware of the rules, leaving customers in the lurch.

Some, like Kotak Mahindra Bank, have indeed made Aadhaar mandatory officially—not waiting for the Dec. 31 deadline. This, they say, is to ensure full compliance well before time.
“To avoid any inconvenience to customers post Dec. 31, in case the account is not linked with Aadhaar (such accounts will become inoperative), we insist that a customer provide his/her Aadhaar number at the point of opening an account,” Rohit Rao, a Kotak Mahindra Bank spokesperson, said in an email to Quartz.

Other lenders such as the State Bank of India, HDFC Bank, and Axis Bank did not respond to Quartz’s emails in this regard.
Meanwhile, concerns have been raised regarding the very need to make Aadhaar mandatory for banking. The Aadhaar Act, 2016, states that it can be made compulsory only in certain cases involving government funds, such as the receipt of a subsidy, benefit, or service.

With the Indian supreme court on Aug. 24 declaring the right to privacy a fundamental one, the government’s rush to make Aadhaar mandatory for a clutch of services is likely to be questioned more vigorously.

Banking customers (and banks) are desperate for answers.