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

Monday, January 15, 2018

12761 - Citizens fume as Aadhaar operators make own rules - TNN

Citizens fume as Aadhaar operators make own rules


Nisha Nambiar | TNN | Jan 14, 2018, 11:01 IST

Seven-month pregnant Sharon Fernandes had to wait for six hours to get her Aadhaar enrolment done at the Wanowrie ward office. When she requested for the enrolment of her three-year-old son as well, she was told to come some other day › A man who visited a centre with six members of his family was categorically told that onlyone person perfamily can be enrolled on a single day › M Garg (70) was made to wait for about five hours as "there was sometechnical problem" at the e-seva Kendra he had visited 
These are justsome of the instances reflecting the callous attitude of the agencies involved in Aadhaar enrolment process in the city, calling for a humane and sympathetic approach. 

"The operators very well knew about my condition. Still they asked me to wait. Thankfully my mother was with me and we took turns to wait in the queue. After my enrolment was over, I requested for the enrolment of my son, but to my surprise, I was told to come some other day," Fernandes said while recalling her ordeal at the Wanowrie ward office.

The rule of enrolling just one person per family on a given day has citizens fuming. "This is simply bizarre," said the man who visited a centre with six of his family members for Aadhaar enrolment. 

"They (operators) are too high handed. This is not the way to treat people," he said, adding, "I have a full-time job and cannot go to the centres on weekdays. It is only on Saturday that I can go with my kids and other relatives for the enrolment. And if they will continue with this rule of enrolling just one person per family on a given day, it will take me ages to get all my family members enrolled." 

Monica Bhugam, another citizen seeking Aadhaar enrolment, said even as the administration is providing these services from ward offices, only handful of people are able to benefit from it. "We expected the services to improve, but the situation is still the same as it was in the beginning," Bhugam said, adding that she had to wait for five hours for theexercise. 


Septuagenarian M Garg said, "Either the (Aadhaar) machines are not working properly or there is less staff. They have some or the other problem all the time."



When contacted, district nodal officer for Aadhaar Vikas Bhalerao said 209 machines were operational in the district and about 50 more machines were expected to be operational in the coming week. "We have been able to start operations of enrolment at all the ward offices in the municipal corporation areas, but this will slowly scale up with more machines at the government offices too," he said. 

Anil Mule, deputy commissioner and coordinator of Aadhaar in the PMC area, told TOI that nobody can be stopped from enrolment. "Anybody who comes for enrolment has to be given a token number and there is no rule about only one family member being enrolled on a given day. We willspeak tothe service providers about it," he said.

The less number of machines and chaos caused Nitin Trivedi an entire day to get his enrolment done at the Collectorate. His sister, Rita Kanubhai Trivedi, said her brother faced a tough time to get the enrolment done. "Unless there are more machines, the situation will continue to be the same," she added. 

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