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, January 26, 2018

12783 - Aadhaar Articles dated 26th January 2018



Economic Times
The UIDAI has responded with major revisions, in response to various criticisms on the security and privacy issues related to Aadhaar. The very first circular of the year from UIDAI Authentication Division on January 10 outlines the implementation of virtual ID (VID), unique identification (UID) token, and ...





Economic Times
The January 5 order of the high court had created much hue and cry in the Naxal-affected state, as a large number of accused continued to languish in jails despite getting bail, but not getting release warrants due to delay in verification of Aadhaar and revenue records or surety papers by the police.





India Today
Preeti Saran, secretary east, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said on Thursday, “Philippines President Duterte discussed the Aadhaar system with Prime Minister Modi. He said he was interested in India's Aadhaar system that could help him in his various endeavours including fighting corruption.”.



Hindustan Times
Aadhaar, Padmaavat: Facebook page satirises media's obsession with Taimur Ali Khan to talk about pressing issues. High on satire, the Facebook page uses Taimur's pictures to draw attention to pressing contemporary political and cultural issues the country faces. bollywood Updated: Jan 26, 2018 ...






Times of India
Going by volumes, the month of July 2017 soon after the government announcement that there would be mandatory linking of Aadhaar card to bank accounts by December 31, 2017 (earlier deadline) saw the most frenzied activity with as high as 187 lakh transactions, a jump of 50% from the previous ...






The Indian Express
The Supreme Court on Thursday asked the Chhattisgarh High Court to hear within ten days a plea challenging its order, asking trial courts to seek Aadhaar cards of accused and sureties while granting bail. “We have been apprised by the learned counsel appearing for the Chhattisgarh Bar Council that ...



The Tribune
Duterte, whose flight had to be delayed following a volcanic eruption in his country, believes Aadhaar could be used as a tool against corruption. ... Last week, there was a delegation from Philippines which came to understand the Aadhaar system,” said Preeti Saran, Secretary East in the Ministry of ...



Trak.in (blog)
The Aadhaar system has seen its shares of surprises and controversies. But things are slowly improving as the government is pushing for more clarity and ease in implementation of some of its directives. It has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar with all important documents like insurance policies and ...






Firstpost
One of the key questions posed by the Supreme Court in yesterday's hearings on the Aadhaar case was on the ownership of the source code behind the CIDR. Surprisingly, the response of the petitioners was that this was proprietary code, and neither the government nor the UIDAI owned it.



Hindustan Times
Saran, while briefing reporters about bilateral meetings Modi had with leaders of six ASEAN countries since Wednesday, said Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte evinced interest in learning from India's 'Aadhaar' project to which Modi expressed readiness to offer help. Besides Duterte, Modi has held ...



Hindustan Times
The only way they can get Aadhaar authentication done to receive their entitlements under the public distribution system (PDS) is by scaling a hill in the locality. According to villagers, a certain corner of the hill is the only place in the entire area that offers access to mobile connectivity. Hence, everybody ...






The Hindu
According to Passport Officer N.L.P. Chowdary, those above 18 years of age need to submit Aadhaar card/Aadhaar allotment letter/e-Aadhaar containing the 12-digit Aadhaar number/28-digit Aadhaar enrolment ID printed on the Aadhaar enrolment slip issued by Unique Identification Authority of India.



Newburgh Gazette
"Even where a person is availing of a benefit, subsidy or service from the state, mandatory authentication through Aadhaar (without an option to use an alternative mode of identification) violates the right to informational privacy", he said. Justice Chandrachud shot back, "Can we not make distinction of ...



Theafricom
Observing that the collection of biometric data under Aadhaar had begin some years back and there was a distinction between the collection of data and its use, the five judge constitution bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra said that there would be no problem If the data is used for the objective it ...



The Hindu
Four persons were arrested by the police on Thursday in the case relating to tampering of the Aadhaar card by a prospective donor, Mudavat Venkateswarlu Naik, who pledged his kidney to Chigurupati Siva Nageswara Rao of Guntur. Mr. Naik, who was arrested on the charge of fabricating his Aadhaar ...






Swarajya
India And ASEAN To Bolster Maritime Security Ties: India and the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on Friday decided to step up maritime and counter-terror cooperation and bolster connectivity plans during a commemorative summit, which also looked at ways for the speedy conclusion ...






The New Indian Express
Taking Aadhaar cards from Venkateswarlu and his wife, he created duplicate Aadhaar cards by morphing pictures and changing names with help of one Neela Prasad Babu of Tenali. Using those fake Aadhaar cards. he took help of Indla Nageswara Rao to apply for residence certificate and family ...



Wall Street Journal
Bangalore, India. Will the world's largest democracy curb the world's largest biometric identity program? Earlier this month, India's Supreme Court began hearings on the future of Aadhaar, a 12-digit identification number linked to an individual's fingerprints and iris scans that has become ubiquitous in ...






DailyO
Not just the ease of doing business rankings, but also the case of “Aadhaar savings” estimated by the World Bank have been comprehensively criticised by activists and welfare economists on the ground in India. In its 2016 report titled “Digital Dividends”, the Bank said savings worth $11 billion was ...






NDTV
Curbing black money has been among the priorities of the government and Prime Minister Narendra Modi has said on domestic as well as international platforms that steps like demonetisation and linking bank accounts with Aadhaar is targeted at removing black money.