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

Sunday, January 28, 2018

12797 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 28th January 2018



Times of India
While it may not be a wide uprising, sections of middle-class India have woken up to the flip side of Aadhaar in recent months, thanks to the efforts of a determined bunch of people who've been up in arms against government notifications making the unique identification number mandatory to access ...






Economic Times
JAIPUR: Oxford Dictionaries has chosen 'Aadhaar' as the Hindi word of 2017. The word gained popularity due to Aadhaar card, which was in news last year and is likely to remain in highlight this year as well. The announcement was made at a session "Oxford Dictionaries' Hindi Word of the Year" during ...



The Indian Express
The Maharashtra Medical Council (MMC) has issued a circular to doctors across the state, asking them to submit their Aadhaar details. The circular comes in the backdrop of a similar notification issued by the Medical Council of India (MCI) to all sate councils in the country. Around 1.4 lakh doctors ...






The News Minute
In a gross violation of privacy, a public park in Coimbatore is demanding marriage certificates of people who wish to enter its premises. In a shocking report that emerged on Saturday, M Kannan, a professor at the Tamil Nadu Agricultural University to which the park is attached is quoted as saying, ...






Mumbai Mirror
While the Supreme Court hears a set of pleas challenging Aadhaar's validity and the questions raised about privacy, Vakrangee Ltd, the largest enrolment agency for UIDAI and claims to have carried out over 50 million Aadhaar enrolments, has come under Securities Exchange Board of India's (SEBI) ...






The Statesman
The much-belated commencement of hearing on the constitutional challenge to the Aadhaar Project in the Supreme Court provides an opportunity to the highest Court of the land to affirm its role as a bulwark of freedom and democracy. This debate on Aadhaar's constitutionality has thrown up several ...




BloombergQuint
Over the past couple of years, Aadhaar has grabbed the headlines on a lot of occasions. From the apex court to news shows to tweets — a lot of people have said a lot of things about the world's largest biometric identity programme. Concerns have ranged from privacy and security to law and ethics.





Times of India
A businessman had the shock of his life when his housing loan application was rejected by a nationalised bank in November 2017 for defaulting on a two-wheeler loan. The victim alleges that somebody bought a scooter on loan using his forged Aadhaar card and did not pay 11 outstanding instalments.






domain-B
Indane Gas, the largest domestic liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) provider in Chennai, has reportedly frozen connections of customers who have not provided their Aadhaar details, despite the deadline for linking Aadhaar with domestic gas connections being extended to 31 March. Customers' requests ...








The Quint
Bhabha feels that Aadhaar is very useful but it needs to operate within a dialogical democratic space. “People should feel that their rights are protected,” he insists. Protection of rights strikes a rather bitter note in the context of the ongoing protests around Padmaavat, where the violence unleashed by ...





Press Trust of India
Speaking at an NCC rally, Modi also made a strong pitch for the use of Aadhaar, saying it has added great strength to India's development by curbing leakages and helping government ... Aadhaar's legality has been challenged in the Supreme Court, whose constitution bench is hearing the matter.



The Quint
New Delhi, Jan 28 (IANS) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said Aadhaar has lent "great strength" to the country's development and benefits that were earlier going into the wrong hands are reaching the intended beneficiaries."Aadhaar has added great strength to India's development," Modi ...






Times of India (blog)
The announcement was made yesterday at the Jaipur Literature Festival. The accompanying shortlisted words include Notebandi, Swachh, Vikaas, Yoga and Bahubali. The 'Hindi Word of the Year' is a word or expression that has attracted a great deal of attention and reflects the ethos, mood, ...






Scroll.in
The former RBI governor told the government that it needed to protect the privacy of the Aadhaar data. “I do think that we have to assure the public that their data are safe,” he said. “All these reports about easy availability of data are worrying. We cannot just say trust us, trust us, it is all secure and then ...






Daily Pioneer
Earlier also, 11-year old Santoshi Kumari, a dalit girl from Karimati village in Simdega died of starvation after her family's ration card was cancelled for not being linked to their Aadhaar number. Government officials, however, denied allegations that starvation caused the deaths, and attributed them to ...






Nagaland Post
Requirements for registration are, copy of first page bank account pass book linked with Aadhaar (personal account), copy of birth certificate (for migrant workers, proof of age certificate will be allowed, if it is from the place of origin), copy of Aadhaar card, two passport photos and certificate of proof that ...






Times of India
Once a person clicks on the link (make my registration), it will open a separate portal where all kinds of registrations can be accessed, an IGR official said, adding that people will require Aadhaar to make use of the facility. The officials said Maharashtra is the first state in the country to introduce such a ...






India TV
01:37 pm: These days you keep hearing about Aadhaar. I want to say Aadhaar has added great strength to India's development. What would earlier get into wrong hands is now going to the intended beneficiaries: PM. 01:36 pm: Earlier people believed that nothing happens to the rich and powerful.






The Telegraph
The ones preening on the grass are all Aadhaar-linked, the others haven't subscribed to the grand scheme, they must live deprived, in banishment from the perk of the park of CapitalHill. Would you reckon it's strange that nobody calls it that? Not so, not strange at all. Because most folk are incapable of ...






Moneycontrol.com
Additionally, technology must also be used to further push financial inclusion with ePayments using available data innovators including Aadhaar and Fintech players and integration of physical as well as digital experience to reach the last mile consumer. Insolvency. The race to buy the insolvency assets ...