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, February 16, 2018

12812 - Aadhaar Articles dated 16th February 2018



NDTV
"Aadhaar enables people to establish their identity so that they receive their entitlements and exercise their rights without any fear of being excluded. Section 7 of Aadhaar Act 2016 has clear provision for no exclusion - no denials," The UIDAI said on its official Twitter handle @UIDAI. The Aadhaar card ...






Economic Times
"The effective date for mandatory submission of PAN and Aadhaar number with requisite documents at the time of opening new folio or account, will now ... For new mutual fund accounts opened from February 15, investors were required to submit PAN and Aadhaar at the time of opening of such folios.






Times of India (blog)
Law minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has done well to ask state governments to make sure that not having Aadhaar does not lead to any denial of service for a citizen. His statement comes after the horrific incident at Gurugram last week, where a 25-year-old woman gave birth to a baby in the open after ...






Cartoq (blog)
With your Aadhaar card gaining plenty of significance in PM Narendra Modi's regime, it has become almost too important to link most of your important documents and accounts with your Aadhaar number. There have been many cases of people struggling to link documents, like their driving licenses, ...






Techdirt
Techdirt has been covering India's monster biometric database, Aadhaar, since 2015. Media in India, naturally, have been on the story longer, and continue to provide detailed coverage of its roll-out and application. But wider knowledge of the trailblazing identity project remains limited. One international ...






The Indian Express
Several people have been denied their monthly ration at fair price shops in Gujarat due to technical glitches in an Aadhaar-based authentication system which is used to validate beneficiaries, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's younger brother, Prahlad Modi, told PTI on Thursday. Prahlad Modi is ...



The Indian Express
A week after a woman gave birth to a baby girl outside Civil Hospital in Gurgaon after allegedly being denied treatment due to the lack of an Aadhaar card, a showcause notice has been issued to the Emergency Medical Technician (EMT). With this, the total count of those held responsible go up to three.



Times of India
BAREILLY: Uttar Pradesh Board of Madrassa Education has asked madrassa managers to ask their students from Nepal to apply for Aadhaar cards as they are unable to fill examination forms in the absence of the document. TOI had earlier reported about how the future of these students was hanging in ...






The Tribune
In a strange incident, two men approached Congress MLA Sushil Rinku and requested him to get their address changed on their Aadhaar cards. Suspecting something suspicious, the MLA asked for their identity proofs, following which they slipped away from the place quietly. However, showing ...






The Statesman
Despite facing problems and challenges in militancy-hit regions of Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), Aadhaar enrolment has touched over 73 per cent in the troubled state. As per the states latest figures till 31 January, 2018, Aadhaar enrolment for all age groups has reached 73.48 per cent, thanks to different ...






ED Times (blog)
Aadhaar is slowly but swiftly becoming one of the most important documents for Indian residents. The government has made it mandatory to link Aadhaar with a number of financial instruments to improve its targeted subsidy delivery system under DBT. After a ruling passed by the Supreme Court, the ...






India Legal
The Supreme Court Constitution Bench which is hearing a bunch of petitions challenging the centre's decision for making linking of Aadhaar with various schemes and facilities mandatory will not be sitting on Thursday (February 15) as Justice DY Chandrachud who is one of the five judges on the bench ...






Mathrubhumi English
Cheruthoni (Idukki): An Idukki native almost lost her hard-earned money under the rural employment guarantee scheme MGNREGA when her annual wage amounting to Rs 10,500 was credited to another person's account having the same Aadhaar number. The matter came to light when Shiji Manoj, ...






The Quint
It's barely been days after a $1.8 billion loan scam emerged, allegedly perpetrated by Diamond tycoon Nirav Modi based on a complaint to the CBI by Punjab National Bank. Social media, however, posed bigger questions, for instance, “Is Nirav Modi's Aadhaar linked to his bank account?” ...






Defence Aviation Post
Speaking at an interaction with representatives of the Federation of Karnataka Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FKCCI) on Wednesday, Hari Marar, Managing Director and President of the Bengaluru International Airport Ltd (BIAL) confirmed that the project to use Aadhaar identification to remove ...






VCCircle
The Karnataka government has announced the names of 10 startups that won the state's blockchain hackathon for ideas on protecting the privacy of Aadhaar cardholders, tracking organic agricultural products, and even using a government platform for buying and selling land. The theme of the ...






Times of India
Agra: One more person was arrested by the Hariparvat police which is probing how Rs 98.70 lakh was illegally transferred from the dormant bank account of a private hospital director from the Sanjay Place branch of the HDFC Bank into the account of Dharmendar Singh, main accused and an account ...






The New Indian Express
RAICHUR: A man from Raichur, who was battling technical odds of Aadhaar enrolment and administration apathy, finally has something to cheer about. Syed Samsuddin Husain, a city municipal council contract labourer, and his son on Thursday secured their Aadhaar cards, an essential unique ...






CryptoSlate
The information of every buyer and seller on each exchange platform will be traceable by using the user's Permanent Account Number (PAN) or Aadhaar ID. Additional details such as every individual user's total crypto funds and buying patterns will also be made available and managed by the proposed ...






Central Chronicle
State cyber police on Wednesday arrested two persons (one Bsc student), for cheating e-commerce websites of lakhs of rupees by making purchases and takingrefunds by claiming that the items were not received by them. The accused transacted using SIM cards linked with Aadhaar cards.Police has ...






The Telegraph
The prime minister, Narendra Modi, was talking about the Aadhaar when Chowdhury guffawed. The chairman of the House had to intervene because of Chowdhury's unruly conduct. Even people with little political knowledge can gauge the present crisis in the Congress. It is a rudderless party that failed ...






gulfnews.com
“My joy knew no bounds when the local police called me up on my mobile and asked to come with the Aadhaar cards of both of us. Once I reached there, I was sent to Khaargpur where I found my wife at the police station,” Manohar told the media on Thursday. He said he had not lost hope of getting ...






Economic Times
To complete the income tax returns (ITR) filing process, an individual is required to verify the return filed by him. The return must be verified within 120 days of filing. Verification can be done digitally (using Aadhaar, one-time password etc.) or by sending the physical copy of ITR-V to the Central ...






Economic Times
It said that unlike China, mobile payments in India are being built on public infrastructure like UPI and Aadhaar that allow open-architecture and an inter-operable payment system to evolve. "With 800 million bank accounts now linked to mobile, existing bank accounts should be mobile-transaction ready.






Deccan Herald
Aadhaar-based verification of passengers will become a reality within the next six months, according to Marar. He explains the process, "Your biometrics will identify you through Aadhaar and your ticket will confirm that you have booked a flight. Once you use biometrics for authentication, our scanners ...