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, February 12, 2018

12939 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 12th February 2018



Economic Times
The IVRS or Interactive Voice Response System-based system can be used to seed Aadhaar numbers with your sim cards. Most of the operators including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone are offering the service where customers can dial 14546 from their registered mobile numbers to seed the Aadhaar ...




NDTV
Chandigarh: The Haryana government has directed hospitals across the state not to deny or delay treatment to any patient without Aadhaar card or any ... labour ward of a hospital in Gurugram, allegedly for not holding Aadhaar card, after which she had to deliver her baby outside the emergency ward.



Business Today
In a landmark ruling last August, the Right to Privacy became the seventh Fundamental Right guaranteed by the Constitution of India. Before the ink was dry on the decision, observers such as myself wondered how the new Aadhaar biometric identification system could possibly be recalibrated to align ...
Benefits can't be denied due to absence of Aadhaar: UIDAI - GNS News (satire) (press release) (blog)
The UIDAI Balls Up - Hill Post



Hindustan Times
Elaborating on his take on Aadhaar and its issues in violating privacy, Saraph said, “I had filed a RTI application to UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) on December 31, 2017, seeking a number of clarifications regarding the mechanism of Aadhaar. One of the prominent clarifications was to ...






Live Law
In an earlier post, I examined, in broad terms, the nature of the petitioners' challenge in the Aadhaar case. Senior counsel Shyam Divan concluded his arguments this week. Therefore, this second post will flesh out the substance of Mr Divan's arguments. In the remainder of this post, I will unpack the ...



NDTV
Without Aadhaar also, the citizens would be able to access these three basic services. The stand was made clear recently by the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India). These three services are health services, admission to schools, and ration at fair price shops. The UIDAI, in an official ...



Economic Times
NEW DELHI: From GST to Aadhaar, road renaming to anti-Romeo squads, and no-fly lists to Delhi pollution, noted economist Bibek Debroy explains with the help of limericks the key developments of 2017. He has come up with "The Book of Limericks", a compilation of hilarious five-liners on economic ...






NewsClick
A new book that traces how automation in the American welfare system has led to devastating denials of benefits to and policing of the poor offers frightening similarities with what is happening in India with Aadhaar—the biometrics-linked Unique Identity (UID) number project. Except that India will pay a ...






The Hindu
The number of Udyog Aadhaar Memoranda filed for enterprises in Ernakulam district has touched 10,065, and nearly 8,000 of them pertain to micro enterprises. A total of 2,186 memoranda submitted were for small enterprises, while 84 were for medium-sized enterprises, sources in the District Industries ...






Times of India
DUBAI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the Centre has saved Rs 56,000 crore through Aadhaar-enabled direct benefit transfer of about 400 government schemes. Stating that technology plays a pivotal role in the growth of an economy, PM Modi said one tax structure or GST has been ...



Inc42 Media
Holding technology in high esteem, PM Modi, while delivering his keynote address at the inauguration of the sixth World Gov Summit in Dubai, stated that technology-implementation has to be in sync with nature and should not repugn our nature. Giving GST and Aadhaar as the greatest examples of a ...






The Hindu
Farmers, who did not bring their Aadhaar cards, were denied entry into AICC president Rahul Gandhi's interaction programme in Sindhanur on Sunday. This left many farmers disappointed. “ I was not aware that Aadhaar card was mandatory for entry to the programme,” Syed Chand Pasha, a farmer ...






The Tribune
The Amritsar head post office is all set to open 54 new Aadhaar centres at its branches in the city. ... The general public has to bring all necessary details of their identification for getting themselves enrolled for Aadhaar cards. ... Earlier, Aadhaar modification centres had been opened at post offices.






Firstpost
She reportedly said in the letter that despite no proper data protection laws, it is making a push to make Aadhaar card mandatory for various government and private services. She further added said that this step comes in contradiction to the Supreme Court's position regarding Aadhaar and its use.



Financial Express
Candidates need to note that the Aadhaar number has been made mandatory by CBSE for registering to NEET UG 2018. According to the Admission notice released on the official website, the exam will is set to take place on may 6, 2018 and the application process for the same will end on March 9, ...



TCT
... Head Office and Shankar Nagar Post Office. Due to unavoidable reason, these centres are not working. As and when the problem is solved, centres will be started as usual.” Only correction and modifications in Aadhaar cards were done in these centres. No new enrolment is not done in these centres.






The New Indian Express
Sources in the ministry said many policies of the Central government have been challenged in courts across the country—such as Aadhaar, demonetisation and the triple talaq Bill. On Aadhaar alone, 27 petitions are pending before the Supreme Court. Though petitions against Aadhaar started trickling ...






Times of India
This time all students (except those from J&K, Assam and Meghalaya) have to provide their Aadhaar number to register for NEET. CBSE will ... CBSE said the use of Aadhaar will result in accuracy of the details of applicants and also help in verifying identities of all those appearing at exam centres.






The Hindu
An order passed by a single judge of the Madras High Court in December 21 last year making it mandatory for those wanting to establish bunk shops within city limits to produce their Aadhaar cards, and undertake not to sell cigarettes as well as other tobacco-based products, has now found the approval ...






Scroll.in
People cannot be denied essential services if they do not have Aadhaar, says UIDAI: The Aadhaar authority's statement comes after a number of cases where people were denied medical help and food rations. Reserve Bank of India says it is still processing demonetised notes, in an 'expedited manner': ...






Live Law
A perusal of the minutes of the first meeting shows that Justice B.N. Srikrishna, Chairman of the Committee, has emphasized on the fact that Aadhaar is only a subset of total data protection law. The Committee, he opined, is looking for a broader picture of data protection- a sort of an umbrella law.






Knn India
New Delhi, Feb 12 (KNN) Around 1065 Enterprises in Ernakulam District has filed a Udyog Aadhaar Memoranda and nearly 8000 of them are related to micro enterprises. Total 2186 number of memoranda submitted for small enterprises while 84 for medium enterprises, District Industries Centre (DIC) in ...






The Indian Express
Multiple legal challenges against Aadhaar — many involving citizens' privacy — are being heard before the Supreme Court. The government is keen to assure the judges and the public that there are enough safeguards to keep the programme legal. But the privacy law will impact more than the future of ...