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

Tuesday, March 6, 2018

12928 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 5th March 2018



Livemint
New Delhi: A month before the expiry of the deadline, around 80% of bank accounts and 60% of mobile connections have been linked with national biometric identifier Aadhaar, according to a senior official at Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). The government has mandated submission of ...






The Hindu
The Bengaluru-based firm is betting big on managing the cybersecurity programme for Aadhaar. This includes software-as-a-service based Internet of Things (IoT) platform for the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the issuer of the unique identity number. Given the ubiquity of Aadhaar and ...






Times of India
MANGLURU: Notwithstanding judicial scrutiny and government's well-intentioned moves, the banks particularly those in the PSUs, may find it hard and challenging to complete the task of linking Aadhaar with the accounts of all the customers by March 31 thus necessitating relaxation of the deadline, the ...



Qrius
A PIL has been filed in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Election Commission (EC) to implement an Aadhaar based election voting system. A bench headed by the Chief Justice along with Justices A.M. Khanwilkar and D.Y. Chandrachud agreed to hear the matter after four weeks. The PIL ...






Deccan Chronicle
All ex-servicemen from the three defence streams are advised to link their Aadhaar card details with their bank accounts to help avoid pension issues, says ... Recently, a former Army officer from the city of Noida, complained that his pension had stopped because his Aadhaar was not linked to his bank.






NewsClick
And what is worrying is that India, which is currently running a massive data collection project –Aadhaar, is part of this shadow intelligence network that has its dragnet spread across the globe controlled by US National Security Authority (NSA) . The document cache revealed by Whistleblower Edward ...






The Hindu
He said the Aadhaar Act further compounded problems. “While the RTI Act regulates the citizen's right to information regarding third-party public authorities, the Aadhaar Act is concerned with the right to access information about oneself. Shockingly, the proviso to Section 28(5) of the Act makes clear that ...



The New Indian Express
HYDERABAD: In the ongoing investigation into the murder of a pregnant woman from Uttar Pradesh near Kondapur in the city, the Cyberabad police recovered photographs and Aadhaar card of the victim Pinki alias Bingi (26) based on the confessions of the arrested accused, who was reportedly in a ...






Live Law
In the light of the ongoing challenge to the constitutionality of the Aadhaar (Targeted Deliveries of Financial and Other Subsidies, Benefits and Services) Act of 2016, he exclaimed, “The proviso to sec. 28(5) of the Aadhaar Act restrains an Aadhaar number holder from having the right to access core ...






Outlook India
New Delhi: Industry body Assocham today urged the government to relax the deadline for linking bank accounts, particularly those in the PSBs to Aadhaar, saying post-PNB scam, the PSU lenders are fire fighting to protect their core business and are hard pressed for human and other resources. DCM 7 ...






The Indian Express
It challenged the submission of Aadhaar card for admission to these schools. “The court was informed about the children who were denied admission on the basis of not having documents. That is when the court asked the government about the rights of children and then the government informed that ...






The New Indian Express
Colleges in rural areas are struggling to survive due to more number of colleges and lack of admissions. In such cases there are chances that colleges have students only on paper,” said an official.PUE Department Director C Shika denied this and said, “It is online entry with Aadhaar number and photo ...






The New Indian Express
The association said private colleges had not been following the existing ratio of 1:15. The All India Survey on Higher Education 2016-17 had found that introduction of Aadhaar had revealed 80,000 'ghost' teachers in various colleges and universities, Kumaresan pointed out. Keeping in mind the effects ...






The Siasat Daily
In future, everyone's health records will be connected to Aadhaar for providing medical services. Within one year, we will make the state a role model,” he added. Naidu further said that health bulletin should be released at village and district levels across Andhra Pradesh on the fourth of every month.






The Quint
According to an RBI notification, all prepaid wallet users are supposed to complete their 'Know Your Customer (KYC)' requirements by linking their Aadhaar or other documents, or else, they won't be able to send money via the wallet to others, or even transfer their own money back into their bank ...






IndraStra Global
During last year, there had been a whirlwind of events such as– digitalization of society be it in governance (e.g. Aadhaar) or even our daily mundane lives (e.g. cashless payments), debates surrounding net-neutrality, ransomware attacks, data breaches and numerous other privacy or surveillance ...






Business Standard
He said the rules will clarify the attributes of India's 12-digit unique identifier number Aadhaar and privacy issues around telecom subscribers. GSMA is a global telecom operators' body and at present it is being chaired by Bharti Airtel Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal. "India's thinking around policy and ...






The Asian Age
“To identify bogus ration cards, these have been linked to Aadhaar Card. In January and February 2018, 15.15 lakh ration card holders got cheaper ration from fair priced ration shops,” pointed Mr Gupta. Mr Gupta claimed that more than four lakh ration cards holders did not take ration during January ...






The Hans India
... SSC certificate, Intermediate, TTC certificate, TET eligibility certificate, transfer certificate, Class IV to Class X study certificate, caste certificate and latest income certificate, residential certificate, four passport size photographs, two Rs 10 envelopes with self-address along with ration and Aadhaar card.






Daily Excelsior
JAMMU, Mar 3: Perturbed over the laxity shown by the BJP-PDP Government in deporting Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from Jammu despite brewing public anger and adverse reports of security agencies, National Panthers Party activists including the locals from all religious faiths spearheaded by ...






Nagaland Post
The troopers also recovered one HK33-5.56x45 rifle along with a sling, one magazine, two FCC including 66 live rounds of ammunition, one each of green ammunition pouch, Aadhaar card, MC Dowell rum bottle, energy drink bottle, face mask, balkalawa cap, lighter, plastic, cotton piece etc.






Telangana Today
During the probe, investigators had no clue of how she looked as the suspect — her second husband Vikas Kashyap — damaged all her identity proofs, including her Aadhaar card. The police used a sketch to identify Pinky. Even her parents identified her with her clothes and took her body back.






State Times
JAMMU: Perturbed over the obnoxious laxity shown by the BJP-PDP Government in deporting Rohingyas and Bangladeshis from Jammu despite brewing public anger and adverse reports of security agencies, a strong contingent of Panthers activists including the locals from all religious faiths ...






The Hitavada
Farmers will have to submit aadhaar card, Samagra ID, loan book and photocopy of bank pass book. Madhya Pradesh State Agriculture Marketing (Mandi) Board Managing Director Faiz Ahmed Qidwai told the district collectors by launching a special campaign to make an estimate of the number of ...






NYOOOZ
Incidentally, at the Delhi government's Cabinet meeting held at CM Arvind Kejriwal's residence on February 20, it was decided that FPS will no longer sell ration using Aadhaar-linked e-PoS machines. They were to resume distribution by verifying details on ration cards, like before. E-PoS machines were ...