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

Thursday, January 31, 2019

14030 - Aadhaar Articles dated 29th Jan 2019


SBI alleges Aadhaar data misuse, UIDAI rubbishes charge

Times of India
Logins and biometrics of their Aadhaar operators have been misused to generate unauthorised Aadhaarcards, bank officials informed UIDAI.

UIDAI cap on Aadhaar card birth date changes
Times of India
The UIDAI has told the local Aadhaar registration offices in all districts of the state to make changes in the citizens' dates of birth, with necessary ...

Never mind passport, here's my Aadhaar card...
afaqs
In the age of cause-vertising, something as simple as 'chai' can stand for something as complex as inclusivity. Brooke Bond Red Label tea has always ...

Jharkhand: Aadhaar Linkage Derails MGNREGA, Wages Deposited in Wrong Accounts
NewsClick
Jharkhand was the first state that linked Aadhaar to the payment of wages under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act ...

Don't let perfect be the enemy of the good— Aadhaar is no exception!
Financial Chronicle (press release) (blog)
The Aadhaar Virtual ID system was first introduced by the government in 2009 and already over 1.1 billion people have a unique number. This is ...

Aadhaar card for Mo Cycle
The New Indian Express
BHUBANESWAR: Aadhaar authentication will soon become necessary for the 'Mo Cycle' users in the Capital. It was decided by the Capital Region ...

QBullet: Rahul's Minimum Income Promise; SBI Claims AadhaarMisuse
The Quint
Congress President Rahul Gandhi on Monday promised to implement nationwide minimum income for the poor if voted to power in May, in what was ...

Govt should find new ways for Fintech to onboard customers through Aadhaarbased e-KYC
Economic Times
By Alok Bansal I believe that while each government has their own priority areas, the path to developing India as a global fintech hub will largely ...

How to avail an aadhar card as an NRI: Steps
India Today
According to Aadhaar Act, 2016, a resident or NRI who has stayed in India for 182 days or more, in the 12 months right before the date of application is ...

Conmen don't spare ECI either
The Hindu
“Both Aadhaar cards were forged. They had same number and the same house number in Mehdipatnam. Only photos were changed,” informed an ...

Bogus voter ID cards prepared in name of top poll officials - Business Standard

Delhi HC bars non-school tasks for teachers
Telegraph India
Authorities are justified in asking teachers to help their pupils open bank accounts and link them to theirAadhaar numbers, the court accepted.

Teachers cannot be asked to perform non-educational duties outside RTE Act: Delhi HC - Kashmir Reader


India's flirts with universal basic income scheme
China.org.cn
It's certainly popular in India, the country being to launch Aadhaar (biometric ID system) for direct benefit transfers and income transfer trials.

Alert! Most e-wallets might become invalid by February-end
Times Now
New Delhi: After tightening E-commerce norms, digital wallets might be next. It may be noted that in itsAadhaar judgement, Supreme Court barred ...

Post e-commerce, e-wallets now stymied by govt regulations - Times of India
Full Coverage

UP Boards 2019: Shortest ever 16-day exams to begin February 7
Hindustan Times
He said that aadhaar number of all candidates taking examinations had been uploaded on the UP Board's website along with other details of the ...

Rahul Gandhi's minimum income for poor faces 3 challenges – cost, target & delivery
ThePrint
If the answer is Aadhaar-linked bank accounts, then the proposed programme must clearly articulate measures undertaken to prevent transaction and ...


A helping hand Here is what you can do for your household help
Nagaland Post
Thankfully, she has applied for Aadhaar and is waiting for the Card. The acknowledgement receipt for theAadhaar application is also good enough to ...
Flag as irrelevant


Woman found dead in Vashi, killer identified
The Hindu
According to Sudhakar Pathare, Deputy Commissioner of Police, Zone I, two Aadhaar cards were found in the room. In both the cards, the photo was ...

West Bengal residents must wait for passports
Deccan Chronicle
In the recent case of the Bangladeshi nationals, original identification such as Aadhaar was issued in Jalpaiguri, so the Cyberabad police were not ...

Madhya Pradesh: To claim insurance, RSS worker faked death, killed farm help
The Indian Express
The police found Patidar's mobile phone, an Aadhaar card, an ATM card and a pocket diary with details of insurance, fixed deposits and loans on the ...

Two held with deer skin in Charbagh
Times of India
LUCKNOW: Special Task Force (STF) arrested two poachers with the hide of a deer from a hotel in Charbagh, under Naka police staton, on Sunday.

NAFED to procure green pulses directly from farmers
The Hindu
... green pulses and the extent of land on which it was grown), Aadhaar card, photocopy of the front page of bank account passbook, photograph.

Budget 2019: Income tax payers seeking more disposable income in hands
Financial Express
... pre-populated tax forms to taxpayers with information from their Form 26AS and other financial transactions linked to their Aadhaar and PAN.

'No support from family, friends'
The Tribune
As many as 48 transgenders (92.3%) have Aadhaar cards, but only 28.8% declared themselves as transgenders in Aadhaar cards. “Discrimination ...

Monday, January 28, 2019

14029 - Aadhaar Areticles Dated 27th July 2019



Aadhaar info not conclusive proof in criminal probes: HC
Times of India
LUCKNOW: Aadhaar card details — such as name, gender, address and date of birth — cannot be taken as conclusive proof during an investigation ...

Aadhaar Entries Not Conclusive Proof In Criminal Cases: Allahabad HC [Read Judgment] - Live Law

Aadhar Card Details Not Conclusive Proof in Criminal Cases, Rules Allahabad High Court - LatestLY

Aqua Line services day 1: ID rule to buy smart card leaves many stumped
Times of India
A few exasperated passengers tried to purchase smart cards showing their Aadhaar and PAN cards, but were told those would not do. In some metro ... 

Oxford Dictionaries declares 'Nari Shakti' as Hindi word for the year 2018
Business Standard
... with all its struggles, challenges and triumphs," Gokhale, who is also the director of JLF, said. Oxford had named 'Aadhaar' as its Hindi word for the ...

Oxford chooses 'Nari Shakti' as Hindi word of 2018 - Financial Express

Oxford selects Nari Shakti as the Hindi word of 2018 - NewsX

Across the aisle: Ring out the old, ring in the new, says P Chidambaram
Financial Express
Fourthly, the Aadhaar excesses must be reversed. The Aadhaar Act authorised the government to require Aadhaar only for transfer of 'subsidies, ...

Teachers can't be asked to perform non-educational duties outside RTE Act
Times Now
... of principals and teachers to aid in opening bank accounts of children in the school and linking them with Aadhaar cards, but the requirement cannot ...

Indian budget should have something for NRIs too
ZAWYA
In January 2016, Union Minister of External Affairs Sushama Swaraj had said that the government is considering to give Aadhaar to NRIs. As per the ...

Teachers Can't Be Asked to Perform Non-educational Duties Outside RTE Act: Delhi High Court
News Central 24x7
... on a petition that said duties assigned to teachers in govt schools included opening bank accounts of children, linking accounts with Aadhaar etc.

Armed robbers loot cash, jewellery worth lakhs, luxury car from Gurugram farm house
India TV
They snatched my wallet containing Rs 45,000, apart from some important documents including driving licence and Aadhaar card," said Jitender ...

Kumaraswamy meets Governor Vajubhai Vala for budget session dates
The Hans India
He said the issues that are being faced by farmers on the loan waiver are, for instance, names not matching with those on Aadhaar cards the ones ...

Sunday, January 27, 2019

14028 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 26th January 2018



findBIOMETRICS
One of the architects of Aadhaar was putting his strongest spin on the biometric national ID program at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week.



Times Now
New Delhi: Aadhaar has become one of the most significant identity proofs in recent years. It has also become a credit address proof. While the ...



Deccan Chronicle
Hyderabad: Aadhaar is like a lego block and can be used to build multiple lego blocks, said N.S. Ramnath, co-author of The Aadhaar Effect. He was ...



The Hindu
Or you can make bad music and share. Both are possible. Unfortunately, the nature of the discourse is such that either you are for Aadhaar or against ...



The Tribune
The new ORS is a framework to link various hospitals across the country with Aadhaar Card based online registration, where counter-based Out ...



Live Law
... the Joint Secretary to the Government of India, under section 33(2) of the Aadhaar Act was held to be unconstitutional for evading judicial scrutiny.



Deccan Chronicle
... couple only after the police certify that they are indeed the parents because the couple has no records or even Aadhaar cards to prove their identity.



RuralMarketing (press release) (blog)
A visitor can avail the card only by producing his/her Aadhaar. A card can be recharged with minimum of Rs 100 to maximum Rs 10,000. To spread its ...

Saturday, January 26, 2019

14027 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 25th Jan 2019



The Better India
Over the last year, there has been so much chatter about the Aadhaar ... Once there, you will need to click on 'My Aadhaar' and under the Aadhaar ...




Times of India
DAVOS: Infosys Chairman and Aadhaar architect Nandan Nilekani on Thursday said there were a lot of unknowns when work began on the unique ...



India Today
At a session on 'Identity in a digital world' at the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting 2019, Nandan Nilekani said Aadhaar was not a data ...


CNBC-TV18 @ Davos - CNBCTV18



Times of India
Election panel bats for Aadhaar-voter ID link ... UIDAI said Aadhaar can be linked right now on a voluntary basis, but it would be pointless as only a ...



Biometric Update
Identity documents approved for use with the scheme include the traveller's passport, voter card, Aadhaar or m-Aadhaar, PAN card, driver's license, ...



Outlook India
Those who have Aadhaar card would fill the green form; someone not having Aadhaar but is a certified farmer would fill the white form; while those ...



News18
Pink forms are being filled by farmers in cases where the names or loan amount or other information does not tally with the green (Aadhaar card ...



NewsClick
February 4, 2019: Environment; Aadhaar and Surveillance; Ethics in Journalism. February 5, 2019: Women's Reservation Bill and atrocities against ...



Financial Express
The recent judgment on Aadhaar by the Supreme Court has put sudden break on various digital initiatives taken up by Fintech startups. Many Fintech ...



Times of India
Bengaluru: At a time when complaints abound against boorish behaviour of BMTC bus crew, the gesture of a driver and a conductor from the utility is ...



The Hans India
... Rangareddy district in Telangana State led by its Director Budanaboyina Srinivasa Rao, having Aadhaar number 2742 5963 3327, met the farmers ...



AglaSem News
In order to apply, candidates first need to select the RRB and then register by entering basic details such as, name, date of birth, age, aadhaar number, ...



Outlook India
He noted that India's success in implementing Aadhaar, which, he says, has opened up many possibilities to expand health services to citizens from ...



The Hindu
... which initially refused to accept cash, later agreed to issue DD by accepting cash on the condition that the petitioner produced a copy of his Aadhaar ...



Outlook India
The petitioner said they did not wish themselves to be associated with the name of their father on identity cards like Aadhaar, passport, ration card and ...



Outlook India
... the world with technology enabled governance such as its unique ID scheme (Aadhaar) which has transformed the way the country transfers welfare ...



Free Press Journal
During investigation, the police have recovered three laptop bags with an iron cutter and an Aadhaar card. Police have recorded statements of other ...

Friday, January 25, 2019

14026 - Aadhaar Articles Dated 24th Jan 2019



The Hindu BusinessLine
With Aadhaar becoming a significant document for almost everything connected to the Government and utilities, safety of the information gains ...



Financial Express
Indeed, with the bigger banks calling the shots at NPCI—which now operates IMPS and UPI, including BHIM, National Financial Switch, Aadhaar ...



India.com News
The facility will be available for domestic flight boarding. A passenger's Aadhaar number and mobile phone, among others will be used for the same.



THE WEEK
However, another issue was the Aadhaar-linked identification that was needed for farmers to open bank account. Now, with the Aadhaar eligibility ...



Careers360
It must be noted that SSC has made Aadhaar Card mandatory for filling the SSC JE application form, so candidates must carry their Aadhaar ...



Elets
This is the second significant launch performed by the company after it successfully released Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) capabilities in ...



The Indian Express
As Lal's body arrives from the mortuary on Wednesday, residents asked his wife Indu Devi for his Aadhaar card, ration card and other documents that ...



The Hindu
The thief had stolen a gold chain weighing 12 grams but left behind a copy of her Aadhaar card. Geetha told the police that she had removed her ...



Deccan Chronicle
... poorest segments by bringing it into the DBT (direct benefit transfer) scheme with the use of JAM (Jandhan, Aadhaar and mobile), said the report.



MyNation
... the National Automated Clearing House (NACH), Aadhaar Enabled Payment System (AePS) Immediate Payment Service, (IMPS), Unified Payments ...

Thursday, January 24, 2019

14025 - Justice AP Shah: Why the Supreme Court’s judgement on Aadhaar is flawed - Scroll.In


In the foreword of a new book on Aadhaar, the former chief justice of the Delhi High Court writes about how the identity system is ‘an instrument of exclusion’.


Seven year old Abhishek Bairwa enrolling in Aadhaar UID in a private shop in Bagru in Jaipur district on being asked by asked by school teachers to do so mandatorily. | Anumeha Yadav | 

Seven year old Abhishek Bairwa enrolling in Aadhaar UID in a private shop in Bagru in Jaipur district on being asked by asked by school teachers to do so mandatorily.
Jan 22, 2019 · 05:30 pm

Over the past decade or so, the complex issue of digital identity, commonly referred to as Aadhaar, has invited considerable debate from all corners of society in India. On the one hand, we have seen a blitzkrieg of sorts from the government, with ample support from the media, favouring the unique identity project, and arguing that it can help in many ways, for example, by bringing millions out of poverty. On the other hand, vociferous naysayers have tried to prove that Aadhaar is nothing short of a tool of exclusion, pushed down the throats of a powerless electorate. They are concerned that the collection of sensitive biometric and demographic data would lead to unnecessary profiling and the creation of a surveillance state, which would, in turn, violate the fundamental right to privacy.

While I am no expert on the technology around Aadhaar, I have been following the legal developments over the past few years closely, the constitutional aspects of the right to privacy and related issues being of particular interest to me. It started as an unlegislated and unregulated policy where sensitive identity-related – demographic and biometric – information was obtained from citizens. It was then retroactively legislated through a controversial money bill (on grounds that the law pertained to government spending and appropriation, and which, consequently, did not require approval from the Rajya Sabha – or upper house – in order to be legislated). The law did not go unchallenged; first, a nine-judge constitutional bench of the Supreme Court of India was entrusted with adjudicating upon, primarily, whether the right to privacy was a fundamental right, and later, a five-judge constitutional bench on whether Aadhaar had come about through lawful means, and whether it was being used for legal purposes.

The Aadhaar case – as it has come to be colloquially referred – saw one of the longest hearings ever in the history of the Supreme Court, spanning several days, weeks and months, with lengthy submissions made by lawyers, bureaucrats, technologists and academics, among others.

Every day of the hearing in the Court was followed with bated breath, with the public anxious to know which way the Court would eventually swing.

The decision of the constitutional bench finally came in September 2018 – (Justice (Retd) KS Puttaswamy & Ors v. Union of India, WP (C) 494/2012, judgment dated September 26, 2018, Supreme Court of India) – and the outcome was a majority verdict, albeit with some riders, in favour of Aadhaar as a form of digital identity, and the law creating Aadhaar and regulating its use. 

The majority bench granted some relief in favour of the citizens. For example, the Court observed that children’s Aadhaar, or UID numbers, could be used only with parental consent and not be demanded of them (although, it ignored the question of “coercion as consent”). 

On the issue of exiting Aadhaar, the Court said that a person could exit the Aadhaar system upon reaching majority. Alternately, since enrolment in the system was voluntary, those who specifically refused to give consent for enrolment could exit from the Aadhaar scheme. Similarly, the majority agreed that making Aadhaar mandatory “in the name of checking money laundering or black money is grossly disproportionate”. 

On the issue of surveillance, the majority judgment, while ignoring the potential of surveillance, directed that metadata be deleted after six months. Through all this, though, even if one acknowledges that there were some concessions made to the people (over the state), the majority judgment still falls short, for dealing inadequately, or not at all, with fundamental issues that were at the heart of the case, such as identity and dignity.
For that, instead, we have to turn to the solitary dissent that emerged from one corner of the Court.


Justice DY Chandrachud chose to disagree with the rest of his brethren on the bench, and struck down the entire idea of Aadhaar and the legislation as unconstitutional. His opinion, besides being a landmark contribution to our jurisprudence, discussed issues of vital importance, such as dignity, autonomy and self-determination.

It is unfortunate that his bold dissent did not, in any measure, prevent the legislation from going through. But as Chief Justice Charles Evan Hughes (1862-1948) of the United States Supreme Court once wrote, “[A] dissent in a court of last resort is an appeal to the brooding spirit of law, to the intelligence of a future day...”

In contrast, the majority judgment did not offer a sufficiently nuanced discussion on the interface between identity and dignity so as to convince its audience of the necessity of Aadhaar. The underlying justification offered by the majority for having a biometric identification was the need to grant an identity. Justice AK Sikri, for example, wrote, “Aadhaar gives identity to those persons who otherwise may not have such identity. In that sense, it recognises them as residents of this nation and in that form gives them their dignity.” But I remain concerned that the Court failed to satisfactorily consider the challenges of granting such identity to the most deserving, either on account of technological limitations, or the quality of governance, or even simpler social concerns of accessibility (for example, how can a nonagerian who cannot walk, and who does not have the strength to submit a fingerprint for documentation, stake their legitimate claim to the old-age pension granted by the state?). 

For all the talk around the “benefits” of Aadhaar, there remains a real concern that a large-scale use of Aadhaar for the purposes of authentication is likely to lead to large populations of society remaining excluded from social sector benefits, particularly manual labour and senior citizens.

With this judgment, the Court has effectively made a distinction between the haves and the have-nots; those who are privileged, as against those who are in need of state assistance.

My own reservations with Aadhaar and the judgment have been echoed by many others, and can be found in quality opinions in this collection as well. 

In my view, Aadhaar was falsely marketed as a panacea for the poor and impoverished. Over the years, as the project was operationalised and scaled throughout the country, many case studies increasingly pointed to facts that suggested that the poor were not beneficiaries, as originally intended, but rather, the victims of the Aadhaar project. 

Instead of serving as an inclusive tool, and being used to increase access to social, political and civil rights, Aadhaar had become an instrument of exclusion. Stories abound as to how the state proactively used the lack of a digital identity to deny basic services to its citizens, and thus deprived millions of their rightful benefits – benefits which had been designed precisely for such populations.

As the net of Aadhaar widened, the state made Aadhaar a necessary prerequisite for seeking any kind of benefit, whether it was scholarships for economically weaker sections of society, or compensation for victims of natural disasters, reimbursement of health expenses for persons with debilitating diseases, and so on. A slew of official notifications were issued, over 130 of them. The notifications were issued under Section 7 of the Aadhaar Act, 2016, which mandates that individuals should produce their Aadhaar (or the Aadhaar number) to access social services, subsidy, and benefits, wherever funds are drawn from the Consolidated Fund of India.

As a result, everyone who lives below the poverty line, for example, and who relies on state benefits for say, pensions, subsidies or scholarships, no longer has any choice. The right to privacy remains elusive and unaffordable for this stratum of society.

The Supreme Court, in its majority judgment, chose to keep this problematic Section 7 of the law untouched. This decision has created a gaping chasm between different sections of our society. This judgment has made it clear that those who are receiving, or who wish to receive benefits from the state (in any form, be it cash or kind), can continue to do so only if they sign up to the Aadhaar scheme. They do not have the luxury of refusing to be a party to the identity project, for the risk is that by refusing to consent to signing up for Aadhaar, they will be deprived of basic socio-economic rights. Aadhaar is now, by law, a necessary prerequisite for anyone who seeks to receive any entitlements from the state. By corollary, assuming that such state entitlements are essential for the survival and sustenance of such persons, the question of them “consenting” to Aadhaar no longer exists.

From now on, only those who are privileged can continue to enjoy the privilege of privacy, for they are not expected to solicit the state for its largesse. Those who are not so fortunate must forego any fundamental right to privacy they might have imagined they possess. The protections that the state grants them thereafter are, unfortunately, undefined and clouded, leaving a prospective beneficiary at the mercy of the state from now on.

While this split between the privileged and the rest is the central concern, the judgment does not tackle many peripheral (but important) questions with satisfaction either. Take, for example, the arguments raised around Aadhaar allowing the creation of a surveillance state. The majority judgment’s opinion can be captured in the following observation made, based on statements made by the Attorney General and the UIDAI’s representative, that:

No State would be interested in any mass surveillance of 1.2 billion people of the country or even the overwhelming majority of officers and employees or professionals. The very idea of mass surveillance by state, which pursues what an ANH [Aadhaar number holder] does all the time and based on Aadhaar, is an absurdity and an impossibility.

In observing thus, the Court, unfortunately, brushed aside the consequences of the seeding of Aadhaar in various databases, which allows information about an individual (that was otherwise stored in different silos) to be combined to create complete profiles of persons. The question of whether this act of creating a profile through converged data would lead to the violation of the right to privacy remained largely unanswered.

The other major concern with the majority judgment is its treatment of the Aadhaar Act as a Money Bill. While extensive arguments during the course of the hearing were made against permitting the Aadhaar Act to be considered as a Money Bill, the majority judgment decided otherwise. Arguably, the Aadhaar Act is a law that defines a digital identity and creates the architecture to deal with the data that comes along with such identity. The law does not solely deal with the allocation of resources for Aadhaar, or indeed, otherwise relate to the financial disbursements, receipts and obligations, as envisioned by Article 110 of the Constitution of India. Had its status as a Money Bill been reversed by the Supreme Court, the trajectory of the law would have been very different. The law would effectively have had to have been struck down completely, and been sent back to Parliament, and specifically to the Rajya Sabha, which would have played its legislative role in assessing the concerns with the law.

Instead, the law continues to stand today, with the amendments proposed by the upper house ignored entirely.

In concluding that the Aadhaar Act was constitutionally valid, the Court relied on the doctrine of “pith of substance” – its view was that the heart of the law lay in the delivery of benefits, services and subsidies from the Consolidated Fund of India, which made it, in pith and substance, a Money Bill. On the other hand, in his opinion, Justice Chandrachud concluded that declaring the Aadhaar Act to be a Money Bill was illegal and unconstitutional, noting:

The Rajya Sabha has an important role in the making of laws. Superseding the authority of the Rajya Sabha is in conflict with the constitutional scheme and the legitimacy of democratic institutions. It constitutes a fraud on the Constitution...That would constitute a subterfuge, something which a constitutional court cannot countenance.

Excerpted with permission from the 

Foreword to Dissent on Aadhaar: Big Data Meets Big Brother, edited by Reetika Khera, Orient BlackSwan.

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14024 - Aadhaar Related Articles Dated 23rd Jan 2019



Business Today
Aadhaar cards are now valid travel documents for Indians under 15 and over 65 travelling to Nepal and Bhutan, according to a Home Ministry ...






Economic Times
Aadhaar, the identity number initially meant to ensure the transfer of benefits to actual beneficiaries, saw a rapid expansion in usage over the past few ...






Economic Times
Hyderabad, : Former RBI deputy governor R Gandhi Tuesday said following the Supreme Court order in the Aadhaar case, there is great uncertainty, ...



Times Now
Hyderabad: Former RBI deputy governor R Gandhi Tuesday said following the Supreme Court order in the Aadhaar case, there is great uncertainty, ...



Mumbai Mirror
We get back to R Vinod who is still standing in the registration line for KIYG, with the sacred document (the most reliable Aadhaar card) to hoodwink ...



Mid-Day
Children can no longer be turned away during admissions for not having an Aadhaar card, but they will soon be denied basic rights such as mid-day ...



LatestLY
The year 2018 has been a huge year from the point of view of the judiciary. While the Supreme Court partially struck down Section 377, it also allowed ...



Economic Times
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Monday, January 21, 2019

14023 - Teltumbde On Aadhaar: All theoretical rights enshrined in Constitution can be reduced to joke - Indian Express

Teltumbde On Aadhaar: All theoretical rights enshrined in Constitution can be reduced to joke

Teltumbde, who was speaking at the launch of the book ‘Dissent on Aadhaar’ edited by economist Reetika Khera, on Saturday said that the danger of a surveillance state that could be created through Aadhaar is compounded when it is a state that is “amoral and so rogue that it creates something out of nothing”. 

He said, “There is nothing in the Elgaar Parishad but they created it for political purpose. I initially took it as a joke when the police took my name (in that context).”
Pointing to his own case, civil rights activist and senior professor Anand Teltumbde, who is facing imminent arrest under the Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA), said that concentration of power in the state through Aadhaar could lead to “all theoretical rights enshrined in the Constitution being reduced to a joke”.
Teltumbde, who was speaking at the launch of the book ‘Dissent on Aadhaar’ edited by economist Reetika Khera, on Saturday said that the danger of a surveillance state that could be created through Aadhaar is compounded when it is a state that is “amoral and so rogue that it creates something out of nothing”.
He said, “There is nothing in the Elgaar Parishad but they created it for political purpose. I initially took it as a joke when the police took my name (in that context).”
Teltumbde is facing arrest after the Supreme Court this week refused to quash the FIR filed against him by the police over allegations of inciting violence at Koregaon Bhima.
“Ordinary police can slap a draconian law such as UAPA on you, you are defenceless, and you could be incarcerated for four to five years just like that. In such a situation that they are bringing Aadhaar, databases are being collated by the state and all those theoretical rights enshrined in the Constitution can be reduced to a joke,” he said.
“Edward Snowden, a CIA official-turned-whistleblower, said how this project (Aadhaar) will end all civil rights of people. Whether they do it or not, the very thought that they can use surveillance itself creates a lot of psychological pressure and inhibitions and curbs your freedom of expression, which is considered to be a fundamental right in the Constitution.” He said there are a “lot of implications even when people are digitally literate”, but still “there are problems with this kind of data”.