ID card scheme will be scrapped in UK with no refund to holders
The Government will refuse to refund money to thousands of people who have already paid for a National Identity Card when the scheme is scrapped in the Queen's Speech tomorrow.
By By Andrew Porter and James Kirkup
Published: 6:38AM BST 24 May 2010
Legislation abolishing Labour's ID card scheme will be among more than 20 Bills to be announced.
There will also be legislation to allow for a referendum on changing the voting system and to sharply reduce the number of MPs. The Parliamentary Reform Bill will be a fusion of Liberal Democrat and Conservative plans for constitutional reform.
The Lib Dems will get a referendum on adopting the Alternative Vote system for Westminster elections.
The Conservatives will get a boundaries commission to oversee a 10 per cent cut in the number of MPs, plus a move to ensure all constituencies have the same number of voters.
The Bill could see the first major Commons rebellion against the coalition. Some Conservative MPs have pledged to oppose a measure contained within it that would raise the threshold for a Commons vote to dissolve Parliament for a general election to 55 per cent, instead of a simple majority.
A Freedom Bill will enact many Lib Dem promises to curb the power of the state, including limiting the use of CCTV and of DNA databases and other identity registers.
Both the coalition parties campaigned on a pledge to scrap Labour's ID card scheme. That promise will be delivered by an Identity Documents Bill.
Approximately 13,000 people have already bought ID cards, which were introduced on a voluntary basis last year.
The cards – which can currently be used to travel in Europe without a passport – will be invalidated and individuals who paid £30 for them will be forced to purchase a passport instead.
Chris Grayling, the former shadow home secretary, had signalled that there would be refunds for cancelled cards. But he was denied the post of Home Secretary, which went instead to Theresa May.
The Government will now say that it cannot afford the estimated £500,000 cost of making and administering the refunds at a time when it is announcing £6 billion of cuts.
David Cameron has regularly referred to the scrapping of ID cards as one of the biggest cuts that can be made to public spending.
However, officials now admit that a net saving of only £86 million will be made over the next four years from scrapping the cards, as the bulk of the scheme's costs were set to have been recouped through the £30 charge.
Few of the measures in the Queen's Speech will directly address the public sector deficit, but the Financial Services Regulation Bill, to be drawn up by the Treasury, could pave the way to a new multi-billion pound levy on the banking sector.
It will also establish legal curbs on "irresponsible" bonus schemes for bankers.
A draft of the speech, leaked to The Sunday Telegraph, showed that the Government will pledge to turn Britain into a "strong and fair society".
Key public service reforms will include an Education and Children's Bill to allow parents and others to set up "free schools" within the state sector but independent of local authorities.
A Police Reform Bill will deliver Conservative pledges to make chief constables accountable to directly elected commissioners, a plan which is opposed by many police chiefs.
A Welfare Reform bill will pave the way for tougher penalties on benefits claimants who refuse offers of work.
Why this Blog ? News articles in the Wide World of Web, quite often disappear with time, when they are relocated as archives with a different url. Archives in this blog serve as a library for those who are interested in doing Research on Aadhaar Related Topics. Articles are published with details of original publication date and the url.
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
