UID – Legislative Safeguards
Ruchi Gupta (gupta.ruchi@gmail.com)
Legislative Safeguards
UID as the underlying infrastructure will directly enable five types of databases; however, UIDAI will own and takes responsibility for only the primary database with a laissez-faire attitude for the rest. However, given that UID is the enabling tool, the legislative framework must establish UIDAI’s responsibility to constrain certain types of uses, and liability for all end-use. The five database types are as under
1. Basic UID database with identity information
2. State databases (NPR, government schemes, tax, police etc)
3. Credit information companies (CIC) databases, which will hold credit information based
on bank, insurance, telecom etc history
4. NATGRID (21 interlinked dbs) for security and intelligence agencies (exempt from RTI
excepting human rights allegations)
5. Private databases by corporations etc
Costs
1. Individuals with the following characteristics (as substantiated by a self-attested copy)
will not be required to pay for UID enrollment: BPL/AAY; NREGA Card; others.
Privacy/Civil Liberties
1. Registrars will not collect information other than that strictly necessary for providing
service. Information fields must be detailed and approved by UIDAI prior to collection.
2. There will be no legal/financial penalty for non-enrollment now or in future
3. Private organizations with the exception of registrars (enrolling agencies) will not link
benefits to disclosure of UID number e.g. shopping loyalty cards (to limit data
convergence)
4. Every individual with a UID # can ask for a certified copy of all information collected and
stored about him/her once a year free of charge, and unlimited times on payment of
certain fee (Rs. 10 per page as per RTI). There will be a legal provision for financial and
custodial penalty if knowingly inaccurate/incomplete report is provided to the user. (CIC,
NATGRID)
5. There must be inherent assurance that non-possession of identity card will not be
considered an offence, or grounds for detention (State, since ID card will be issued
through the NPR exercise)
6. The front-end of all organizations whose databases will be linked to NATGRID/CIC will
have to inform users before each transaction (or initial registration) that activity will be
reported and tracked (NATGRID, CIC)
Implementation
UID – Legislative Safeguards
Ruchi Gupta (gupta.ruchi@gmail.com)
1. Utilities or state services will not be withheld due to beneficiary’s non-enrolment of UID.
Service will be provided in the interim on production of alternate proof of identification;
implementing agency will initiate process for beneficiary’s UID enrollment.
2. If UID match is not made at the point of sale/delivery, essential services will be provided
on production of alternate proof of identification. UID data will be fixed within X days
(Related question below)
3. In case a registrar is de-registered due to non-compliance of enrollment
processes/standards, affected users will not be denied services while their identity is being
re-verified (or other quality assurance processes initiated)
4. No enrollment agency can force user to continue association against will as condition for
registration (real estate developers organization will be used to enroll migrant workers,
whose identity credentials cannot be verified/guaranteed by the employer. So potentially
UIDAI/employer may have some kind of forced affiliation?)
5. UID will not be used to turn off essential services for any reason other than direct
ineligibility for service e.g., coerce relocation (State)
6. Records of transactions including liabilities in one utility in one aspect will not be used to
deny services of some other utility (State)
Accountability
1. UIDAI will be responsible for all (user or organizational) losses arising out of
false/inaccurate information on UID number
2. Sale or transfer of data to any for-profit/private organization (marketers, corporations,
MNCs) will be illegal, and will lead to closure of such organizations and immediate
termination of employment of involved employees.
3. Any unauthorized collection of data or its misuse will be treated as a human rights
violation and therefore under the ambit of RTI Act (Sec 24) (NATGRID, CIC)
4. If data security is breached (e.g., Indian defense computers were hacked into), UIDAI will
be liable for both breach of information, and subsequent misuse (Potentially irrelevant
because even if the primary UID database is not in the public domain, tack-on databases
will be and it will be impossible to track data breach to any one database)
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
