Unique Identification Number project gets new name, logo
Today is was announced that not only do we have a number of man, but a name and image.
-ptinewsThe Government's ambitious unique identity project aiming to give a 16-digit number to all citizens of the country was today renamed 'AADHAAR' and its new logo unveiled.
The Unique Identification Number project of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chaired by IT czar Nandan Nilekani was renamed 'AADHAAR' (foundation) as part of efforts to reach out to the common man.
"UID itself is very confusing. Some people call it DUI, somebody calls it IUD and so forth. So it was getting a little difficult to explain all this various permutations, combinations of this acronym," Nilekani said.
"Therefore, we wanted a name that could effectively communicate its transformational potential and its promise to residents. Something that had a national appeal that could be recognised across the country, could resonate in different languages and easy to remember and speak," he said.
Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, UIDAI, said,
“The word ’AADHAAR’ communicates the fundamental role of the UID initiative – its relevance, universality and its impact. It represents a new dawn of equal opportunity for each individual, which emerges from the unique identification which the number guarantees each individual. AADHAAR’s assurance of uniqueness and centralized online identity verification would be the basis for building these multiple services and applications - facilitating a greater connectivity to markets. AADHAAR would give any resident the ability to access these services and resources, anytime, anywhere in the country.”
Meaning of the Name AADHAAR
The Adhara - the "vehicle" or support of Consciousness
The name as it appears in a barcode
The Sanskrit word Adhara - meaning "support" or even "vehicle of Consciousness" - or adhar for short, is used to refer here to the embodied psychophysical being, as opposed to the higher spiritual nature. It includes the gross body and the various subtle bodies, the emotional and mental being, the subconscious, the aura, the ego, the samskaras or vasanas of past lives; in fact anything and everything that distinguishes each of us both from the rest of the universe and from our own intrinsic inner or higher Divine nature.
The adhar is what the Higher Self or Evolving Divine Soul uses as the means of evolution and growth to perfection, as well as its expression in the material world. It is also the base matter or object of spiritual transformation and transmutation. The Divine Self or True Nature in all its aspects is already completely of the nature of the Divine. But the adhar, the way that the Divine Soul acts in the world, is of the nature of imperfection, ignorance, sefishness, and fear. But even so, it can become perfect, which is one possible yoga or spiritual path; the yoga of integral transformation.
For many, especially those of inferior development, the adhar lacks integrity, and is easily pushed from its equilibrium. For those who live only in their outer being, this isn't even an issue; the adhar is quitre adequate for the task of day to day life. Here, its weakness is simply part of human nature, as explain by phrases like "I'm only human" (hence, imperfect), and not to be condemned. Of course it is good to work on oneself, and strengthen the adhar, and help guide its (that is, one's own) march to perfection of godhood (whether the transcendent and only partial godhood of heaven or nirvana, or the far greater immanent godhood of supramentalisation). This working on oneself; on one's adhar, is what is called Spirituality.
The situation is different when one encounters a powerful spiritual or transpersonal presence, or has a sudden opening to the subtle, the astral, or the spiritual worlds, and the experience of the Intermediate Zone. If the adhar is grounded and stable, and the Divine Center is in control, there is no harm, and in fact the opposite; great progress is made.
But if the adhar is weak, in that the person is self-centered, unable to defer pleasure, with little discipline or self-control, and a fragile but hypersensitive ego, then there is trouble. The personality may lose its equilibrium and be be swallowed up in the stronger reality or presence, or narcissistically identify with it (a phenomenon known as inflation).
A combination of these two factors - subtle or spiritual current or descent on the one hand, and a weak adhar or vehicle on the other, results in the dangerous phenomenon of the charismatic intermediate zone guru. Very often (although not always!) this so-called guru takes the form of an abusive personality, the abusiveness is due to simple lower human ugliness, but also at times to the weak adhar being appropriated by adverse forces. But because of the huge degree of ignorance most people have of authentic spirituality, this abusive and manipulative behaviour is rationalised as enlightened "crazy wisdom", or as "tests" or "lila" or the Master's "fiery love". All these explanations prove nothing but the stupidity and gullibility of most devotees, many of which themselves would have serious issues of low self esteem and the need for humiliation, hence they are attracted to such figures.
Or the person in question may simply go insane, develop a paranoid psychosis, because teh adhar cannot resist the rush of astral suggestions. Modern psychiatry really has no understanding of these subtle forces; it is very good with giving out drugs and understanding chemical imbalances in the brain, but it cannot understand the occult roots of psychosis, or why many schizophrenics have what are essentially spiritual and cosmological visions. This is not to say that psychosis should go schizophrenia, but simply to offer an additional, complementary, perspective.
But if the adhar is strong, and stable, and surrendered to the Divine, and under the guidance of the Higher Self, then things progress from strength to strength. The adhar receives and can hold the descent of subtle, astral, and spiritual light, surrenders and is strengthened and grows further, eventually becoming the outer form of an authentic Adept, Master, or Sadguru, or even the vehicle of an avatar. In this, the essential human personality is not lost, but contributes to the and helps define the way the Divine or Universal Self relates to and brinbgs salvation to other beings still suffering in the world. The true Guru or Avatar perfectly combines the Divine and Human elements.
The Image, "Logo"
He said the same standard was also set for the making of the logo. The new logo, with a sun in yellow and a fingerprint in the centre, was also made public at a seminar organised by the UIDAI here. Interestingly, the logo, selected after a nationwide competition, was unveiled by Dhaneshwar Ram, a resident of Azamgarh in Uttar Pradesh, who was invited by the UIDAI to speak on the hardships faced by the common man in getting an identity at present.
Speaking to PTI, Pande, who is a designer by profession said, "My sister told me about this competition. I read through their concept notes and knew that I had to create something which is easily recognisable. Any rural person would be able to easily recognise the sun and the fingerprint."
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
