AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 262 - Indian cattle have to show police their photo ID cards

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

Saturday, July 10, 2010

262 - Indian cattle have to show police their photo ID cards

Indian cattle have to show police their photo ID cards
Authorities take new approach in fighting massive smuggling problem along Bangladesh border areaPublished On Mon Aug 27 2007

Shaikh Azizur Rahman
SPECIAL TO THE STAR
CALCUTTA–

Along India's border, authorities have come up with a novel solution to prevent the smuggling of cattle into Bangladesh.

Photo ID cards.

Residents of Murshidabad, a district bordering Bangladesh, were asked earlier this year to prepare identification photos for all local cattle.

The ID cards are being issued by the local administration to help the Indian Border Security Force and police intercept cattle smuggled across the border.

According to one estimate, at least 25,000 cows are smuggled into Bangladesh every day from India, mostly through the Indian state of West Bengal.

The problem
West Bengal state shares 2,216 kilometres of border with Bangladesh and the entire border, which is partly fenced, is used for the smuggling of Indian cattle. Cattle ID cards are in use in villages in Murshidabad, along only about 120 kilometres of the border. In the state of West Bengal, there are 18 million cows and 1 million buffaloes, according to state livestock authorities. More than 75 per cent of the cattle smuggled into Bangladesh is brought from the northern half of India. Last year, the Indian border security force intercepted 122,000 Bangladesh-bound cattle in the border districts of West Bengal – 98 per cent of them cows.

India doesn't legalize the export of cattle to any country but they are smuggled to Bangladesh and Pakistan regularly. Indian traffickers bring the cattle by truck to West Bengal from as far as north India.
"The traffickers have a well-entrenched network in the bordering villages, where the cattle are kept in transit, before being sent across the border. These ID cards can help us easily identify the cattle brought into Indian villages for smuggling," said Harish Chandra Upadhyaya, head of the border security force in Murshidabad.
People in border villages are busy getting their cattle photographed in local studios for the special ID cards to avoid harassment by the security force and police who often raid villages in search of cattle waiting to be smuggled to Bangladesh slaughterhouses.
Authorities say crime syndicates find it easy to tamper with branding or tattooing. Tampering with photo ID cards is harder, they say, because they carry the name and address of the owner and the cards' details are registered.
The cattle are usually taken at night across the border through unmanned points. But local villagers also attempt to smuggle the animals in the daytime in the riverine border area, where Indian territory stretches up to 8 kilometres beyond security force checkposts.
"Soon these ID cards are going to be made mandatory for all cattle in border villages," said Upadhyaya. "Then, during our raid if villagers cannot produce the ID cards, (it'll be easier for us) to confiscate the cattle and book those villagers on charges of smuggling."
This year in Murshidabad, according to government sources, about 5,000 cattle photo ID cards have been issued to their owners and applications from hundreds more are waiting to be processed.
Valid for two years, each laminated cattle ID card, apart from displaying the picture of the animal and its owner, carries vital information about the animal, such as its colour, height, sex and length of horns. It carries the owner's name and address and sometimes descriptions of the animal like one "horn missing" or "half tail lost."
Farid Hussain, a resident of Jalangi village in Murshidabad, said it was a hassle to get his four cows photographed.
"I spent two whole days to get their pictures in a studio," he said. "One of my cows damaged the lighting system of the studio and I had to pay 800 rupees – half of my month's income – in damages. ... Still, I am happy to get the ID cards, which I hope will help me get rid of midnight raids and harassments by (the border security force)."