AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 301 - UIDAI empanels enrolment & training agencies

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

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

301 - UIDAI empanels enrolment & training agencies

UIDAI empanels enrolment & training agencies
BS Reporters / Mumbai/new Delhi July 18, 2010, 0:48 IST

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has finalised the list of 15 training agencies empanelled with it for providing training to various personnel working for the enrolment agencies. UIDAI has also enlisted 220 agencies who are qualified for the enrolment process.

The training agencies empanelled include Tata Consultancy Services (TCS) subsidiary CMC, Chennai-based Everonn Education, Aptech, NIIT, CDAC, the All India Punjab Technical University Department Association, Cavalier India, Ecit, Hero Mindmine Institute, IndiaCan Education, Manipal K12 Education, Manipal Education, Tata Interactive Systems, DOEACC Society and Crux Management.

The empanelled agencies can now provide services to registrars and enrolment agencies to develop the skills of their personnel. Meanwhile, UIDAI has appointed a testing and certification agency to conduct online tests to assess the individual’s ability to carry out enrolments according to its prescribed standards.
“Since the enrolment process requires a certain amount of technical as well as soft skill to ensure quality and accuracy of the data, the UIDAI has stipulated mandatory certification for all the personnel involved in the enrolment process,” said R S Sharma, director general UIDAI.

UIDAI has empanelled 220 agencies that include small and medium IT firms, advertising and financial trading firms. Some of the names include 4GID Solutions, Comat Technologies, Datasoft, CSS, Glodyne Technoserve, Deep Advertising, Spanco, UTI Technology among others.

“These firms have been empanelled based on their technical qualification. This also means that states can either work with these firms directly for the enrolment process or they can come out with a request for proposal (RFP) for firms who would then have to be shortlisted according to the UIDAI format. If state governments choose from the list of the empanelled firms then the time to get the systems up and running would be much shorter,” said Sharma.

Training will allow the enrolment agencies to capture the demographic and biometric information of the residents accurately.

The data will then be sent to UIDAI’s central database to enrol residents for Aadhaar — the UIDAI’s unique 12 digit identification number for Indian citizens.

UIDAI has been announced over 20 states, the Life Insurance Corporation of India (LIC) and the State Bank of India as the registrars.

NIIT Ltd, one of the agencies empanelled by the UIDAI, said this empanelment only meant that a certification for training will be provided and it does not involve any contracts.

“The UIDAI has set standards and the contracts will come individually to every agency,” said an official from one of the empanelled agencies.

According to the tender issued by UIDAI, to cover 40 per cent of the country’s population in two years, it would require 155 training centres that would train 31,019 staff. UIDAI will need 4,431 enrolment centres and 22,157 enrolment stations.

Each training centre should be equipped with at least 20 computers (PCs) on LAN with the central server, centralised laser printer, audio/video equipment, UPS, internet connectivity and UIDAI-approved bio-metric devices.