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

305 - UID will give mobile identity to people

UID will give mobile identity to people

0 Jul 2010, 0212 hrs IST,Harsimran Julka,ET 
It was the year 1986. Two IIT Kanpur batchmates, Ram Sewak Sharma and Arvind Verma, were posted as bureaucrats at Begusarai — one as a district magistrate — and the other an IPS officer. Both were eager to implement their IIT skills in villages. So, Mr Sharma wrote a program in DBASE, a programming language that would keep a record of all stolen firearms in the crime-prone district. As soon as a firearm would be found, the programme would run a search query among thousands of age-old records. Together, they impressed the state government, by solving 22 cases in just 30 days. While Mr Verma went on to become a criminology professor at Indiana University, Mr Sharma is trying his tech skills, again, now to allot a number to each Indian citizen. As director general of the Unique ID Authority of India, RS Sharma speaks to ET on the challenges and issues with biometrics and uniqueness of India’s Unique ID programme. Excerpts :

When does the government plan to allot the first UID number?

RS Sharma : We plan to start the proof-of-concept (PoC) phase from August, in 10-12 towns and cities. The PoC stage should be over in about three months. We have a period from August to February when we plan to allot the first set of numbers.

Process for the award of the biometrics tender is almost complete. We have empanelled about 200 enrolling agencies. For training, we have appointed about 15 companies, NIIT and Aptech, among others. The course content for training will be prepared by CMC, while the online tests for enrolling agents will be done by Sify. We have signed an MoU with almost 27 states, SBI, LIC, Oriental Bank of Commerce and Bank of Baroda, to act as registrars.

How is India’s programme different?

RS Sharma : Countries around the world have launched their national ID programmes for various reasons. For examples: In Europe, the countries did it as part of their immigration control programme. In the US, the reason was social security. In India, we are doing it for three main reasons, the main one being inclusion. In Bangladesh, the context was electoral reforms. In Pakistan, the number programme concerns security.

Currently, in India, a Bihari labourer in Mumbai is not able to open a bank account locally. It prevents him from availing a ration card and various other social security benefits. We plan to change that by giving him a mobile identity. The other reason is to prevent leakages. India loses thousands of crores because of fake identities. Even if we plug 10% of it, the programme becomes self-sustaining.

What are the challenges?

RS Sharma : There are three main challenges. India is a vast country. So, there are infrastructure problems such as power cuts, so computers and networks may face issues. Then, the human angle. Many people don’t have proper fingerprints, they have worn out. So, we would require high-quality finger-print readers. Then, we have to convince agencies (like banks, mobile companies) to start using UIDAI’s authentication service once people get numbers. 
Has UIDAI talked to some of the banks or telcos to start using the authentication service?

RS Sharma : Yes, we are in talks with many of them. We have suggested a Micro ATM model to RBI and banks. Banks can appoint business correspondents in villages, who can work like a ‘human’ bank. He may sit in a village, use a mobile phone, plug it with a fingerprint reader, and then authenticate a person. If not using a fingerprint reader, the system may just use two mobile phones to transfer money. Our unique ID database can be linked with a bank’s system on the back-end. This way, one inputs a mobile number along with a PIN code and another authentication code, and cash can be transferred instantly from peer to peer, via mobile phones linked with UIDAI system. This will make banking reach the masses.

There are talks around budget constraints and cuts. What is the truth?

RS Sharma : About Rs 147 crore was allotted to UIDAI in the first phase, which is already complete. About Rs 1,900 crore was allotted to us under the Union Budget for this year, for the second phase. So, there are no constraints. The third phase is yet to begin. The managed service provider is yet to be finalised, which will again be a large project. But we are getting full support in terms of budget.
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