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

Wednesday, August 4, 2010

378 - Proposed GST is too fractured for now-Sukumar Mukhopadhyay-(Business Standard)

Proposed GST is too fractured for now
Sukumar Mukhopadhyay /  August 2, 2010, 0:14 IST
Business Standard

The revised scheme for Goods and Services Tax (GST) which has now been announced by the Finance Minister on 21st July in the presence of the Empowered Committee of State Finance Ministers lays too much emphasis on what will be achieved in future. But in the present form it is fractured, incomplete and lacking in the strength to achieve the objective of a proper proper GST. What is now being proposed for April 2011 is a regime of separate goods tax and a service tax, a situation which is continuing now also. It only achieves empowering the right to levy service tax to the States and empowering the Centre to levy sales tax. By itself it achieves little. On several points the proposed format of GST suffers from severe struct-ural defects which are discus-sed below.

First, the rates for two years for goods will be different from the rates for services. So it is not a goods and services tax at all as it is understood internationally. When we see the rates of goods and services all over the world, they are the same (except Myanmar and Suriname). The fact that it is proposed to make the rates same after two years shows that on principle it has been agreed to. In that case why not do it at the beginning itself? For one thing the government had the preparation time for full year to introduce comprehensive service tax and for another the service tax rates will increase but the over all tax burden on the industry will be either 20 per cent or 12 per cent which together are not much higher than the 16 per cent now been proposed after two years . More over the industry and the trade have been reconciled to have a comprehensive GST in the place of the present system of numerous taxes. Once the tax is made out transparently to be revenue neutral, no separate objection for hiking service tax could be raised. The best argument which will sell now is that the peak effective rate will be about 15 per cent, (and as the FM has observed himself), it is acceptable to the industry. As is known, the present combined incidence of excise, service tax and VAT is more than 20 per cent. On the other hand when the service tax rate will be increased after two years from 16 per cent to 20 per cent, there will be more objection because 2013-14 will be the year just before the general election due in May 2014 when the desire to please all will prevail over any thought for rationalisa-tion of tax. So the best time to combine goods and servi-ces tax into one entity is right at the start.

Second, the proposed GST does not encompass so many goods namely petrol, diesel, alcohol, electricity some forms of octroi. Third, the proposal does not mention anything about a very crucial aspect, that is, the mechanism for inter State transfer of input credit of GST which is known as IGST. We find that UIDAI Chairman, Nandan Nilekani said that IT infrastructure for GST will be ready in the next six months, that is, by February 2011. But there is no indication as to what the basic structure is which will be given effect to by the GSTN. First it has to be deci-ded what the structure of the GST and particularly the IGST will be.
Fourth, regarding veto power of the Centre there is so far no agreement between the States and the Centre. There is some indication that the States have not agreed to an absolute veto power by the Centre. The FM has appealed to the Industry leaders to help building a consensus to support it.

The conclusion is that GST should be introduced with both goods and service taxes rolled into one. The selective service taxes must be replaced by a comprehensive service tax. The procedure for inter State credit of input tax must be finalised. The issue regarding veto power of the Centre and how to change rates in future must also be settled. To seek opinion of industry, trade and public in general a Second Discussion Paper should be issued at the earliest.

E-mail: smukher2000@yahoo.com
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