AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 443 - Moneylife Foundation conducts workshop on ‘Aadhaar’

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, August 21, 2010

443 - Moneylife Foundation conducts workshop on ‘Aadhaar’

Moneylife Foundation conducts workshop on ‘Aadhaar’

August 20, 2010 04:35 PM

Moneylife Digital Team

Mumbai, 17th August 2010:

"Aadhaar will not be able to effectively address the structural issues that lead to chronic poverty," explained Vickram Crishna, an IITian and Senior Fellow, Privacy International, elaborating on the government's contentious claim that its ambitious unique identification (UID) project will solve the problems of the poor and marginalised sections of the society. Mr Krishna was speaking on the occasion of a workshop conducted by Moneylife Foundation to explore issues revolving around the UID project or 'Aadhaar'.

Some of the key issues debated in the workshop were whether Aadhaar will be effective in stopping leakages in the public distribution system (PDS) as is being touted by the government, whether it will be able to put a stop to illegal immigration and whether the government would be able to ensure protection of the database and prevent it from being misused.

In his presentation, Vickram Crishna said, "India's privacy laws are draconian. There is a potential of misuse of the system. Whether the government can maintain an inviolable and secure database is a key issue. Have any safeguards been put in place to ensure that the processes are secure and transparent?"

However, the central point of debate was whether UID is restricting itself merely to issuing a unique number, not knowing what ultimate use to put it to. "End-user application is the issue here; not merely issuing a unique number," said Mr Crishna. The knowledgeable audience also debated on the efficacy of spending Rs42,000 crore over five years for issuing just a unique identification number (UIN) to half the population of the country. Some people were of the opinion that instead of spending such a huge amount on issuing an ID number, we should check the status of voter cards in the country and that the government should do a cost analysis for the UID project.

Another major claim by the authorities is that the UID project will give a significant boost to the economy through creation of multiple jobs and revenue streams. However Mr Crishna, a graduate of IIT (Delhi) and IIM (Calcutta), highlighted that the system would mostly use existing proprietary technology and will not be able to address systematic issues.

The implementation of technology for the project also emerged as a key cause of disagreement among the participants. Many people felt that it would be difficult to have devices across the country that would identify data based on biometrics, which are supposed to be used for the UIN. While some participants wanted to have an additional ID number, stressing that poor people's existence is basically linked to having some sort of identification; others felt there is no need to go for one more ID, especially if it is going to remain just a number and not a card.

Dr Prakash G Hebalkar, who was instrumental in forming and building up the joint venture of Tata and Unisys as a software and consultancy services activity, said that instead of going for the UID project in one go, we should start it with foreign visitors. After testing the UID with foreigners for about 10 years or so, if the results are encouraging then we should go in for issuing such a number to Indians, he said.