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, August 31, 2010

486 - UID to launch from Andhra Pradesh - UID Card Project

29th August 2010

The government is ready to allot the first batch of unique identification (UID) numbers under a project that aims to give every Indian resident easier access to e-governance and a range of other services. Residents of Andhra Pradesh’s Chittoor district will be the first to receive UID numbers from the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), the nodal agency for the Aadhaar project, a UIDAI official said. “We are waiting for the Parliament session to get over as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh has to inaugurate the launch,” he said, requesting anonymity. The session is scheduled to end on 27 August. 

Set up in June 2009, UIDAI had promised to issue the first batch of UID numbers—based on residents’ personal and biometric details, such as fingerprints and eye scans—between August and February. Six other Andhra Pradesh districts will be covered in the initial phase. Hyderabad-based V.S. Bhaskar, deputy director general of UIDAI, said 1,500 people from the state have already enrolled under the project. “The target for the state till March 2011 is 3 crore (30 million) numbers,” he said. 

UIDAI aims to issue the numbers to 100 million people in different parts of the country this fiscal year. Users will eventually have to use the UID number to access government services such as the public distribution system for essential food items, as well as welfare programmes such as the rural job guarantee scheme. 

The number will also allow residents who do not have passports, driving licences or other forms of identification—particularly people from rural areas—open bank accounts, apply for loans and access other financial services. 

UID numbers will be sent out as letters to each resident. One part of the letter will carry the resident’s name, address and the 12-digit UID number. The second part will have the resident’s photograph along with personal details such as sex and date of birth, and a linear barcode that contains the UID number. 

R.S. Sharma, director general of UIDAI, said residents can cut out the second part and carry it along with them, precluding the need to remember their UID number. The barcode can also be read by a barcode reader, lessening the chance of errors that may creep in if the number is being entered manually. “We are in no way making it mandatory for people to carry around the letter,” he added. 

“The cut-out portion and the barcode has been conceptualized only to help illiterate people or those who can’t remember the number to use their unique identities effectively.” 

Ernst and Young is an adviser to the project. Sunil Chandiramani, partner and national leader, government services, at the audit and consulting firm, said UIDAI wanted to use technology to ensure that all residents benefit from the Aadhaar project. This, he said, is why the nodal agency decided to send out UID numbers simply inside a letter with a barcode, instead of issuing “UID cards” that could be used like credit cards. 

“Use of cards, with smart chips and other magnetic storage, would have been restrictive in nature and hindered the quick adoption of UID—especially in the far-flung villages of the country,” he said. “Also, if a person lost the card, it would be an issue.” 

The UIDAI is also mulling allowing online verification of UID numbers using the so-called cloud computation technology, as reported by Mint on 24 August. If it decides in favour of this still-evolving technology, the government would just pay usage-based fee for Internet-based storage and processing of Aadhaar-related data, rather than set up its own information technology (IT) infrastructure. Banks, telecom companies and other service providers who want to verify a client’s identity would then be able to simply send their UID number and biometrics for online verification.
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