AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 599 - We need people who have Political Legitimacy

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, September 28, 2010

599 - We need people who have Political Legitimacy - Express Buzz

An American visitor once asked Infosys co-founder Nandan Nilekani why people like him didn’t get into politics. Nandan replied: “This is not the US where Michael Bloomberg could be CEO of a big company one day and get elected as New York mayor the next.”

But who says you have to be elected to lead India? You don’t even have to be a mass leader, even to be prime minister. Manmohan Singh, who is leading the country for a second consecutive term (a first since Jawaharlal Nehru), neither has a mass base nor won an election.

In Delhi, the debate is gaining momentum on whether Nilekani, poster boy of Indian IT, should succeed Manmohan Singh. A lobby is at work, especially as Rahul Gandhi, crown prince of the Congress, is said to be unwilling to take up the job and age catches up with the incumbent.

A small team is said to be selling the idea of replacing Singh with another non-political, uncontroversial person like Nilekani.

For the Congress, the idea makes sense as it would allow AICC president Sonia Gandhi to continue guiding the party while leaving governance to Nilekani until her son decides to take over.

In the last year, after he became head of the UIDAI, he has become close to those who matter in the Congress — Sonia Gandhi and Manmohan Singh, who chose him for the post. When Nilekani faced resistance in getting Adhaar started, the Prime Minister set up a committee headed by himself to ensure proper implementation and support.

Now with criticism surrounding Adhaar, that it compromises individual privacy, both have thrown their weight behind Nilekani. The plan is for both Sonia and Singh to attend the roll out of the cards in Mumbai and Nandurbar in Maharashtra on September 29.

So what makes Nilekani special? “He has personal credibility. He has integrity. He has a view on India’s future and above all, he has experience in working with government. I would feel safe with someone like him,” says Subroto Bagchi, Gardener and vice president of Bangalore-based Mindtree Limited.

But he warns that premature speculation could hurt the prospects of Adhaar. “We all know and expect that Rahul Gandhi would be the logical replacement for Manmohan Singh; if for some reason that does not happen, and New Delhi believes that the deliverer is always an outsider, then Nandan could fit the bill.”

Even Karnataka’s law minister S Suresh Kumar of the BJP feels that Nilekani would fit the bill. “This is welcome, a non-political prime minister. But in reality, it is difficult as we have a system where the leader is elected by the political party,” he explains. “We have to find ways to elect a non-political prime ministerial candidate.”

Kumar also finds that Nilekani’s proven track record in business, the zeal he has displayed to take forward the UIDAI project despite criticism and red tape, shows his willingness to adjust in any field.

Political analyst and Jain University vice chancellor Sandeep Shastry thinks Nilekani has “acceptability, credibility and the skills to lead a country. Even his book Imagining India gives an idea that this man has some basic understanding of the problems facing the country and suggested solutions to overcome these shortcomings. But he lacks that political credibility and backing.”

Nilekani needs a political baptism like Manmohan Singh who was also finance minster and Leader of the Opposition in the Rajya Sabha, according to Shastry.

His views are backed by Rajiv Gowda, chairperson, Centre for Public Policy at IIM Bangalore. “The complexity of governing the country seems to call for multiples, one person to handle the politics another to handle governance. So far this arrangement has worked well with Sonia and Manmohan.

“But ultimately we need people who have political legitimacy,” the duo point out, and suggest that like Manmohan Singh, Nilekani should also first gain the political teeth to be accepted in a political system.

Mohan Das Pai, member of the board at the Infosys Leadership Institute and Education and Research feels otherwise. “The country needs a political prime minister who leads the party and wins elections, like David Cameron.” He considers it bad for democracy to have a non-political prime minister.

“The current system does not seem to be effective. There is too much drift and India appears weak due to discord and multiple voices. We need a political figure who is strong in his/her own right, who has been elected directly by the people as an MP. We need a person to whom people listen and who carries respect with citizens and who can handle deep fissures and challenges to our polity and society. It is bad for democracy to have a non-political figure who has not been elected by the people.”

Pai also appears convinced that Nilekani at the helm would be a disaster. “It will be a disaster, not because of Nandan who is a very fine citizen but because he will not be able to govern and take the country forward. The system will not listen to him and he will lack credibility with the masses. All of our great leaders were political figures, not technocrats.”

He prefers any other political figure such as Sonia or Rahul Gandhi, LK Advani or Lalu Prasad Yadav as prime minister as they can handle political and contentious issues.
—rajashekhara@expressbuzz.com