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

Sunday, October 10, 2010

688 - Aadhaar did not happen because of 26/11 - Mumbai Mirror


Nandan Nilekani, former Infosys CEO and chairperson of UIDAI, fields some persistent questions about the government’s most ambitious project ever

Chandrima Pal
Posted On Sunday, October 10, 2010 at 09:31:59 AM

As chairperson of Unique Identification Authority of India, former Infosys CEO Nandan Nilekani is steering the country’s most ambitious project ever at the cost of Rs 1.5 lakh crore.
 


Aadhaar, as the project was recently christened, is being rolled out at a furious pace, keeping Nilekani on his toes, as he works out the tiniest details of those magic numbers that are expected to radically change the very fabric of civil society by stringing together all of the country and resuscitating government schemes aimed at grassroots India.

But there are also those persistent questions, especially from social commentators and civil rights experts, who have misgivings about how the unique number could be a potential weapon in the hands of the state law and order enforcement agencies and private stakeholders who could easily manipulate or merge the database - which would track everything from your grocery bill to your last vacation - to their advantage.

In other words, there are concerns about the kind of intrusive role the state could play and how an individual’s right to privacy could be compromised once the entire country is covered by Aadhaar.

Any discussion on Aadhaar is thus a potential minefield, especially when you manage to catch the government’s most-trusted technocrat between two important rollouts - that in Delhi for the homeless and in Karnataka. But we put Nilekani on the hot seat nevertheless and decided to fire away.

Excerpts:

Indians already have many IDs. We have our passports, PAN cards, ration cards, driving licences etc. What was the need for another ID at such a huge cost instead of refining what we already have?

NN: Aadhaar is different because it actually provides a foundation for all the other IDs. This 12-digit number will be common to all other cards but unlike them, Aadhaar is a mobile ID, something you can carry anywhere you go and which can be authenticated anywhere in the country, online.

Most importantly, the existing IDs are available only for a certain section of society. A vast majority of our people do not even have any way of identifying themselves because they do not have access to the privileges and benefits rest of us enjoy. Aadhaar will bring them into the mainstream, and by giving them an ID, make them part of an inclusive growth.

After Tembhli in Maharashtra, it was a homeless group in Delhi which recently received their UIDs. How do you go about deciding who is next?

NN: We have planned a rollout in seven states over the next few months including Maharashtra, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Jharkhand.

Enrolling has begun in several places at night shelters with the help of state enrolling agencies and NGOs.

As you can see, our focus is on people who are marginalised and vulnerable, the migrants and the homeless. They are the ones who need Aadhaar the most, and that is how the rollout has been planned.

Does the very idea of biometric ID violate human rights? Does it not amount to profiling by the state?

NN: There is absolutely no basis for this assumption. The idea behind Aadhaar is very simple and unambiguous. We have large number of people outside the system who have absolutely no access to bank accounts, mobile phones or can even pay rent. Aadhaar, the project, has been designed keeping their concerns in mind and with an aim to provide them with a basic identity.

Nilekani at Tembhli village where Aadhar was launched
Does that mean that concerns over the misuse of a citizen’s personal information made accessible by UID is mostly confined to urban, affluent India? There are questions about our sensitive personal information falling into the wrong hands.

NN: Even today, without the UID, your credit card details could be accessed by someone who may manipulate it and your privacy may be breached. It is important to understand that Aadhaar will ultimately bring you more benefits than make you vulnerable.

In fact, we are confident that in the next six months, as the rollout gains momentum and more and more people get their Aadhar numbers, the benefits of this project will be obvious to everyone.

Concerns have been raised about how the government has been avoiding a debate on a public forum over the possible misuse of UID. Do you think there is a need for a dialogue to allay some of the fears arising out of the lack of transparency?

NN: It is absolutely incorrect on your part to say we have not been transparent. The project has been designed with the highest standards of transparency. We have a website that is very important as it shares every possible detail of the project.

But what about a discussion on a more public platform?

NN: We have held a series of discussions with all our stakeholders, both state and the private ones. We have had a wide range of discussions with lawyers and civil society experts and ensured every due process was followed before rolling out the UIDs.

So does this mean the concerns over UID are not universal?

Our research and experience indicates there are a large number of Indian citizens who are left out of public benefit schemes. They are the poor and those who migrate to different states and big cities for their livelihood.

These are the people who are eagerly awaiting this number. So these concerns you are talking about may be confined to a very small group. But even then I am sure once the project has been fully rolled out, all these questions will take care of themselves.

How exactly will UID power NATGRID (See box)?

This comes under the purview of the Home Ministry.
 
  
 Sonia Gandhi giving a tribal woman the UID
There is a notion that Aadhar was conceived of after the terror attacks on Mumbai when the state felt there was an urgent need of better surveillance. Comment.

NN: The project was conceived in 2006, way before the 26/11 Mumbai terror attacks. The primary and only purpose of this project as envisioned by the government is to improve public delivery system, to bring the marginalised into the mainstream and to help them access health, employment and other benefits easily. It was not because of security concerns.

When will Mumbai get its first UIDs?

Maharashtra’s Nadurbar district got the very first set of UIDs in the country.  Everyone, including the CM is very keen that it is one of the seven states where Aadhaar will roll out fully. So answer to your question, very soon.
NATGRID - What the fuss is all about

A brainchild of Home Minister P Chidambaram, NATGRID intends to link 21 databases across government and private agencies to ‘flag potential terrorist threats.’

To be completed in the next couple of years this grid will enable security and intelligence agencies to access any information at the click of a mouse.

Only 11 selected government agencies will be able to access the grid and a special mechanism will prevent any leakage of data.

These agencies are: Intelligence Bureau (IB), Research and Analysis Wing (RAW), Military Intelligence, Revenue Intelligence, National Intelligence Agency (NIA) and National Security Council (NSC).

The databases that will be linked to the NATGRID include rail and air travel, phone calls, bank accounts, credit card transactions, passport and visa records, PAN cards, land and property records, automobile ownership and driving licences.

Former head of Mahindra Special Services Group Raghu Raman has been hired on an 18-month contract as chief executive officer of the project.