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, October 19, 2010

725 - Know your compliance - Business Standard

Ashish Pai /  October 17, 2010, 0:38 IST
Duplication of paperwork makes the procedure of buying financial products cumbersome.

There is no escaping the paperwork while investing in financial products. Be it, opening a new bank account, demat account or buying insurance, filling the Know Your Client (KYC) documents is a mandatory procedure today. KYC is a client identification program that verifies and maintains records of the identity and address of investors.

KYC norms were introduced in 2002 by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). It directed all banks and financial institutions to put in place a policy framework to know their customers before opening any account. The purpose was to prevent money laundering, terrorist financing, theft and so on.
Today other regulators too have made KYC mandatory. The Securities and Exchange Board of India (Sebi) has mandated it for mutual funds and broking accounts, the Insurance Regulatory Development Authority (IRDA) while buying insurance and the Forwards Markets Commission (FMC) for commodity trading. You need to submit it even for making post office deposits.

IN BRIEF
* KYC is mandated by most regulatory authorities
* Documents for proof of identity and address are needed.
* Certain investments may need PAN card details
* Duplication of documents in some cases is possible
* Investee firms may also incur compliance cost

Documents needed: The mandatory details required under KYC norms are proof of residence and identity.

A person’s ration card, passport, utility bills or a letter from the employer or his housing society is accepted as residence proof. For proof of identity, passport, voter ID card, Permanent Account Number (PAN) card or driving licence too could work. Nowadays,most institutions ask for the customer’s PAN too.

Impact: Although the effort towards strengthening identification norms has helped in preventing money laundering and reducing fraud, it has had a negative impact in an unexpected quarter. The growth in investor numbers in various instruments is either stagnating or reducing. Apparently, the KYC norms are proving restrictive because of the hassles of documentation.

The KYC requirement sometimes leads to unnecessary and repetitive work, delaying operations. Customers complain about the paperwork involved. Ultimately, it means customers have to run from pillar to post for complying with the KYC norms. Investors complain of being asked to provide details repeatedly or face a freeze on their accounts.

Impact for service providers: Companies and distributors say, KYC requirements have burdened them with substantial administrative obligations. The verification rules place a financial burden on banks, insurance companies and mutual funds due to the involved costs. Currently, every entity has to individually conduct this verification which results in duplication of effort for customers as well as the institutions.

There is a need to simplify KYC requirements . The authorities could opt for centralisation of the KYC norms to make investing easy for those not well versed with paperwork. Mutual funds have done this at an industry level by giving the mandate to a single entity, CDSL Ventures. A uniformity in requirements for KYC prescribed by all authorities would help make the filing easier. One important document that will make life simpler is - ‘Aadhar’, the unique identification number to be provided to each citizen by Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), a government initiative. But there is still some time before it will be implemented. By making KYC norms simpler, it will make investments simpler. It is especially required if investing is to become more inclusive.

The writer is a freelancer
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