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

Thursday, December 2, 2010

905 - Recipe for completing public utility projects successfully! - Praja

2 December 2010 - 7:32am 
k.b.syed61

If one looks at BBMP, BMTC, BDA and the works they underatke each one tells a tale of how not to execute the projects in the right manner. Magic boxes, MMTC's, flyovers without service roads all are examples of our state/city bureacrats professionlism and talent. Looking at these projects one would wonder if at all we as Indians do know how to build things right. The instant answer would be a emphatic NO.

Don't get demoralized with my pessimistic way of painting the picture of our Babus and their work culture. There is a beacon of hope in the midst of unprofessional attitude of Babus, corrupt bosses and our selfish political Babus. The hope is Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI). Thanks should go to our learned Prime Minister for choosing the right person for the right job, i.e. Nandan Nilekani.

It is said, if there is a will there is a way. Mix that with skillful, talented and professionalism with proven track, the results can not be destined to failure. This is exactly how the Nandan Nilekani's team can be described in 2 lines. The team consists of very talented people from all walks of life from private enterprise to civil servants from GOI, Reserve Banks, Postal Department etc.

When the UIDAI completes its task of providing the unique identity to each one of us estimated to be 600 million, it would have created a world record of creating a largest data bank. In simple terms it would handle the task of checking whether the unique 12-digit UIDAI is indeed unique after comparing against 599,999,999 photographs, 1,199,999,998 irises and 12,999,999,990 fingerprints.

Forbes India is carrying a special column describing the team, their skill set, tasks and the diversity of work cultures backgrounds. For more read here
 
Here are some excerpts from it.

"...UIDAI’s headquarters is in Jeevan Bharati, a building, in Connaught Place, Delhi; that’s where all the policy decisions are taken. The technology backbone of the project is in Bangalore. The contrast between the two is dramatic.

The Delhi office is a traditional government setup. Officers sit in large rooms separated by plywood partitions. Nameplates on the doors display their designations. Peons and assistants move files between different officers and usher in visitors. Hand-towels protect chair upholstery. Conversations are largely in Hindi and work gets conducted in a polite, orderly way. People are addressed and referred to by their titles: “Chairman, I need your approval” or “DDG said…” for instance.

At the tech centre at Bangalore, the doors and partitions are gleaming glass. People rush around energetically. Even at 8 p.m. lights blaze, visitors stream in, and impromptu meetings are place in the corridors. English is the default language, everybody is on a first-name terms and the ambience is collegial..."
 
This project is slated to be completed by 2014. I am very hopeful that this project would be a grand success. more importantly it would lay new foundation for good governance, transparency and accountability in taking up large projects in reaching it to the last of the Indians.
As a project management professional with process engineering domain background, I am looking forward to the stimulus this project would provide to the hundreds of public utility projects. This project should serve as an example of utilizing the technology, processes to achieve the nationalistic objectives of providing public services to teh large masses. It should also serve as reference point for executing projects in public domain.

Hopefully, BMTC,BBMP and other government departments would get inspire by the UIDAI's success and more importantly how to execute the projects successfully.

 
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