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

Friday, December 3, 2010

911 - Fear of UID Number's Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR)-Media Vigil

Mediavigil believes that without democratisation of communication and the right to communicate, the freedom of expression is meaningless.It attempts to take note of environment and public health issues where governments and corporations provide sanitised information. It also keeps track of ecology and health issues. To know more about it, visit :www.toxicswatch.com, toxicswatch.blogspot.com, banasbestosindia.blogspot.com

Thursday, December 02, 2010

Fear of UID Number’s Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) being Wikileaked

Notes from Nilekani’s Lecture on UID/Aadhaar

Fear of UID Number’s Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR) being Wikileaked

At the annual Rajinder Mathur Memorial Lecture, Nandan Nilekani, Chairperson, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) at the India International Centre Annexe Auditorium, New Delhi on December 2, spoke on Unique Identification Number: "Aadhaar – Its role in inclusion and public service delivery transformation". (Pictures attached)


 
The talk was followed by a question and answer session. Nilekani faced questions on issues ranging from privacy concerns, misplaced claims about benefits to migrant workers, food security and NREGA. There was no convincing answer about the estimated total budget for UIDAI. He kept referring to the budget of the first phase which is Rs 3,000 crore.

Questions were raised about UID Number compromising national security similar to what Wikileaks has done. Nilekani said, it is for the government to combat such threats. It is being done through a proposed legal framework that is being envisaged to safeguard the privacy of the resident’s data and also take care of the security requirements of the country. 
 
Interestingly, he said, laws to curb the theft and misuse of personal data need to be put in place but only after the UID Number scheme is implemented. The talk happened in the backdrop of the proposed UID Bill scheduled to be introduced in Parliament this week. The National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010 shows that this is what is exactly happening.
 

Amidst massive opposition, Nilekani claimed that there no mass movement to oppose the UID Number scheme. The students present raised grave concerns about the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Ministry of Human Resource Development and the UIDAI which is meant to create a system to track students through an electronic register besides the Central Identities Data Repository (CIDR), right from the primary level through secondary and higher education and imprinting of the UID number on the performance records of students, including mark-sheets, merit certificates and migration certificates.

As the debate on the UID grows, more and more groups of concerned citizens, former judges, jurists, parliamentarians and policy makers have expressed their worries over the world’s largest data management project. Even moderator of the Memorial Lecture, Rajdeep Sardesai, Editor-in-Chief CNN-IBN expressed his concern about privacy over leaked tapes between journalists, political leaders, bureaucrats and the big corporate groups. The question about the share holding pattern of the UIDAI officials, including Nilekani and conflict of interest emerging from it did not get any convincing response.
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