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

Saturday, December 11, 2010

938 - Babu centric e-governance in Odisha - Orissa Diary

Babu centric e-governance in Odisha
Saturday, December 11, 2010
By Janakish Badapanda; Bhubaneswar: The Information Technology (IT) system is in a back foot mode on the plea of innovation and disbelief towards IT industries functioning in Odisha. Large e-governance projects are in a standstill position, frustrating the user departments and implementers. All are perturbed due to the inability of the IT Department to execute even the running e-governance projects.

The much-hyped Odisha State Workflow Automation System (OSWAS) project implemented by one of the largest IT industries in the Country at a cost of Rs. 20 crore is finding itself in a difficult situation. The project successfully in operation at the Chief Minister's Office (CMO) is not getting implemented at other departments in Secretariat building itself. Similar is the case of the much-talked-about Common Citizen Centre (CSC) to be opened up in every Gram Panchayat. The DoIT had claimed to have 4,000 plus CSCs operational in the beginning of the year.

'Village Entrepreneurs,' who had invested Rs.50,000 to Rs.1 lakh each as franchisee fees have started shutting down their shops because of the Government's inability to provide e-service and payment due to the vendors implementing it. National flagship project e-district was linked to e-service which could not be implemented since last one year of awarding the contract. The Government of India had finally set the deadline to roll it out in Odisha in August this year, but on the plea that the software was still not ready; it shifted the date to September and again to October.

With a number of reminders from the Central Government and full money of Rs.4 crore for two pilot districts in place, the State Government is losing Rs.122 crore for the remaining 28 districts. The Odisha Computer Application Centre (OCAC), notified as the nodal agency for IT, is allegedly not responding to the request letters for computerisation by various departments and other Government agencies. The North Odisha University is waiting for last one year to hear from the OCAC. Another project of national importance, UID (Addhar), is in a state of total confusion in the state too. Recently, UID chief Nandan Nilekani visited the State to address a seminar at the KIIT but did not feel the need to meet top officials here due to their cold approach towards the flagship programme of the Union Government. The Thirteenth Finance Commission's grants cannot be spent unless the State Government comes to a conclusion on how to operate UID.

The State Cabinet has planned to come up with mega IT parks, but there have been little IT promotion activities. The cell for IT promotion is virtually defunct for the last one year – thanks to the present Chairman of OCAC - with no credible initiative taken to attract IT industries or inquire about the status of production on the land allotted by the IDCO.

The situation has worsened to such an extent that the IT industries operating out of Odisha have also expressed their concern. The national level IT firms are feeling suffocated. The global IT firms are not coming to Odisha as there is no Customs Airport at Bhubaneswar and the 'very knowledgeable' OCAC head is not interested to take any decision. The IT Industry Association met the Chief Secretary to explain their predicament to participate in tenders as their dues are not being released since last seven-eight months.

While both Chief Minister and Chief Secretary are harping on faster implementation of the e-governance programme by all the departments, tech-savvy officers are sitting helplessly due to the cold response of the DoIT. How long the government should bear the autocrat at the helm of the affairs in DoIT? It is too late now. Further sparing the rod will spoil e-governance programmes and projects in the state. It is high time that a technically competent management professional is handed over the DoIT without any loss of time. Babus are no more required to handle the department, when a lot of professionals are available in the state.
[janakish_07@yahoo.



http://www.orissadiary.com/ShowOriyaColumn.asp?id=23008com
CLICK ON TITLE TO SEE ORIGINAL ARTICLE - Posted by