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

Wednesday, January 5, 2011

1001 - 29th September 2010 marks the dooms day for India: Ram Krishnaswamy




This is an email I shared with many friends opposed to Aadhaar on 28th Sept 2010 and am surprised to note that it has been blogged in Banyan Tree.  I am not offended but proves my point that there is no such thing as privacy or security in internet or the digitised world of today.

It is 5th Jan 2011 today and Aadhaar which means "Foundation" is shaping up more and more as as a comedy of errors like "Fawlty Towers" . (Fawlty Towers (1975–1979) was a BBC television sitcom about hotel owner Basil Fawlty's incompetence, short fuse, and arrogance that form a combination that ensures accidents and trouble are never far away.)

The Latest news is that the nation is full of touts selling Aadhaar forms, and helping poor people complete them for a fee and act as referees providing details of false residential addresses that get accepted by Aadhaar Registrars, perhaps for a small fee. There is nothing the NIAI Chief sitting in his Fawlty Towers can do to rectify such practices.

After all UIDAI or NIAIs responsibility is only issuing an identity number called Aadhaar and all responsibility to gather information and biometrics falls on State Governments not UIDAI. 

Aadhaar is an expensive joke to say the least.

Ram
______________________________________

authored by Ram Krishnaswamy
 
29th September 2010, will go down in history as a sad day, when poor and illiterate masses will be herded in like cattle in Nandurbar in Maharashtra to be “BRANDED” for life and issued a Unique number and a Barcode that is not so Unique anymore called “Aadhaar”.

This will be followed by branding  600 million voiceless poor and illiterate masses in the next four years with IT companies & American Consultants raking in as much as Rs 45000 crores or US $ 9 Billion that could have been used to boost primary education and health services.

Not only the poor, Aadhaar numbers will be forcefully issued to school children from first class to 10th standards.. 

How could something that is meant to be optional be forced on children is a question that we have to ask ? Do the children, citizens of tomorrow have a choice ? Do we as parents have a choice to decide if our school going children should register for Aadhaar or not ? I see this as a cunning ploy by UIDAI to make what is touted as optional as a compulsory registration.

Aadhaar is based on a false premise marketed through “Imagining India” by Nandan Nilekani, that has very very weak foundations such as, giving the poor the identity that the Govt lacks to provide its services through PDS and NREGA.

If you are reading this you have to be educated. Please ask yourself the question if you as an educated Indian will queue up for Aadhaar. If not why not ? 

Would you like to have all your pieces of identity like Passport, Driving Licence, PAN Card, Ration Card, Mobile Phone numbers, Bank account number  etc etc all linked up by one common number called Aadhaar. Would you like your tax man to know details of all your bank accounts and savings ? If the answer is yes, I have nothing to say.

If your answer is no, then if it is not good for you and me why is it being forced on the poor and illiterate and innocent school children who do not have a clue about consequences, where this very Aadhaar can be abused by people in power and law enforcers.

On the other hand if Aadhaar was to be compulsorily issued to all central and state public servants and is to be used to weed out corruption it makes sense as it will save the nation billions that can be used for the betterment of society. No we do not want to touch corrupt officials who swindle thousands of crores yet we want to use Aadhaar for de duplication to ensure that no poor man can get twice the amount of the 35 Kg rice he is allotted per month. 

The reality is that most poor cannot even afford to buy the full allocated quota of 35 kg per month as they do not have the money.. 35 KG at Rs 3 works out to Rs 105 and here is UIDAI that will issue bank accounts to people who cannot afford Rs 105 a month to avail their full quota of rice..and to make this possible all national banks have signed MOUs with UIDAI now NIAI to get a share of 600 million new bank accounts that will have no money in them

UIDAI which has now become NIAI and sounds like “Truth” is a Mega untruth & a swindle by the IT sector. The Cabinet and the PM are going along only to save face at this point of time. The resistance is mounting and UIDAI officials like Director General of UIDAI Mr.R.S.Sharma cannot tell NAC members that questions raised “reflects some fundamental misunderstandings on the objectives of the UIDAI”. Mr Sharma should realise that NAC members raising questions are better qualified than he is on socio economic matters

The FBI in USA has only 55 million records and 100 000 verifications each day  and  used only for security purposes and to track criminals or potential terrorists which is justified.

Aadhaar Computer on the other hand ( if successful) will contain at least 600 million records if not 1.2 Billion and will require 2 to 3 million authentications on a daily basis only to issue NREGA payments and PDS allocations.

Does India need this white elephant to care for the poor when we have simpler solutions staring us in the face like  decentralisng PDS and empowering Panchayats ?  

But then haw can we expect a billionaire who confesses he knows more about New York than Villages in India to know how to serve the poor in India ? Not long before citizens of the largest democracy in the world wake up and put an end to Aadhaar..

Quoting Rajiv Gandhi “Democracy was the greatest gift of our freedom struggle to the people of India. Independence made the nation free. Democracy made our people free. A free people are a people who are governed by their will and ruled with their consent. A free people are a people who participate in decisions affecting their lives and their destinies”.

The question is are we a free people who can participate in decisions afffecting our lives and destinies or should we allow self professed wizard & IT czar like Nandan Nilekani to make these decisions for 1.2 billion people ?
 
“Hi-tech without Panchayati Raj is just a bogus stunt for geeks and nerds.” says Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress leader

Ram Krishnaswamy, Sydney, Australia
http://aadhararticles.blogspot.com/
http://questioningaadhaar.blogspot.com/

ramrajah@optusnet.com.au
Please feel free to post your comments on the article in the blog.

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing”. Edmund Burke
 
“Among a people generally corrupt liberty cannot long exist”. Edmund Burke
 
“In matters of conscience, the law of the majority has no place.” Mahatma Gandhi
 
“Democracy was the greatest gift of our freedom struggle to the people of India. Independence made the nation free. Democracy made our people free. A free people are a people who are governed by their will and ruled with their consent. A free people are a people who participate in decisions affecting their lives and their destinies”. Rajiv Gandhi
 
Hi-tech without Panchayati Raj is just a bogus stunt for geeks and nerds.” Mani Shankar Aiyar, Congress leader

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