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, January 21, 2011

1052 : People's Cabinet revealed: Nilekani for Telecom - IBN Live

Jan 19, 2011 at 01:20pm IST

New Delhi: Architect of India's ambitious Unique Identification (UID) project, the largest biometric database in the world, Nandan Nilekani is the man majority of people want to see heading the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology, according to an IBNLive poll.
 
We conducted a poll asking people to vote for the people they want to see heading the various portfolios. It turned up some interesting results.
 
Minister of Communications and IT


People overwhelmingly picked Nilekani for Minister of Communications and Information Technology with 36 per cent of the total votes polled going in his favour.
Nilekani, who formerly co-chaired IT major Infosys Technologies Ltd, India's No. 2 outsourcer, resigned from the company's board to join the government in 2009.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh invited him to head the Unique Identification Authority of India in the rank of a cabinet minister.
 
The UID project, named "Aadhar" that aim to provide most of India’s 1.2 billion citizens a Unique Identification, was launched last year a Maharashtra’s Tembhli village.
The project is a brainchild of Nilekani and aims to give millions of Indians the means to open a bank account, buy a mobile phone, and access welfare services easily, while saving companies and government agencies the expensive and time-consuming process of verifying and establishing identities.
 
Ministry of Environment and Forests
 
The feisty Union Minister of State for Environment and Forests, Jairam Ramesh, remained a popular choice for several portfolios. The ministry, under Ramesh, is increasingly becoming more proactive in checking whether projects across India are following regulations. Previously, it was criticised for merely rubber-stamping investment decisions.
 
Most want him to take on a bigger role in the government. Forty-six per cent of people wanted to see him elevated to Cabinet rank. Ramesh is a popular choice for both Minister of Agriculture and Minister of Petroleum and Natural Gas with 18 per cent and 11 per cent of the votes favouring him in these portfolios.
 
Ministry of Petroleum and Natural Gas
 
Minister of State for Petroleum and Natural Gas Jitin Prasada came in a close second for the top position in the Ministry after Ramesh, with 10 per cent of the votes. Former Union sports minister Mani Shankar Aiyar was also a popular choice for the position.
 
A majority of people want Congress MP Rahul Gandhi for the post of Minister of Youth Affairs and Sports with over 20 per cent of the votes polled in his favour.
 
Ministry of Finance
 
Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Montek Singh Ahluwalia, is the people’s choice for Minister of Finance with 34 per cent votes going in his favour.
Railways and Home
 
In an apparent show of confidence in their performance, people voted that Minister of Railways Mamata Banerjee and Minister of Home Affairs P Chidambaram continue with their ministerial portfolios.
 
External Affairs
 
Surprisingly, the popular opinion is in favour of bringing back controversial Minister of State for External Affairs Shashi Tharoor with 35 per cent voting in favour of allotting him the External Affairs ministry.
 
Tharoor's use of his political website and Twitter quickly earned him a celebrity status and he went on to get 100,000 followers on Twitter. Tharoor resigned from his post in 2010 following allegations that he had misused his office to get shares in the IPL cricket franchise of Cochin. He denied the charges.
 
Defence Ministry
 
Will Finance Minister Pranab Munkherjee do a better job of managing the of Defence portfolio? Our readers seem to think so with 17 per cent voting in favour of him for the post. Mukherjee is a political stalwart who first entered parliament four decades ago and has been a member of almost every Congress party ministry since 1973.
 
Similarly, people backed Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ghulam Nabi Azad for the Civil Aviation portfolio.
Telecom Minister Kapil Sibal would do a better job of managing Human Resource Development, 39 per cent of the people said.
 
People wrote in to back Pranab Mukherjee for the post of the Prime Minister, and said Defence Minister A K Antony should retain his current position.
Detailed results: IBNLive Pick your own Cabinet poll




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