AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 1095 - 64 herself, Sonia Gandhi wants Congress old brigade to quit

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, February 4, 2011

1095 - 64 herself, Sonia Gandhi wants Congress old brigade to quit

Kay Benedict | New Delhi, February 2, 2011 | Updated 09:04 IST

Perhaps she had the septuagenarians of the Manmohan Singh cabinet and the Congress Working Committee (CWC) in mind. Congress president Sonia Gandhi on Tuesday dropped broad hints at the geriatric brigade in the party and the government to not cling to power, position and pelf and retire gracefully.

Incidentally, Sonia herself is 64. But she hit out at the "greed" of leaders who are reluctant to let go of the perks that come with a political office.

Speaking at a function to release a stamp in the memory of freedom fighter and Haryana chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda's father Chaudhary Ranbir Singh, Sonia said: "Today, people are engaged in a blind race to gain wealth and a high post." Underscoring the importance of ideals at a time when there is a " blind race for power and pelf," she said Chaudhary Ranbir Singh retired from politics voluntarily at the age of 64. " Everybody should introspect what kind of ideals we are leaving for the new generation," she said.

"I get a feeling that we have drifted away from the ideals of the Independence struggle and that of our ancestors. Power and money is not everything. The pleasures derived from them are not everything. That pleasure has its own limitations. There is a limit to this pleasure and (one could enjoy it only up to a certain limit. Beyond that it is pure greed and temptation which everyone pursues," the Congress president added.

Sources in the Congress said she was expressing frustration at those not willing to make room for a generational change in the political leadership of the country, which has 70 per cent youth population.

Critics were, however, were not impressed. Sonia has chosen to wink at the old brigade in the Union cabinet which has as many as 17 ministers, including the Prime Minister, who are more than 64 years old.

If government sources are to be believed, the PM's plan to drop some "senior" members of his cabinet was frustrated by the party brass.

But if the Prime Minister listens to Sonia's homily, he himself and more than half his cabinet may have to quit.

Of the 32 Congress ministers in Singh's cabinet, 26 are 60- plus. Of these, nine are septuagenarian - B. K. Handique, Pranab Mukherjee, Virbhadra Singh, M. S. Gill, S. M. Krishna, Veerappa Moily, Murli Deora, Vayalar Ravi and Singh himself. Among the sexagenarians (60-plus) are Sushil Kumar Shinde, Jaipal Reddy, A. K. Antony, P. K. Bansal, P. Chidambaram, Ambika Soni and Vilasrao Deshmukh.
The Congress president's message, in the backdrop of a series of scams and controversies hitting the government, came a day after it was reported that she was planning to keep out some ageing leaders during the CWC's reconstitution.

Those who are likely to be affected in this 'generational change' are not amused by her suggestions.

Soon after Sonia's comments, 82- year- old former Union minister G. Venkataswamy, who was Lok Sabha MP for seven terms and a member of the dissolved CWC, hit at her and asked her to step down.

He was ostensibly protesting against the Congress's bid to form an alliance with the Praja Rajyam Party. But party sources said Venkataswamy is miffed with Sonia in the wake of media reports that he would be dropped from the CWC. Whether or not partymen heed her advice, Sonia said at the event that public service should be the purpose of those who are in public life instead of running after power.

She said the sacrifices made by the freedom fighters should not be forgotten.

"One should remember that if they had been after seeking personal pleasure they would not have been able to contribute to the freedom struggle," Sonia said.

She stressed that the meaning of public life was to understand the suffering of the common man and to make efforts to lessen it. "We have to fight the attempts to destroy our society by spreading the poison of terrorism, communalism and casteism," she said.

Apart from Hooda, telecom minister Kapil Sibal, minister of state for communications Sachin Pilot and president of the All India Freedom Fighters' Organisation Ranjit Singh also attended the function.