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

Sunday, February 6, 2011

1104 - DoP, UIDAI join hands for UID number delivery

DoP, UIDAI join hands for UID number delivery
By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, FEB 04, 2011: DEPARTMENT of Posts signed a Statement of Intent here today with Unique Identification Authority of India(UIDAI) in the presence of the Union Minister of Communications and IT and the Chairman of UIDAI. The main purpose of this Statement is to forge strategic alliance to create value for both the Department of Posts(DoP) and the UIDAI and for the residents of India.

Speaking on the occasion Shri Kapil Sibal, the Union Minister of Communications & IT said that this is a great moment in the history of India as the empowerment of villagers will take place through post offices. Post Office is the centre of activity for village community. He said India Post has geared itself to undertake this huge responsibility with due care and diligence. Delivery of AADHAAR to each resident will be available for tracking and confirmation.

Calling it a milestone agreement, Shri. Nandan Neilkeni, Chairman of UIDAI expressed appreciation for efficiency and dedication of Postal Department. He said this agreement is not tactical relation but strategical partnership. Aadhar based applications will be accessible through post offices. Simultaneously DoP's ambitious ICT upgradation plan for Post Offices will make end to end conversion happening.

Salient Features of Statement of Intent signed today are-

++ UIDAI wishes to leverage the national network of the Department of Posts to provide Aadhaar and the accompany authentication services to all residents.

++ Department of Posts and UIDAI wish to collaborate to provide state of art bio-metric and ID authentication services to the residents.

++ Providing of enrolment and updation facility to the residents of India in identified post offices across the country subject to economic & operational viability.

++ Facilitating continuing Aadhaar enrolment and provision of up-dation centres across the network of Post Offices subject to feasibility & on mutually agreed terms

++ Transmission and delivery of UID letters to the residents of the country and providing proof of delivery of these letters through a service specially customized for UIDAI

++ Use of Aadhaar and Aadhaar based authentication services in Postal business where deemed fit by Department of Posts;

++ Sharing demographic and biometric data collected during enrolment for Aadhaar on mutually agreed terms & conditions;

++ Utilizing Media Post and Direct Mail services of Department of Posts by the UIDAI to targeted group of residents across the country to promote Aadhar on mutually agreed terms & conditions.

++ In a recognition of the fact that Aadhaar enablement may call for running Proof of Concept and Pilot projects both side agree to do so where deemed necessary and subject to mutual convenience. Such exercises as may be undertaken in pursuit of this understanding will endeavour to produce Detailed Project Reports which can be effectively used to scale up the projects on successful completion.

In view to leverage vast network of post offices across the country which touches each and every resident of the country, Department of Posts and UIDAI came together and signed first Memorandum of Understanding on 30 th April, 2010. This MOU covers the following areas:-

++ Printing of communication carrying UID Number addressed to the resident at Department of Posts ‘Print to Post' facility at Kolkata GPO.

++ Transmission of the UID communications printed at Department of Posts' ‘Print to Post' facility to the addressee by the fastest means.

++ Delivery of the UID communication to the addressee through the vast network of post offices across the country.

Subsequently second Memorandum of Understanding was signed on September 18, 2010 wherein Department of Posts agreed to act as Registrar to UIDAI. UIDAI is in the process of shortlisting the Enrolment Agencies that will manage the Enrolment Stations in the identified post offices. More than 3700 post offices across the country have been identified for providing enrolment stations facility.

The mandate of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is to provide a Unique Identification Number to each and every resident of the country. This involves:-

++ Capture of demographic and bio-metric data of each and every resident.

++ Generating a Unique Identification Number for each resident of the country.

++ Printing a communication carrying the Unique Identification Number addressed to each resident.

++ Delivery of this communication to the resident.

++ Updation of resident's data on a periodic basis.

Department of Posts is striving to provide complete solution for delivering the Unique Identification Number to all the residents in the country. The Department of Posts with its vast network of post offices is the only organization in the country that can provide an end to end comprehensive solution to the requirements of the UIDAI in this regard.

The ‘Print to Post' facility of Department of Posts at Kolkata is expected to print and dispatch about one crore UID letters upto March 31, 2011. During the year 2011-12, Department of Posts is expected to print and deliver about 12 crore UID letters.
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