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, June 11, 2011

1386 - Biometric cards for 10 cr people mooted- Source - TOI

Faizan Ahamed 
June 10th 2011

PATNA: Bihar government has decided to provide 'e-Shakti' biometric card to each of its 10 crore citizens. The department of rural development is working on this project to fulfil the desire of chief minister Nitish Kumar.

 Minister of rural development Nitish Mishra said an empowered committee held a meeting on Wednesday under development commissioner K C Saha and decided to go for a common survey of people for both the  e-Shakti   and Unique Identification (UID) cards. "After cabinet approval, tenders will be floated to launch the project across the state," Mishra told TOI on Thursday.

The minister said the project would cost somewhere between Rs 750 to Rs 1,000 crore and will take a minimum of two years to complete. "The e-Shakti cards will be as good as UID ones. This multipurpose card will not only be an identity card but various schemes and services will also be linked to it," said Mishra. The card will be prepared on the basis of the 2011 census.

Bihar's dream project, e-Shakti, was launched by CM  Nitish Kumar   in February 2009 as an evidence of his government's resolve to take 'sushasan' to the rural masses. The scheme impressed all including the Planning Commission, UPA chairperson  Sonia Gandhi   and UIDAI head  Nandan Nilekani . The project was termed as the precursor to UID's 'Aadhar'. Bihar's 'e-Shakti' was chosen by the UIDAI as an example for 'Aadhar' in the country.

However, the scheme hit a roadblock for reasons best known to bureaucracy. For the past six months, no headway was made in the project. Mishra said, "The project has been delayed as work on it was stalled. The problem was that there was no clarity in developing the ownership when it was decided to integrate 'Aadhar' with 'e-Shakti' in the state."

 Sources said all progress on 'e-Shakti' came to a standstill in anticipation of a unified model for data collection that would cater to the requirements of both the projects. Incidentally, rural development department is steering both of these initiatives.

 Mishra said now this issue has been resolved and a common survey for both projects has been decided. He said the 'e-Shakti' vendor, Smaarftech Technologies, had been awarded tender for making 2.5 crore biometric cards. In the fresh bid, the present vendor will have the first right of refusal, he added. For making 10 crore cards, about nine more agencies would be involved to collect biometric and demographic data, the minister said.

 A spokesman of Smaarftech, stressing the need to revisit the scope and mandate for integrating the two projects, said while efforts to integrate UIDAI's 'Aadhar' and 'e-Shakti' might have some ground, they do not have any relevance beyond data collection exercise. "It must be ensured that there are no undue fallouts of this integration for any of 'e-Shakti' process other than data collection," he said.

 The agency, which claims to have collected records of about 40 lakh residents of four districts, lamented the inordinate delays, saying it has already dented the project's continuity. As a matter of fact, sources said, the 'e-Shakti' provided foundation for the concept of UID. CM Nitish Kumar at the NDC meeting in February last had commented, "Bihar's e-Shakti project has been a front-runner to UID, and the UID must leverage the start made by e-Shakti."
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