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, August 6, 2011

1495 - Unique identity crisis - Mid Day

By: Sudeshna Chowdhury         Date:  2011-07-26         Place: Mumbai

The ambitious Unique Identification (UID) programme aimed at giving people a valid and clear proof of identity  is mired in confusion

The Unique Identification (UID) project was first launched amid much fanfare, in 2010 at Tembhli, a tribal village in Maharashtra.
 
 
Fingerprints of a woman is taken on a biometric machine
at an enrollment centre in Andheri(W)

The Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) envisioned the UID programme, which is meant for people residing in India.

Under this programme the UIDAI is issuing a 12-digit UID number, called 'Aadhaar' to people living in the country.

While duplicate application forms are available at various stationary shops, a majority in the city are unaware of the registration procedure to be followed to get their UID numbers.

Wait
It was a long haul for R.Sadagopan (67), who went to apply for his UID number at a nearby enrollment centre in Ghatkopar (E).

Sadagopan, who had to wait for more than two hours along with his wife, laments that the application process itself is quite cumbersome and time consuming. Said Sadagopan, "I got to know about the nearby enrollment centre through a friend.

I don't know how we are supposed to figure out where the enrollment centres are and what are the timings for registration.

I haven't come across anything in the newspapers. I haven't seen any posters or advertisements by the government.

There is absolutely no clarity." Most of the people seeking UIDs also complain of mismanagement. "We senior citizens are made to wait for hours to just get the registration forms.  

Enrollment form

We are then given tokens and asked to come after a couple of hours. There is no separate queue for women or senior citizens. Hence, we are finding the process very difficult," emphasised Sadagopan.

Unaware
While the Sadagopans have at least managed to get themselves registered, many people do not even know about their nearest enrollment centres where they can go and apply for their UID numbers.

"I would definitely want to get my Aadhaar number but I don't know where to go and how to get the registration done.

I haven't come across any report, which can take us through the entire procedure. Like all our programmes, even the UID programme is suffering due to lack of proper execution," said Mrudul Mody (65) from Thane.

Talking about the registration procedure, Sudha Mohan, a professor at Mumbai University said, "I didn't know that one has to go for registration to get an Aadhaar number."

When asked if she knew about the nearest enrollment centre, Mohan said, "What are these enrollment centres and where are they located?"

Forms
Many like Mohan, who have heard about the government's much-publicised UID programme, are clueless about the process. Others prefer to not having their UID numbers rather than standing in never-ending queues for hours.

Said Deryk Talker, who had recently gone to Petit BMC School Waterfield Road, the enrollment centre at  Bandra (W), to get an application form, "The form, which was supposed to be available for free, was being sold by middlemen for Rs 10, just outside the enrollment centre.
Ranjana Sadashiv Sonavne, first recipient of the UID card in Tembhli village

I was told that people have been queuing up since 5 am in the morning for getting forms. Some of them have been standing for more than four hours."

Since, the enrollment centres give away limited number of tokens on any given day, Talker said, "It was futile to stand and wait for my turn to come.

The queue was just too long." But inspite of all the difficulties, it is advisable that people buy registration forms only from enrollment centres.

Said Dr Santosh Bhogle, undersecretary, IT department, Government of Maharashtra, "The application forms have serial numbers. Therefore forms should be obtained only from enrollment centres."

Online
One enrollment centre can only give limited (50-150) coupons on a single day. In a step towards solving such problems, the authorities are planning to go online, to make the process simpler, faster and user-friendly. Explained Satnam Singh Sethi Chief Operating Officer (COO), Maha Online Ltd, "We ran a successful trial in Pune.

Within a few days we will launch the online application process in Pune. After that we are looking at Nagpur. We will then launch the online process in Mumbai in another week."

Sethi says, the online process will be much easier as, "people can fill in as well as submit their forms online where they can specify the name of the enrollment centre as well as the date of registration.

They will also receive an SMS, specifying the time, when they need to arrive at their enrollment centres . This will save people the trouble of waiting for long hours in queues. They can just arrive at the given time and get themselves registered."

Success
Authorities claim that the Aadhaar programme has been quite successful in Maharashtra. "We have assumed that population of Mumbai is 1 crore 25 lakh and 18 per cent of the entire population have already registered themselves under the UID project," said Mahesh Narvekar, Chief Officer of the Disaster Management Cell of the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC).

Narvekar, who also takes care of the UID programme in Mumbai, highlighted that a paucity of machines at various enrollment centres is also a problem. 

People waiting outside Tata Municipal School
in Andheri (W) to submit their registration form

Reiterating the success of the UID scheme in Maharashtra, Bhogle said, "We have started the Aadhaar scheme in almost 35 districts in Maharashtra, which is one of the highest in India. Information is available at various websites.

Detailed information of various zones and enrollment centres are also given. So there should not be any problem." Aadhaar is a long-term programme, hence the government is looking at another two years for everyone to have their UID numbers.

"It is not a 15 days programme and people don't have to rush to enrollment centres for registration. More centres will come up in Mumbai and the process will go online soon. So there is no need to panic," said Bhogle.

What is Aadhaar?
Aadhaar is a 12-digit Unique Identification (UID) number, which the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is issuing for all Indian residents. Once an individual is on the Aadhaar database, the identity of a person can be established easily. Aadhaar will become the single source of identity verification

CLICK ON TITLE TO SEE ORIGINAL ARTICLE - Posted by