AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 1635 - Aadhaar alone isn’t enough for a full-fledged bank account

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

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

1635 - Aadhaar alone isn’t enough for a full-fledged bank account - LIVE MINT

The finance ministry may have amended the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules, 2005, to notify Aadhaar as adequate to meet KYC norms for opening bank accounts, putting it alongside other identity proofs, but banks are still confused
Surabhi Agarwal, Remya Nair & Anup Roy

New Delhi/Mumbai: Is a unique ID number or Aadhaar number issued by the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) enough to satisfy the so-called know-your-customer (KYC) norms that banks have to ensure every account they open meets?

The finance ministry may have amended the Prevention of Money Laundering Rules, 2005, to notify Aadhaar as adequate to meet KYC norms for opening bank accounts, putting it alongside the passport, driving licence, permanent account number (PAN) card, and the voter’s identity card, but banks are still confused.

That’s because the finance ministry notice came in December, and in January, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) said all accounts opened exclusively with the use of an Aadhaar number would be treated as so-called small or no-frills accounts.

Small bank accounts are subject to various limitations: the total amount deposited in them in a fiscal cannot exceed Rs. 1 lakh; the customers need to satisfy another KYC norms within a year for the account to be operational (though the deadline is extendable by a year).

To open large bank accounts, customers will have to satisfy another KYC norms in addition to using their Aadhaar number. “Aadhaar is one of the additional means we are giving people to open bank accounts; however, in itself not sufficient for large bank accounts,” said a finance ministry official who did not want to be identified.
Even though another government official pointed out that none of Aadhaar’s future plans are “premised on this”, the notification makes it less attractive for banks to open accounts through Aadhaar.

Aadhaar is the government’s flagship project to give a unique identity number to each resident of the country.

UIDAI, which has major ambitions to make Aadhaar a robust means of authentication for all kinds of financial transactions, has been in talks with the finance ministry and RBI to address the issue.

“The central bank is fundamentally conservative in nature and Aadhaar has the potential to bring about radical changes in the system, which explains RBI’s move. They had some concerns, which are being addressed,” added a government official familiar with the issue, who did not want to be identified.

Robin Roy, associate director at audit and consulting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that technically a UID number can serve both as an identity proof and an address proof, but is not considered sufficient as the regulator insists on more robust KYC processes for opening savings and current accounts. “For Aadhaar to be used as the sole KYC, there is a need for convergence by all the regulators such as RBI, Sebi (Securities and Exchange Board of India) and Irda (Insurance Regulatory and Development Authority of India) in acceptance of this number,” he said. Aadhaar, Roy added, needs to inspire confidence with its due diligence and fraud-prevention processes.

A senior executive at State Bank of India, who did not want to be identified, said that under the Anti-Money Laundering Act, “we cannot be lax on our due diligence part. Banks from other countries will not do business with us if that is the case. Aadhaar number, in its present form, does not give us the full picture of the account holder”.

An executive at Punjab National Bank, who too did not want to be identified, said UID cannot be taken as full KYC simply because the database is not ready to be queried yet.

The issue could be resolved in the next few days. A spokesperson for RBI said the central bank is discussing the issue with the various parties involved and that it could likely issue some clarifications on the use of Aadhaar in the next few days.

UIDAI, which has enrolled 36 million people so far, estimates that around 80% of them want a bank account.

Aadhaar-linked bank accounts assume significance because the government has set up a committee to look at the issue of direct transfers of subsidies and how an Aadhaar-linked payment gateway can be used to achieve this purpose.

surabhi.a@livemint.com