AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 1642 - Turf war between plan panel & UIDAI intensifies

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

Thursday, September 29, 2011

1642 - Turf war between plan panel & UIDAI intensifies - Business Standard

Sreelatha Menon & Sanjeeb Mukherjee / New Delhi September 29, 2011, 0:13 IST

The turf war between the Planning Commission and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) has deepened. While the plan panel is questioning the independence of the Nandan Nilekani-led UIDAI, the latter says its powers were derived from the government and orders issued by the Planning Commission itself.

Earlier this month, the Commission complained to the finance ministry that financial decisions and proposals of UIDAI were not being routed through the Commission which had been kept out of the decision-making loop. UIDAI has said if proposals were not being routed through the Commission and sent directly to the finance secretary, it was owing to a notification issued by the Commission itself. “If it (Planning Commission) wishes to undo its own notifications or orders, it is free to do so,” said UIDAI Director General R S Sharma.

The Plan panel has sought control of oversight over UIDAI though it had let go this control after a notification it issued in November 2009 where it delegated financial powers to the UIDAI director general, equivalent to those of a ministerial secretary with powers to take decisions.

In its notification dated November 30, 2009 on the delegation of financial powers to UIDAI, the Planning Commission says: “Competent authority has declared the DG, UIDAI as the head of department for all purposes..I’m also directed to convey the sanction of the competence authority under Rule 13(2) of delegation of financial powers , 1978 to the delegation of such financial powers to the head of the department UIDAI in respect of UIDAI that have been delegated to the Planning Commission as a department of the Central Government under DFPR 1978...”

There is another notification by the finance ministry itself appointing K Ganga, deputy director general (finance), as the financial advisor in UIDAI.

Now in a note to the Department of Expenditure, the Commission has sought the appointment of an independent financial advisor, preferably its own, to monitor the funds of the UIDAI. Sharma cites these notification issued by the Ministry of Finance and the Planning Commission to prove that it has been doing exactly what it was asked to do.

A senior Planning Commission official said: “The budget line of UIDAI is with Ministry of Planning and we need to see the proposals.”

The official added the financial advisor in the Planning Commission would be monitoring the affairs in UIDAI.

Several questions have been raised against the UIDAI in the past few months by the Planning Commission, especially on its role in collecting data in duplication of efforts by the Registrar General of Census.

The UIDAI proposal to collect data for the whole population as against the 200-million limit, earlier agreed by the government, had been shot down by the finance ministry, giving a shot in the arm to the critics in the Planning Commission.

The Planning Commission, which has emerged as a staunch critic of UIDAI, has however attracted criticism from many for what is thought to be attempts to tamper with the independence and efficiency of UIDAI.

Sources in UIDAI say the basic grouse within the Planning Commission is that UIDAI has circumvented it, communicating directly with the finance ministry. If the proposals were to go through the Commission, the delays would multiply, said an official.

Planning Commission member Mihir Shah differs on this: “My problem with UIDAI is that the cost it incurs should benefit the most excluded. But is that happening? Without an extra effort the most excluded people won’t even get a UID number.”

Ashwini Kumar, policy analyst and academic from Tata Institute of Social Sciences, said: “The Planning Commission wants to bureaucratise and control an innovative project which has its own internal mechanism to detect irregularities. The Planning Commission intervention is an example of its lack of imagination.”

However, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia is said to have conveyed concerns of the Commission regarding UIDAI to the Prime Minister Manmohan Singh before his recent departure abroad.