AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 1773 - Accenture of UID fame received bribes in US

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

Wednesday, November 9, 2011

1773 - Accenture of UID fame received bribes in US - THE SUNDAY GUARDIAN

WEDNESDAY | NOVEMBER 09,

ABHIMANYU SINGH NEW DELHI | 6th Nov

Accenture Services, one of three companies responsible for the implementation of biometric solutions for India's Unique Identification programme, has paid $63.7 million to the American government to settle a case involving charges of accepting bribes and delays over budgeting and manipulating bids with regard to government contracts.

A man looks through an optical biometric reader during registration

for Unique Identification cards in Amritsar in May. AFP

The lawsuit was filed in 2004 in the District Court of Arkansas. Two whistleblowers, Norman Rille and Neal Roberts, alleged that several IT companies, including Accenture Services, received kickbacks in the form of rebates to receive preferential treatment in the award of government contracts. They were advising the US government on which products provided by different IT companies they should use.

The Department of Justice, which became a party to the lawsuit in 2007, said in a press statement, "Kickbacks and bid rigging undermine the integrity of the federal procurement process. At a time when we're looking for ways to reduce our public spending, it is especially important to ensure that government contractors play by the rules and don't waste precious taxpayer dollars."

However, Accenture denied allegations of malpractice in a press statement, claiming that the American government was well aware of "alliance relationships in the IT industry and how they would benefit customers, vendors and the IT industry".

In the past, American agencies have terminated contracts with the company over performance related issues.

This newspaper sent a questionnaire to Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) chairperson Nandan Nilekani, but he is yet to reply.

Karnataka High Court lawyer, Venkatesh Bubberjung has sent a legal notice to the UIDAI and the Indian government on this matter. "The UID is a process that reeks of corruption wherein already huge amounts are siphoned off by persons and organisations of dubious antecedents. (The process involves) huge international contracts that are illegal and entered into with organisations that are known for fraudulent practices," he said.

Accenture has awarded the contract for the purchase of biometric authentication devices to Sagem Morpho Security Pvt Ltd. A group called Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL) has claimed that Sagem Morpho was given the contract because its parent company, Morpho (the Safran group) sponsored the ID World International Congress in Italy last year where Nilekani was given the ID Limelight Award. Morpho (Safran group) is a French multinational corporation specialising in ID credentials solutions.

An RTI application filed by CFCL revealed that companies are awarded UID contracts based on three criteria: First, the company should have a registered office in India. Second, if that is not the case, it should have a branch office, representative office, sales office or an office of its subsidiary company in India. Third, if these two conditions are not met, the company should submit an undertaking that it would have an office in India in the future.

Venkatesh Bubberjung is planning to file a civil suit against Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Montek Singh Ahluwalia, in their respective capacities as the chairperson and deputy chairperson of the Planning Commission and against Nandan Nilekani, who is the chairperson of the Unique Identity Authority of India. "On behalf of my client who is a retired defence scientist, I am filing a civil suit against Chairperson UIDAI, Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson of Planning Commission of India for initiating Aadhaar Project that is illegal, unlawful, (and) against the fundamental rights guaranteed under the Constitution," said Bubberjung.