AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2007 - UID does not mean grant of citizenship: Project Coordinator, Sikkim

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

Friday, November 25, 2011

2007 - UID does not mean grant of citizenship: Project Coordinator, Sikkim - iSikkim.com

Posted 23rd November 2011

Sikkim Mail

Silash Tamang
Gangtok: November 23, 2011

The Unique Identification (UID) Numbers or Aadhaar has been considered as important for all the people of India for improving delivery of schemes of development and welfare and also for financial resources through banking and security perspectives.

While talking to Sikkim Mail, T Geleg, Project Coordinator UID, Department of Economics Statistics Monitoring and Evaluation (DESME), Government of Sikkim said that, it is important for the people of Sikkim to enroll themselves on UID programme and not to follow rumors. UID is carried in the country to create
accountability, traceability of all identity based schemes, he added.

When asked the project coordinator that many people in the rural areas are of the opinion that it is not mandatory and important to opt for UID number, he replied that the programme is of the government of India, and the state government has deemed it expedient to recognize Aadhaar or UID number based on identity system services offered by the state government.

Gelek informed that the programme is under the chairmanship of Nandan Nikekani, also a co-founder of Infosys. In order to access services and facilities of the state government, departments, state public sectors undertaking, grant-in-aid the Aadhaar system has been implemented in the state. A person has to go to a enrolment station for the photo, demographic details and address where the identity of an individual is captured. The identity will again go to the central database where unduplicated 12 digits number is generated. And this number is foundation for identifying the individual as called Aadhaar. The number provided by the central database will be based on two principles, one is de-duplication, and another is
authentication.

Furthermore, he added that in the world no individual has same biometrics like fingerprints and iris so based on this there is no duplication which gives rise to unique identity. The department has a vision statement and that is to augment the vision of government of Sikkim and to elevate Sikkim from model state to a
superlative state. It is a revolutionary concept by the government, he added.

‘It is the efforts of everyone to strive for better’, he said. When the question of better comes it includes governance, political stability, peace, law and order and most importantly the common man has to avail services.

Clearing the rumor about citizenship he informed that UID does not come in conflict with citizenship, as it is specified clearly that UID does not mean grant of citizenship. ‘ an individual having a 12 digit UID number is not entitled to become the citizen of the country, but to avail facilities UID number is required’ he said.

This is a revolutionary process started by the government and will take time. As ‘Rome was not built in one day’, similarly the UID programme is in its initial phase and will take time.The department has also got a certificate of appreciation from the central government for the sound implementation of Aadhaar in the state.

Sikkim Mail