AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2082 - 'UID', Losing Its Own Identity

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, December 13, 2011

2082 - 'UID', Losing Its Own Identity - Silicon India

By SiliconIndia, Monday, 12 December 2011, 04:00 Hrs

Bangalore: Aadhaar, meant to be the single source of identification for Indians, is facing a lot of criticisms and risks, because of which the project is fearing its end at present. The news of present crisis and its doubtful completion came as a real shocker as many of lakhs of Indian citizens have already received their cards and the UID appointment cards are about to go online to ensure faster and seamless distribution.

‘AADHAAR’ is an initiative of UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India), which provides UID or Unique Identification Number to each Indian national. It is a 12-digit unique number said to be stored in centralized database and linked to the basic demographics and biometric information such as photographs, fingerprints and iris identification.

This UID or Aadhaar works as a proof of identification as well as of address. In the words of the Chairman of UIDAI, Nandan Nilekani, “UID is the number of life” for those millions of Indians who at present do not have access to public schemes. Till date, more than one 5.75 million, UID cards are issued.

Technically, as Aadhaar is entirely dependent on biometrics, there have been concerns expressed by some experts that the biometrics data is not reliable as it has shown 0.01 percent of error in fingerprints and iris alone; this low rate combined with the photograph match can achieve the massive level of uncertainty, to which the experts says this test ‘actually tells nothing’ and also that Aadhaar may achieve the power for civil autonomy and also can capture one’s solitary desecration while indulging their UID registering in non-government agencies.

In the political perception, the former CM of Kerala, V. S. Achuthanandan, including many others, claimed that this program was being launched without “proper debate”.

Hence technically, politically, economically and socially the UID project is facing many contradicting opinions. The UID initiative has an estimated cost of around 1,660 crore for the year 2010-11 and 2011-12, where more than 556 crore has already been spent on the scheme, which may not be recovered from the future revenue produced from the project. “Basically, we thought it was waste of money”, a member of the parliamentary standing committee had apparently stated. The committee members have doubted the utility purpose of the scheme and even the efficiency of the technology.

As stated by India Today, a draft report prepared by the parliamentary committee to refuse the National Identification Authority of India Bill is ready and will be revealed soon. The decision is taken communally by Parliaments standing Finance Committee and some of the Congress members, who also agree to the opinion that UID project is “directionless.”

Furthermore, it is said that the bill may not be dismissed entirely, but needs a thorough review or reconsideration but is not acceptable in its present form. Most voiced opponents against the scheme among the panel are MPs like S. S. Ahluwalia (BJP), Gurudas Dasgupta (CPI), Bhartruhari Mahtab (BJD) and Rashid Alvi (Congress) and also by finance minister, the home ministry and the Planning Commission. The draft report mentions that the UID concept has no clarity or purpose and also lacks a concept in its context and execution.

The draft report mainly has focuses on four of UID’s major drawbacks like – insertion of “residents” rather than “citizens”; privacy issues of those being registered as the UID numbers; duplication of the work being done for preparing the national population Register (NPR) using the same biometric attributes; and the massive expenditure that the projects entails.