AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2096 - Aadhaar work should be stopped, says VS Achuthanandan

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, December 14, 2011

2096 - Aadhaar work should be stopped, says VS Achuthanandan - Money Life

December 13, 2011 02:42 PM

Moneylife Digital Team

Viability of the Aadhaar project has not been found and there has been undue haste in proceeding with the matter: VS Achuthanandan

VS Achuthanandan—leader of the opposition in Kerala—has made it clear that Aadhaar work should be stopped, according to a report published in the Mathrubhumi. The viability of the Aadhaar project has not been found in its implementation. There has been undue haste in proceeding with the matter. The hasty work in this regard can even affect national security, Mr Achuthanandan said.

The Parliamentary Standing committee has also rejected the UIDAI (Unique Identification Authority of India) Bill. There are no clear objectives on why the database is being compiled, and even within the ruling party there are differences of stance. The government is spending crores on this project, and so far only 8 crore people have been covered. Finally, according to Mr Achuthanandan, the work has no standing as far the law is concerned.

In an earlier statement to The Hindu, the opposition leader from Kerala has said that the Unique Identification number (UID) project, being implemented under the title ‘Aadhaar,' had no justification now the Union home ministry itself had expressed serious concerns about its implications for the nation's security. Home minister P Chidambaram himself was on record that the UID project was not being implemented observing all security norms and that the issue deserved to be discussed by the Cabinet committee concerned. He had also reportedly written to the deputy chairman of the Planning Commission pointing out that anybody could prepare ‘Aadhaar' cards without attracting any cross-checking.

Further, according to The Hindu report, with the home minister and the Registrar General expressing reservations about the project, the misgivings expressed by Mr Achuthanandan on the issue have been proved to be true. Despite widespread opposition, the state government in Kerala was going ahead with the project. Fingerprints and other biometric information were being collected without consent from the citizens. In the case of school students, such information was being gathered without obtaining their parents’ consent.

Professor Rajanish Dass, Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad has also severely criticised the government in its implementation of the UIDAI project. The government had announced the creation of the Unique ID Authority of India (UIDAI) to generate the largest IT project of the globe—the Unique ID (UID) project—with an aim to provide a unique twelve digit number to 1.2 billion residents of India.

There have been serious debates in nations like Australia, Canada, and the United Kingdom about the viability of implementing national identity policy, given that the chances of misuse of data in a centralized system increases by leaps and bounds and becomes the single point of failure.

The total cost of such a programme has been reported, a guesstimate as reported by the Frontline magazine puts the cost of the project (without considering the recurring cost) at around Rs1.5 lakh crore. The cost of failure of such an initiative would be huge for a nation like India which has 27.50% of its population living below the poverty line.

According to The Wall Street Journal article (A Sharma, 2010), “critics question whether the project can have as big an impact as its backers promise, given that identity fraud is but one contributor to India’s development struggles. The civil liberties groups complain that the government is collecting too much personal information without sufficient safeguards. The technology requires transferring large amounts of data between the hinterland and an urban database, leading some to question whether the system will succumb to India’s rickety Internet infrastructure”.

The Unique Identity Project in India is a flagship project as being highlighted by the government and is being portrayed as a panacea for all ills that exist in the country. Although time can only tell about the efficiency and efficacy of the project, the very launch of this exercise has made it the largest biometric based identity disbursing e-government project in the globe.