TNN | Jan 21, 2012, 03.28AM IST
NEW DELHI: UPA-2's ambitious scheme to give a unique identity number to all "residents" of India will come up before the next Cabinet meeting, setting the stage for a sharp debate between home ministry on one side and thePlanning Commission and UIDAI chairperson Nandan Nilekani on the other.
Putting its weight behind the project, the Plan panel is working on a proposal to extend the UIDAI's mandate to enroll beyond 20 crore residents even as there are differences in government over who should store the data and whether the process of recording identities is too lax.
"The Plan panel is determined to take up the UID issue with the Cabinet as soon as possible and has sought opinion of all ministries concerned," said an official.
Supporting IT czar Nandan Nilekani, the Planning Commission has sought permission to enroll identities beyond its initial mandate of 20 crore, arguing that PM Manmohan Singh's key project that aims at ensuring benefits of welfare programmes reach the right beneficiaries was quite different from the home ministry's National Population Register's (NPR) objective of national security.
Both the home ministry and Parliament's standing committee on finance have slammed the UID bill that looks to give the authority statutory status for overlapping NPR that is also engaged in capture of biometric data.
Suggesting that the two projects can go along side by side, an official said, "UID project can go on along with NPR." He added that the Aadhar card scheme is the government's development initiative, while NPR is related to national security. The home ministry is also preparing for such an eventuality, but will want supervision over the UID data repository.
The argument was that both the schemes with different objectives can go on simultaneously as there are many identity-related schemes like PAN card, Election Commission voter's card.
"In our view, it should continue. This can be done, parallel with whatever others (home ministry) are doing. Whatever UIDAI is doing is the right thing to do and it should be continued," said Montek Singh Ahluwalia, deputy chairman of the Planning Commission.
The uncertainty plagued the UID project after Registrar General of India, under home ministry, backtracked from its earlier stand and refused to accept data collected by the authority. At the same time UIDAI's mandate to collect biometric details was ending as Cabinet had approved enrolment of 20 crore by March.
The contentious issues that are expected to be debated in the Cabinet are duplication of work of NPR and UID, expenses and enrolment of citizens for Aadhar numbers. Home secretary R K Singh on Tuesday had also written to Cabinet secretary Ajit Seth highlighting security risks of data being collected by UIDAI.
Stating that the UIDAI is looking at RGI's work on NPR as "competition", the home secretary said that there was also a "matter of integrity of data", collected by the UIDAI, as under the methodology adopted by it any person can get her/himself registered in any name and address.
Singh pointed out that a large number of communication issued by the UIDAI to Aadhar number recipients are being returned by post as addresses have been found to be incorrect. He also pitched for "security audit", stating that the security of data collected is an issue that cannot be overlooked. Sources in the ministry said that these concerns would also be presented before the Cabinet through separate 'note' during its next meeting possibly on Wednesday.
Why this Blog ? News articles in the Wide World of Web, quite often disappear with time, when they are relocated as archives with a different url. Archives in this blog serve as a library for those who are interested in doing Research on Aadhaar Related Topics. Articles are published with details of original publication date and the url.
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
