AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2347 - Truce in battle of biometrics and 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

Monday, February 6, 2012

2347 - Truce in battle of biometrics and identity - Indian Express

Anubhuti Vishnoi : New Delhi, Sat Jan 28 2012, 02:07 hrs

The government today approved a compromise formula to end the battle of biometrics between the ministry of home affairs and UIDAI. Both the Unique Identification Authority of India and the ministry’s National Population Register (NPR) project will now continue to collect biometrics in the states where they are operating, and accept each other’s data. However, should there be a discrepancy, the NPR’s will be considered the master database and its biometric data will override the UIDAI’s.

The Authority will now start the third phase of issuing the 12-digit Aadhar number to another 40 crore citizens in the 16 states and Union Territories it is already working in. The Nandan Nilekani-led UIDAI also gets an additional Rs 5,000 crore, with its tenure running well into 2017. By March this year, the UIDAI would have issued 20 crore numbers, at a cost of Rs 3,023 crore.

At a joint press conference today, Union Home Minister P Chidambaram, Nilekani and Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia put up a united front, saying the NPR and UID projects would proceed side by side to ensure that all Indian citizens have a unique number by June 2013.

“I am very happy that both the NPR and UID will now go ahead in tandem,” said Ahluwalia, adding that while the UID will only give Aadhar numbers in 16 states and UTs to 40 crore more people, the NPR will continue to cover the entire Indian population “with minimum biometric duplication”.

“The NPR will issue a chip-based card to all citizens and this will have the UID number on it as well. The UID number will essentially help in delivery of government services to citizens while the NPR is a national project that factors in security concerns,” Ahluwalia added.

The NPR will continue with the originally mandated “flow camp model”, holding camps across states to enrol citizens but will not collect biometric data of those who have been issued an Aadhar number. It will however collect biometric data for those without the Aadhar number, Chidambaram clarified.

“In states where the UIDAI has started the process of issuing the UID, we will take a leadership role, and where the NPR is involved, they will take the leadership role,” Nilekani added.

A dispute had arisen as the Home Ministry had refused to accept the UIDAI biometric data saying their collection methodology did not meet security requirements. The NPR covers as many as 15 fields in its data collection, while the UID covers only five.