AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2350 - Nilekani gets go-ahead to enrol 40 crore more

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

2350 - Nilekani gets go-ahead to enrol 40 crore more - News Bullet

Nishit Dholabhai

Saturday, 28 January 2012 08:51

New Delhi: The Centre on Friday extended the mandate of the Nandan Nilekani-headed Unique Identification Authority of India to cover 40 crore more residents, ignoring objections attributed to home minister P Chidambaram over collection of biometric data by a non-government agency.

The UID authority has “promised to review” procedures and then carry on with the data collection, Chidambaram said at a joint news conference he addressed with Nilekani and Planning Commission deputy chairperson Montek Singh Ahluwalia.

In what was seen as a turf war, the home ministry had raised security concerns over the Planning Commission’s UID project and demanded that after the expiry of the Nilekani-led authority’s initial mandate to sign up 20 crore residents — 17 crore have already been enrolled — collection of biometric data should be left to the Registrar General of India, which is gathering similar data for the National Population Register (NPR) under the ministry. The home ministry also wanted control of the database.

But a cabinet committee meeting today, held in the backdrop of a letter written by Chidambaram to the Prime Minister last Thursday asking for a cabinet note from Ahluwalia to clarify the status of the UID project, gave a Rs 8,800-crore expanded mandate to the UID authority to cover 60 crore residents. It also allowed the home ministry to continue to collect biometric data for the NPR.

“Aadhaar (the unique number issued by the UID authority) is voluntary and NPR is mandatory... It is a government programme,” Chidambaram said at the news conference.

But residents already enrolled for Aadhaar will not have to give their biometric data again for NPR. They will be asked for the Aadhar number and their biometric data sourced from the UID authority. The smart card the ministry will issue to all Indian residents will carry the Aadhaar number for those who have it.

An informal meeting the Prime Minister held on Monday to resolve the conflict had decided that Nilekani, who was invited to lead the scheme, would be given a free run.

The government wants to send out a positive signal to the corporate sector.

More important, it wants Aadhaar integrated with the government’s flagship welfare programmes before the 2014 elections. The UID project was conceived to eliminate last-mile corruption in welfare schemes and ensure benefits reach the people they are meant for.

Nilekani said the UID authority had carried out pilot projects to integrate Aadhaar with service delivery applications. “We have done cash transfers in Mysore,” he said.

The government is considering “direct cash transfers” into bank accounts of the poor who have the unique identity number to replace distribution of subsidised grains through the public distribution system.

While the home ministry had claimed its smart cards can also be used for the same purpose, it is way behind in enrolment with only about 2 crore residents signed up for NPR so far. The UID authority, which is using multiple agencies to enrol residents, expects to cover half of India’s population by 2014.

An official release, which announced that Phase III of the UID project had been granted approval, played down the turf battle saying “the purposes of UIDAI and NPR are different” and both enrolments should proceed simultaneously.

- The Telegraph