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, February 21, 2012

2395 - Number despatch delaying Aadhaar delivery: Nilekani - Hindu Business Line


T.E. RAJA SIMHAN

(from left) Ms Chanda Kochhar, MD & CEO, ICICI Bank, Mr Nandan Nilekani, Chairman, Unique Identification Authority of India, and Mr. Rajendra S. Pawar, Chairman, Nasscom, at the India Leadership Forum organised by Nasscom in Mumbai on Thursday. — Paul Noronha

Online platform e-Aadhaar will be launched soon
MUMBAI, FEB. 16: 

The Unique Identification Authority of India is sorting out the issue of delays in delivery of Aadhaar (unique identification number) to individuals with its logistics partner (the post offices).

“Yes. There is a delay, not in generation of the number, but the letter delivery,” said Mr Nandan Nilekani, Chairman of the authority. The delay is due to printing and despatch issue, he said.

The authority is to soon launch e-Aadhaar, which will deliver numbers online, he told newspersons on the sidelines of three-day Nasscom India Leadership Forum 2012, which concluded on Thursday.

SIX-WEEK BREAK
The authority's mandate is to issue residents a unique identification number linked to the resident's demographic and biometric information, which they can use to identify themselves anywhere in India and access a host of benefits and services. Mr Nilekani said the authority will take a six-week hiatus to refresh and look at its entire technology, process and security to ensure things are smooth when the authority starts rolling out the second phase of enrolling 400 million from April, he said.
“Our first goal was to reach 200 million people. 

We have reached that goal. The government has given a mandate to enroll another 400 million. We think, we are moving very well. “We need to cover the total 600 million by 2014. We will stick to that commitment.” Mr Nilekani said that authority was coordinating with the Home Ministry on the project.

“We have an excellent strategy going forward and it has been worked out with the Union Cabinet.”The former head of Infosys said the authority's goal is really the Government and not the private sector. The Government's mandate is to use Aadhaar to improve delivery of public governance. “We will focus on things that will help the common man.”

Mr Nilekani said that pilots are going on with regard to NREGA along with the Ministry of Rural Development Jharkhand; with oil companies on LPG distribution in Mysore; opening bank accounts in Tumkur and there is one proposed for mobile verification in Hyderabad.

Apart from enrolment, the big shift that the authority sees in future is towards application so that this will become useful to the common man, he said.

raja@thehindu.co.in


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