AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2433 - HCL Infosystems wins Aadhaar contract of Rs 2,200 crore from UIDAI

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, March 12, 2012

2433 - HCL Infosystems wins Aadhaar contract of Rs 2,200 crore from UIDAI - Economic Times

http://articles.economictimes.indiatimes.com/2012-03-02/news/31116937_1_aadhaar-uidai-hcl-infosystems

Harsimran Julka, ET Bureau Mar 2, 2012, 07.02AM IST

NEW DELHI: The Aadhaar number repository and its IT infrastructure will be run by HCL Infosystems, which has beaten TCS to win a 2,200-crore contract from the Unique ID Authority of India.

According to government sources, TCS bid about 6,500 crore for the contract while Mahindra Satyam backed out from bidding in the final round. The bids were opened late afternoon on Thursday, at just an hour's notice to vendors.

UIDAI's biometrics service provider Accenture, which handles the current Aadhaar de-duplication mandate, was technically disqualified along with Wipro.

The contract is most crucial for the project as the winner is expected to handle IT and private data of about 60 crore Indian residents, by June 2013.

HCL Infosystems is now expected to develop an IT backbone for the Aadhaar project, and ultimately handle the data of all 120 crore Indian residents. A UIDAI spokesperson declined to comment on the award, but confirmed the bids were opened on Thursday. An HCL Infosystems spokesperson declined to furnish details on the contract awarded.

Five IT companies - Accenture, TCS, Wipro, Mahindra Satyam and HCL Infosystems - were shortlisted by UIDAI for its MSP contract for the final round. Tech Mahindra, IBM, HCL Technologies and HP had backed out from bidding which took place in May, last year.

HCL Group's bigger tech company HCL Technologies, even took UIDAI to court as its bank deposit of 2.5 crore was forfeited due to non bidding. It cited change of scope of tender, but lost the legal battle.
IT vendors had been complaining, as almost eight months had passed since bids in May 2011. The delay, according to UIDAI, was due to the non approval of required funds by the finance ministry.

Some IT vendors were asking UIDAI to scrap the tender as imports had gone up 15% due to fall in rupee against the dollar and there was newer cheaper inventory available in the market.
E-governance head of an IT firm, which had backed out from the bids, said the award of the contract, can be questioned.

"The terms and conditions were changed as the Union home minister P Chidambaram and UIDAI chairman Nandan Nilekani agreed to split the biometric collection exercise after the bids were in place. It changed the scope of the contract. It now will need integration with National Population Register," the IT official added.

The winner, HCL Infosystems, currently handles the UIDAI portal, the purchase of biometric Authentication devices and disk drives for the project.