AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2448 - National Intelligence Grid gets lion's share in Home Ministry allotments

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

Sunday, March 18, 2012

2448 - National Intelligence Grid gets lion's share in Home Ministry allotments - The Hindu

National Intelligence Grid gets lion's share in Home Ministry allotments

NEW DELHI, March 17, 2012

VINAY KUMAR

Home Ministry was alloted Rs 54,449 crore, in this year's Budget

Though the UPA government's internal security concerns and its intention to turn the proposed National Counter Terrorism Centre (NCTC) into reality had found mention in President Pratibha Devisingh Patil's address to the joint sitting of Parliament, the budget proposals for 2012-13 have inflicted a minor cut in the allocations made to the Home Ministry.

Presenting the budget in the Lok Sabha on Friday, Finance Minister Pranab Mukherjee gave the Home Ministry Rs 54,449 crore, against Rs. 55,469 crore allocated to the Ministry in the 2011-12 budget.

This time around, the budget has emphasised on constructing nearly 4,000 new residential quarters and barracks for the central armed police forces personnel for which an allocation of Rs. 1,185 crore has been made.

However, the budget proposals have not earmarked any separate funds for the NCTC whose fate still remains uncertain in the wake of strong objections raised by nearly a dozen non-Congress Chief Ministers, citing encroachment on the States' powers and turf.

In her address on Monday, the President said the NCTC aimed at improving India's capability to counter internal security threats.

The budget has also made a provision of Rs 3,280 crore for the construction of office buildings, including land acquisition and barracks to accommodate 27,000 personnel.

However, another pet project of Home Minister P. Chidambaram, the National Intelligence Grid (Natgrid), got Rs 364.80 crore, a huge increase from last year's Rs 27.96 crore. It aims to link data bases as an input in combating terrorist and intends to create a facility to improve the capability to counter internal security threats.

The Intelligence Bureau (IB), which got Rs. 956.96 crore in 2011-12, has been allocated Rs. 1,073 crore.

The Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has got Rs 9,307.10 crore now, compared to last year's Rs. 8,762.53 crore, while the Border Security Force (BSF) got Rs. 8,400.58 crore. It was Rs 8,006.37 crore last year.

The Central Industrial Security Force (CISF), which guards most of the public sector units as well as airports, got Rs 3564.01 crore, the Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) Rs. 2,432.75 crore and the Assam Rifles Rs 2,966.55 crore.

An allocation of Rs. 501.20 crore has been made to the elite “Black Cat” commando force of the National Security Guard (NSG), while the recently set-up National Investigation Agency got Rs 64.84 crore.

The budget has made an allocation of Rs. 50 crore for relief and rehabilitation of repatriates from Sri Lanka and Rs 100 crore for relief and rehabilitation of Kashmiri migrants.

It has proposed an allocation of Rs 2108.76 crore for census surveys and statistics, Rs 632.48 crore for disaster management and Rs 150 crore as special industry initiative for Jammu and Kashmir.

An amount of Rs 986 crore has been earmarked for border management that include India-Pakistan and India-China border works and erection of barbed wire fencing along the border with Bangladesh.

The allocation for the Special Protection Group (SPG), which provides the proximate security to the Prime Minister and other VVIPs, has been slashed by about Rs 35 crore to Rs 351 crore for the new fiscal.

The budgetary proposals for the SPG have been pegged at Rs 351 crore for 2012-13, against the revised expenditure of Rs 385.95 crore during 2011-12.

For the Council of Ministers, the Prime Minister's Office and tour expenses by ministers, the budget has made an allocation of Rs. 388.09 crore, against a revised estimate of Rs. 606.60 crore in 2011-12.