AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2474 - “Say no to UID campaign” gathers 3.57 crore signatures

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

Thursday, March 22, 2012

2474 - “Say no to UID campaign” gathers 3.57 crore signatures - Money Life

“Say no to UID campaign” gathers 3.57 crore signatures - Money Life

March 21, 2012 04:49 PM

Moneylife Digital Team

Despite the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Finance and other civil society groups coming out against the UID scheme, the government is yet to act on the opposition to the scheme from various quarters

Two days before the Union Budget, 2012-13, a truckload of signatures arrived in New Delhi. Collected by the Socialist Unity Centre of India (SUCI), these 3.57 crore signatures were in support of a campaign named “Say no to UID”. Yet, what can possibly be the biggest signature campaign largely went unreported.

On 14th March, a rally led by SUCI met prime minister Manmohan Singh. The truckload of signatures for the petition demanding the scrapping of UID and some other biometric data-collection schemes have been pictured. A delegation, headed by SUCI member Tarun Mandal, also met the prime minister to discuss their demands. Mr Mandal could not be contacted, as he is abroad. Though the SUCI rally was covered by some newspapers, they appeared oblivious to the presence of the truck that carried the 3.57 crore signatures.

The “Say no to UID” campaign is being supported by various civil society organisations and citizens groups. Gopal Krishna, spokesperson of Citizens Forum for Civil Liberties (CFCL), New Delhi says, “The petition was submitted to the PM on 14th March. Independent organisations across India are supporting the move. We want the government to scrap the UID Aadhaar scheme immediately.”

A press release dated 16th March, sent out by the consortium of the civil society groups, cites the report on The National Identification Authority of India (NIDAI) Bill, 2010, by the Parliamentary Standing Committee (PSC) on Finance, 2011-12. The PSC report, dated December 2011, had damned the UID scheme, and came down heavily on the Executive for infringing on legislative powers. The press release says, “The Union Budget allocation of Rs14,232 crore for Aadhar-UID demonstrates a contempt of Parliament as it seems to ignore the recommendations of the report of PSC on Finance on the NIDAI Bill, 2010.” The groups have also criticised the National Population Register (NPR), another project that requires biometric enrolments of all citizens.

The PSC report had stated, “Considering the contradictions and ambiguities within the government on its implementation as well as implications, the committee categorically convey their unacceptability of the National Identification Authority of India Bill, 2010, in its present form. The committee would, thus, urge the government to reconsider and review the UID scheme as also the proposals contained in the Bill in all its ramifications and bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament.”

The PSC had said, “The collection of biometric information and its linkage with personal information without amendment to the Citizenship Act, 1955, as well as the Citizenship (Registration of Citizens and Issue of National Identity Cards) Rules, 2003, appears to be beyond the scope of subordinate legislation, which needs to be examined in detail by Parliament.”

Kamayani Bali Mahabal, eminent social activist and human rights lawyer, said that the increased allocation for UID amounts to a contempt of the Parliament. Col Mathew Thomas, a former defence services officer and missile scientist turned civic activist and Somasekhar VK, founder patron of Coordinated Action of Consumer & Voluntary Organizations of Karnataka have challenged the UID Aadhaar scheme in a representative suit in a civil court in Bangalore. Mr

Somasekhar has extensively campaigned against this issue, and he says, “Most of the people after attending our programmes ask us about the procedure to withdraw from the Aadhar registration and many of them are writing to the respective agencies to withdraw and cancel their applications. This will further complicate the process and we have to see how they go about it.” Col Matthew says that mentioning the 3.57 crore signatures against UID will strengthen their case.