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, April 29, 2012

2537 - Aadhaar card scam unearthed in Hyderabad - TOI


Aadhaar card scam unearthed in Hyderabad

Mahesh Buddi, TNN Apr 27, 2012, 03.09AM IST

 HYDERABAD: Raising serious security issues over Aadhaar cards, an enrolment agent has processed 30,000 unique indentity cards (ID) within a span of just six months in the Old City. Also, among them 800 were enrolled under the physically-disabled persons category. However, a probe by investigating agencies revealed that the Aadhaar cards registered under the physically-disabled category were created with fake identities.

The civil supplies department, which is the nodal agency for rolling out Aadhaar cards in the state, had assigned the task of enrolling citizens to eight companies, including Infrastructure Leasing & Financial Services Limited. The fraud was committed by infrastructure major IL&FS's data entry supervisor of the Old City, whose first name, according to civil supplies department sources, is Mohammed.


On April 20, the state government authorities became suspicious about the fraud as the agent had registered details of 30,000 people for Aadhaar card in a span of just six months, which would normally take two years. On scrutiny, they found that 800 enrolments were under the physically-disabled quota, where a person is without either fingers or eyes.

The uniqueness of Aadhaar card is inclusion of iris scan and fingerprint details in the card's micro chip. However, to include those without fingers and eyes, an option has been provided in the enrolment process, where it would be declared that the candidate does not have fingers or eyes. As Aadhaar card would not have these details printed on the card, it would become easy for the fake user to utilize the card to get essential identification documents like a passport.

Based on the government's directions, the Charminar police have conducted a probe into these physically-disabled Aadhaar card holders and found out that none of those candidates reside at the given addresses and their other details were also fake. After the probe, the civil supplies authorities were informed and they gave the go ahead to book a case against the supervisor.

On Thursday, police booked cases under sections 468, 471, 419, 420 and 120-B of the IPC against Mohammed. As police began probe into the activity, he fled from the city a few days ago.

However, a special team nabbed him in Mumbai. He would be brought to city soon. "We are looking into the possibility that all the 30,000 Aadhaar card registrations made by him could be fake and the main challenge is to know for whom he did it and what purpose," a police officer said.

Comment:



I've been waiting for some scam like this to come up soon. All the theories about how great the scheme is, how useful getting a unique ID card would be for the development of the nation, how easy it is going to be for poor people to get all that they need with the help of this card.. there are hundreds of other reasons why this card was going to benefit the Indian citizen, according to Nilekani, Rajagopal etc..

While theories look good on paper, we have to consider reality on the ground in India. NOTHING will stay the same as on paper. We do not have the integrity or the will to do anything honestly and properly.. As such, any scheme that even a western, developed nation like the UK didn't implement, will not work here.

Will anybody stop the massive expense of this nonsense and pay attention to basic roti, kapda, makaan for poor people and pay attention to   implementing the various, approved, passed bills to enforce all the laws and schemes that are available? Nothing else is needed. Enforcement just doesn't get done because of our lack of integrity and a sense of honour. That cannot be grown or printed in this country. Which department works well without bribe? Which need of an ordinary citizen gets done without paying somebody some kind of bribe or using some "influence"? UID will not make all those things happen. It is a sheer waste of money.. 

This incident is just the tip of the iceberg that has been unearthed, many more will come out. That is the nature of the beast in India..

Rebecca.