AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2581 - Home Ministry plans to link its crime records with 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

Tuesday, May 22, 2012

2581 - Home Ministry plans to link its crime records with UIDAI - Economic Times

Home Ministry plans to link its crime records with UIDAI

22 MAY, 2012, 07.14AM IST, DEVIKA BANERJI,ET BUREAU

NEW DELHI: The Union home ministry plans to link its crime records with the Aadhar unique identity project, signaling a reversal in its hostile stance towards the Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identity Authority of India.

The home ministry's 2,000-crore Crime and Criminal Tracking System project, which aims to create a central database of all crime records in the country, will have a provision for linking up with UID or Aadhar numbers, an official associated with managing the project said.

"The big plan is to link crime records with UID," the official told ET. "This will make the database easier to handle and more accurate."

The development indicates a u-turn in the P Chidambaram-headed ministry's approach to the massive project to provide unique photo identity cards to all Indian residents after collecting their fingerprints and iris scans.

Just a few months back, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh had to step in to resolve an open spat between the UIDAI and home ministry over the collection of biometric information of people, a job the ministry said was already being done by the census authorities under their National Population Registration programme.

The UIDAI has issued Aadhar numbers to 20 crore Indians till now and is expected to cover another 40 crore people in the second phase. It is expected to cover the entire country by June 2013.

The Crime and Criminal Tracking System was launched in 2009 as part of the e-governance project. The core framework of the project is ready and states are now setting up crime record bureaus.

"This project might easily be one of the first ones to use UID for a country-wide project. There is clarity on the use of the UID numbers for the purpose," the official said.

Aadhar numbers, after they reach an optimal coverage point, could be used as a one-point access to information of crime records across the country with over 14,000 police stations spanning 6,000 district police headquarters, finger print bureaus and forensic science laboratories linking it to crime records through a completely online system.

The development shows that the skepticism of government departments towards the UID project is wearing off. While some continue to doubt the timelines and penetration of Aadhar numbers and foresee numerous implementation glitches, many state and central departments are developing systems that can be linked with Aadhar.

For example, the rural development ministry is planning to enlist UID numbers in the job cards for 12 crore beneficiaries under the Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA).

Also, the income-tax department will collect UID numbers of people who apply for PAN cards.

Punjab, which is developing a mother and child tracking system under a state-level health project, plans to link it with UIDAI.

"Nobody is unaware of the benefits that UID, if implemented properly, can do to government delivery system," an official in the Punjab state health department said.

States such as Nagaland that are computerising their Public Distribution Systems plan to integrate them with UID numbers to check leakages.

The home ministry's move to link UID with crime records, however, raises concerns over irresponsible surveillance by the government and data projection ability of the government and the UIDAI.

The project official said crime-tracking system will be governed by the reasonable security practices and procedures of sensitive personal data rules 2011 as defined under the Information and Technology Act.

"There would be procedures through which data of a private individual can be accessed by security persons but it would be defined by law," the official said.