AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2627 - Aadhaar Round-Up: UID Vs Resident ID; UID In Jharkhand and Delhi & More

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

Friday, June 22, 2012

2627 - Aadhaar Round-Up: UID Vs Resident ID; UID In Jharkhand and Delhi & More - Medianama

Aadhaar Round-Up: UID Vs Resident ID; UID In Jharkhand and Delhi & More

By MediaNama on Jun 22nd, 2012

Nandan Nilekani-led Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and Department of Electronics and Information & Technology (DEIT) has raised objections to the Home minister P Chidambaram’s Resident Identity Card (RIC) project,

under the government’s National Population Register (NPR) initiative, questioning the project’s capacity to be used as verification means for various offline services, reports DNA.

In December 2011, the Home Ministry had proposed to issue identity cards for every adult resident in the country and had rolled the first set of these identity cards at Porthrapur village in South Andaman district of Andaman & Nicobar Islands. However, a high powered expenditure finance committee had recently set up a committee under National Informatics Centre’s director general BK Gairola to evaluate the possibilities of using this card for other purposes like delivery of targeted services like MNREGA (Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Act), public distribution system, health insurance, various other financial and election purposes.

The report quotes Nandan Nilekani claiming that online authentication which is being used by Aadhaar numbers is a better means for the government to deliver targeted schemes. Note that UIDAI had launched a web-based authentication interface for Aadhaar numbers earlier this year, which allowed banks, telecom companies and government departments to authenticate an Indian resident on the basis of his Aadhaar number or UID, in accordance with KYC norms and process his application accordingly. However, a few government departments were skeptical about UIDAI’s online platform considering unreliability of Internet in the country and had opted for an offline approach with hand-held devices.

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In a related development, The Pioneer reports that the department of Rural Development, which is the registrar to UIDAI for Aadhar enrolment, has invited bids from enrollment agencies enlisted by UIDAI in Jharkand, to manage enrollment in seven districts of the state. The final phase of enrollment is scheduled to resume from 16th August.

The report cites sources to inform that a fresh tender has been issued as additional and more stringent guidelines and conditions have been suggested by the UIDAI. According to the report 72,36,841 people from the State have been enrolled under the UID scheme, with companies like Wipro, MSK Enterprises, IL&FS, Vision Comptech Intergartor Ltd and others serving as enrollment agencies. The enrollment is significant following trials for routing all welfare schemes related payments, especially wages under Mahatma Gandhi National Rural Employment Guarantee Scheme (MGNREGA), through UID numbers, being conducted in the state.

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Delhi Chief Minister, Sheila Dikshit has said that she was not satisfied with the pace of enrolment for Adhaar number, and has asked UID Chairman Nandan Nilekani to expedite the process in the city, according to a PTI report. The report quotes officials saying that the progress of data collection and enrollment by five private agencies appointed to collect bio-metric data and registration of citizens for issuance of Adhaar numbers, was not satisfactory and that thousands of residents have not received adhaar numbers months after enrollment. The report also suggests that the Delhi government plans to use the Adhaar database to identify beneficiaries for various schemes and plug the loopholes in the PDS .

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The Ministry of Rural Development intends to update the Registration Act, to enable online application for the registration of land and property documents and to allow registration officers to use Unique Identification (UID) or Aadhaar number to verify the identity of applicants, reports The Hindu.

Quoting a senior official who informed that a note had been prepared and would be submitted to the cabinet in a week for it. The report also adds that under the proposed amendment the register of all documents, except wills, will be openly accessible to the general public.

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Gold loan companies, including the likes of Muthoot Finance and Mannpuram Finance, are reportedly asking customers for their Aadhar Cards and UID numbers under KYC (Know your customer) norms, following the RBI’s insistence oon better KYC norms to check correction in gold prices, reports The Economic Times. The companies intend to start online verification using UID numbers, although the verification facility has not been introduced by the authorities so far, according to the report.

Compiled by Anupam Saxena & Vikas SN