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

Saturday, October 13, 2012

2699 - Govt likely to use Aadhar to cut SSA flab - Indian Express


Govt likely to use Aadhar to cut SSA flab
urabhi : New Delhi, Tue Aug 14 2012, 00:56 hrs

A Rs 2,000 crore saving made by Maharashtra government using Aadhar-based identification to cut down on bogus student enrollments has made government mandarins in Delhi optimistic that they can now cut down funds for welfare programmes while improving the delivery mechanism.
To do this, the Centre is also planning to get all students registered under the Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan to be provided an Aadhar-based identity. The revamped programme could be rolled out in the next academic year, said top government officials involved with the expenditure plans.
“We are holding discussions with the ministry of human resource development. Using UID will help weed out fake students from the SSA,” a senior finance ministry official told The Indian Express. Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan costs the Centre about Rs 25,515 crore each year and about the same from the states to universalise elementary expenditure but like most expenditure programme is riddled with leakages.
The move is a bunch of measures that have begun to show results in the delivery of government programmes. As a result, the Centre can confidently keep the funding for major programmes that cost it Rs 5,21,025 crore in 2012-13 almost constant but make the spend far more effective.
For instance, an equally effective pilot project on Aadhar-linked cash transfer in Alwar, Rajasthan, has also made the officers excited as it provides a key breakthrough in oil subsidy. By providing cash transfers to the target population instead of making them line up in ration shops, the district has seen a significant drop in the sales of the product. Sales dropped by 79 per cent in December 2011 against the same month a year ago in the district. After the drive was intensified, kerosene sales have turned into a trickle in the area. It is turning out that almost 100 per cent of the ration card holders in the district for subsidised kerosene were fake. “This shows that using Aadhar-enabled transfers helped stop fake sales,” the official pointed out.
The numbers are just what the Centre needed to bring its expenditure budget under control to rein in the fiscal deficit.
In the current fiscal for instance the government faces an oil subsidy bill of Rs 32,765 crore just for the first quarter from the public sector oil marketing companies but has no money to pay them now.
The Maharashtra pilot study has revealed that use of biometrics to identify genuine students could save the state over 5 per cent of its annual plan expenditure. These are big numbers that have made other states sit up too.
From 2013-14, in Maharashtra, Aadhar numbers will be a must for teachers and students as a pre-condition for a school to get grants in aids. Simultaneously the state government has also announced that thanks to this initiative, it will shut down 2,500 schools that had fudged the number of students enrolled with it.

Plugging leakages
* Sarva Shiksha Abhiyan costs the Centre about Rs 25,515 crore each year and about the same from the states, but like most expenditure programme is riddled with leakages
* A Rs 2,000 crore saving made by Maharashtra government using Aadhar-based identification to cut down on bogus student enrollments has made the Centre optimistic
* Revamped programme could be rolled out in the next academic year


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