AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2754 - Coordination Committee reviews progress on Affirmative Action

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, January 25, 2013

2754 - Coordination Committee reviews progress on Affirmative Action

Coordination Committee reviews progress on Affirmative Action

A meeting of the Coordination Committee on Affirmative Action has been held in the Prime Minister’s Office, under the chairmanship of the Principal Secretary to Prime Minister. It was attended by the representatives of the three national Chambers of Industry: FICCI, CII and ASSOCHAM. Representatives of key Ministries such as Industrial Policy & Promotion, Social Justice & Empowerment and Tribal Affairs also attended the meeting.

In the meeting, progress was reviewed on affirmative action for SCs/STs. It was noted that some progress had been made in adopting the Voluntary Code of Conduct and running skill development and vocation education programs to improve the employability of weaker sections.

FICCI has adopted Sonbhadra district of Uttar Pradesh which has more than 47% population of SCs/STs. Two initiatives have been undertaken by FICCI recently. First, in partnership with IL&FS, two skill development training centres were opened and an employment centre would also be opened soon. It was mentioned that 39 companies under FICCI have adopted the Voluntary Code of Conduct (VCC) so far.

ASSOCHAM informed that they have a National Council of Affirmative Action and programmes were organized to sensitize their industry members on affirmative action. ASSOCHAM has taken a decision that it would prepare an annual report every year on the subject.

The representative of CII said that their organization is committed to working on the four E’s i.e. education, employability, employment and entrepreneurship. They were of the view that any programme on affirmative action should have economic targets. It was also stated that the employment data with the CII may not reflect the actual status of SCs/STs employment in the private companies because many of the members do not maintain data caste wise although they are employing people from the target group. Their own studies show that the percentage of employees from SCs/STs is between 16% to 24% and depends on the educational development of the region. CII also suggested having ‘Aadhaar’ cards as the only identity card for beneficiaries amongst SC/ST population.

Officials from the PMO appreciated the work being done by the industry associations to promote the employment of SCs/STs and other disadvantaged groups and thanked the coordinating committee members for their suggestions. There is a continuing need to carry on the dialogue. The following decisions were agreed upon:

i. There is scope to ramp up these initiatives and scale up the activities and coverage for there to be a visible impact and recognition of ongoing efforts. A lot of effort is being made but it is still sporadic and scattered. It was suggested thateach industry chamber could work out a five year vision voluntarilywhich could guide the annual action plans. This would give an idea of the long term path and where they aim to be.

ii. It was also felt that a lot of work has been done in the area of affirmative action but not captured well. A database also needs to be built up and shared with the Government. It was decided that Secretary (DIPP) would set up a system to collect quarterly data from the three chambers and build a database on Affirmative Action for SCs/STs.

iii. Industry chambers were also requested to focus on certain geographical areas and leverage on similar other government programmes.27 districts identified as having 47% population of SCs/STs as per the 2011 census could be adopted by Industry Associations.

iv. Skill development is a national priority and focus should always be on the weaker sections of the society so as to enable them to avail the benefits of Government programmes.

v. There is a huge demand for coaching for competitive examinations, especially in the rural areas. This demand could be addressed by fixing quantifiable targets. Conducting coaching classes is a very good idea for the SC/ST population and weaker sections, it was concurred.