AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 2811 - Yashwant Sinha says ‘cash transfer scheme a pure election stunt’

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, January 26, 2013

2811 - Yashwant Sinha says ‘cash transfer scheme a pure election stunt’

Yashwant Sinha says ‘cash transfer scheme a pure election stunt’

Posted by News Desk on November 28, 2012 in National, News, Sourced, Wired

New Delhi, Nov. 28 (ANI): Senior Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Yashwant Sinha on Wednesday lashed out at the ruling Congress Party for announcing the cash transfer scheme in its headquarter and linking it with Rahul Gandhi, saying this move is a pure election stunt aimed at the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

Sinha said it is very astonishing that this scheme was announced by two senior ministers of the government at the Congress Party’s headquarter and not in Press Information Bureau (PIB).

“Is it a Congress Party scheme or is it a government scheme. The line dividing the party and the government has been completely obfuscated, obliterated and there is now no distinction between the government and the Congress Party,” said Sinha.

“The ministers are saying that Rahul Gandhi and his workers in the Congress Party will monitor the implementation of the scheme. Again the question arises is it a Congress Party scheme or is it a government scheme. If it’s a government scheme and money is going to come out of government coffers, then how can Rahul Gandhi implement it? What is the role of MPs and MLAs and other elected representatives in this? We have no role. The Congress Party is using this as in case of MNREGA as a pure election stunt,” he added.

Sinha alleged that the main concern of the ruling Congress Party is to somehow win or influence the next Lok Sabha elections and not the welfare of the common people of the country.

“They are being childish as far as the implementation is concerned. And their motivation is purely political, not the welfare of the poor of this country,” he added.

Sinha, however, termed the cash transfer scheme to be a very good scheme.

“The cash transfer scheme was announced yesterday by two ministers of the government. We have been in favour of this scheme; it’s a good scheme. We had thought about it ourselves when we were in government, but it was not possible to implement it because it needed a lot of IT backbone to be able to implement it,” said Sinha, who was the Finance Minister of the country during the NDA regime.

Sinha further said the announcement of this scheme should have been made in Parliament, as the session is on.

“Now, the announcement has been made. The first question, which comes to mind is, is it a Congress Party scheme or is it a government scheme? Because if it’s a government scheme, then Parliament is in session and the announcement should have been made by the government in Parliament, especially if the ministers of the government are describing it as a game changer which means it is a major policy announcement,” said Sinha.

“And if Parliament is in session, why should a major policy announcement not be made in Parliament. This is a breach of privilege of the Parliament of India,” he added.

Finance Minister P. Chidambaram and Union Rural Development Minister Jairam Ramesh announced this scheme at the Congress Party’s platform yesterday, which indicated that the cash transfer scheme would be among the party’s points for the next Lok Sabha polls.

Ramesh introduced this scheme with the punch line ‘Aapka paisa, aapke haath’, which appeared to be in tune with the Congress Party’s election manifesto ‘Congress ka haath, aam aadmi ke saath’. He said Rahul Gandhi would hold a conference of district Congress committee presidents of 51 districts identified for the first-phase rollout from 2013.

Chidambaram on his part said benefits under 29 welfare schemes being operated by different ministries would be transferred through Aadhaar-enabled bank accounts in 51 districts spread over 16 states from January 1 next year.

He said that the government’s decision to launch the Aadhar-based direct cash transfer scheme for beneficiaries of subsidised items would be a game changer in the country.

Chidambaram said the Aadhar-based direct subsidy transfer rollout will be completed throughout India by the end of 2013, which will also include 42 new schemes.

He said the first phase of the cash transfer of subsidy would benefit ten million households.

Under the scheme, cash transfers will be in the range of Rs.30, 000 to Rs. 40,000 on a yearly basis. Overall, Rs.3, 20,000 crore will be distributed.

Aadhar must be linked to bank account for scheme to work, as users might not be prudent with cash management.

Chidambaram also said that there will be no leakage in the system and factors such as falsification and duplication will be eliminated.

Aadhaar, a 12-digit number, serves as a proof of identity and address anywhere in the country. The UIDAI has already issued 21 crore Aadhaar cards. (ANI)