AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 3037 - Infotech guru, Aadhaar man Nilekani at Adda tonight

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

Thursday, February 14, 2013

3037 - Infotech guru, Aadhaar man Nilekani at Adda tonight

Infotech guru, Aadhaar man Nilekani at Adda tonight

Mumbai, Thu Feb 14 2013, 08:59 hrs

Nandan Manohar Nilekani, the technocrat who conceptualised Aadhaar, has been a key player in India's growth story.

The co-founder of Infosys and chairman of the Unique Identification Authority of India will interact with a select audience at the latest edition of Express Adda in Mumbai on Thursday. A series of interactions with people at the centre of change, Adda has earlier featured World Chess champion Viswanathan Anand, Financial Times commentator Martin Wolf and actor Aamir Khan among others.

Nilekani will be in conversation with The Indian Express Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta and McKinsey & Company Chairman, India, Adil Zainulbhai.

He will talk about issues facing the IT industry and Aadhaar — which has seen its share of controversy — among other things.

He is known to hold the view that reforms and innovation are needed in all sectors if the country has to develop, as he wrote in his book Imagining India: Ideas for the New Century.

Amid the who's who of the commercial capital of the country, he can be expected to share those views.

Reader's Comments(3) | Post a comment

Aadhaar will be a tool for social justice

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Mukesh | 14-Feb-2013

I am hopeful that all the controversies apart the project will still be a mega success. The NIPFP study has projected enormous savings and mind you those are conservative estimates. The bigger challenge is ahead. Direct Benefit Transfer has to be implemented across the length and breadth of the country.

Registered for NPR received Aadhaar card

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TIHARwale | 14-Feb-2013

Registered for NPR received Aadhaar card, no problem. but definitely the fact can be publicised that that registration for NPR is mandatory and they don't issue any cards ( if the person registering for NPR doesnot posses Aadhaar already he will automatically get Aadhaar card). earlier this week i received my Aadhaar card by ordinary post delivered in the letter box but definitely India post can treat this as a registered post and deliver it to family member in the house in case the card holder is not there when postman visits. this issue may be brought to the notice of UIDAI. it is also noticed in the Aadhaar camp office located at C2B Janakpuri inside Voters registration office it has been informed by staff manning Aashaar desk that free forms not often available. ( this a complaint i wish to bring to notice of UIDAI )

best project under govt undertaking turns worst managed

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ashish bhargava | 14-Feb-2013

This is the best project from Indian govt. to integrate all services and tracking of individuals tied back to one entity but this project truns out to be the worst managed. Most of the data collection is lost after capturing. Data tampering happen at different levels. Aadahar cards which in country is seen equivalent to passport is sent via india post as normal envelope which gets lost, thus not reaching the end user. Its website has many tracking options of the status but very few gets lucky to show the exact application status. Enrollment process takes multiple iterations for a person if his data is not captured correctly in first time.