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

Sunday, March 3, 2013

3099- Unique ID: LMC to begin collection of biometric data


Unique ID: LMC to begin collection of biometric data
ByPriyanka Singh, TNN | Mar 3, 2013, 03.01 AM IST

LUCKNOW: In order to link Aadhaar cards with the National Population Register (NPR), the municipal agency is planning to roll out its bio-metric campaign in the city after March 15. The campaign targets to capture bio-metric details of every individual including photograph, fingerprint and image of the iris (eye) to be used for issuing a 'unique identification' to all.

Under the programme, LMC would be covering VIP areas first. The list includes the Governor, Mayor and residents of VIP colonies such as CSI Tower, Raj Bhawan colony, Gautam Palli area, etc. Zone 1 and zone 4 comprising areas with a large number of VIPs residing in them will be covered first, confirmed an LMC official.

NPR is comprehensive database to be maintained by the ministry of home affairs. It was initiated by GOI during the 'Housing Census' phase of Census 2011 from April 2010 to September 2010 with the objective of improved planning and efficient delivery of welfare services to residents of the country.

While conducting census of 2011, enumerators of LMC had handed over a receipt to every individual after filling in details of the NPR. The receipt was required to be submitted during the bio-metric data collection stage. Those left in the first phase may submit their filled in NPR forms to the enumerator this time in a phased programme likely to cover the entire city by year end.

Officer in charge of the campaign and additional municipal commissioner PK Srivastava said, "Some people may have got transferred while others might have newly joined the family, hence, there is a probability of them being left out in 2011. Our enumerator will go to every house this time and ensure that all members are covered in NPR database." He added, those who had already filled in NPR forms would be required to visit nearest camp in the colony to for bio-metric capturing and those not listed in NPR database will have to wait for next 21 days and visit the camp in their colony during the second phase. LMC expects around 28 lakh persons in Lucknow to benefit under the campaign. The camps would be organised in a place in every area like a community center, primary school, marriage hall, etc and the resident would be required to walk in with any identity card in original like passport, PAN card, voter ID card, or ration card.

The execution comprises two parts-the technical part includes arranging for the required number of machineries, computer systems and data-entry operators for the campaign. This has been outsourced to ITI (Indian Telephone Industries) of Rae Bareli. The second aspect involves administrative work for which LMC would be appointing a large number of enumerators to do an extensive survey of the city to be used for maintaining NPR database and issuing Aadhaar cards to residents. Till date, around 50,000 have been issued Aadhaar cards in Lucknow. Those who have already been issued cards don't need to give bio-metric details again, but need to report at the camp to enroll for NPR database. Officials said this was an attempt to link NPR with UIDAI programme. LMC has issued orders to its zonal officers to start appointing enumerators for this purpose and preferably those who had participated earlier in the census of 2011.

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