AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 3101 - Sweating it out for days together

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

3101 - Sweating it out for days together

Sweating it out for days together

By Express News Service - BANGALORE 02nd March 2013 09:19 AM

Photos

It has been reported that people start lining up a day before to get the elusive card. | EPS

Getting an Aadhaar card for many Bangaloreans has been a painful task. And, with the citizens receiving sms from their respective banks to send their Aadhaar numbers in case, they are eligible for subsidies, the pain has in fact, turned into a nightmare lately. If one looks at the crowds at the various centres around the city, one feels like running away as one has to sweat it out at the serpentine queues while at some centres, it has been reported that people start lining up a day before to get the elusive card. City Express spoke to a few people on their recent experiences.

Delivery issues

Though Aadhaar card has definitely become a necessity, the main problem comes when you have to get it made. Last week, I went to get my card made in Shanthinagar. I applied for half day leave from work and was supposed to report at 2 pm. But I couldn’t make it to my office that day. The whole day I was made to stand in a line with the documents. Finally, when my turn came, I was told that I didn’t have proper documents and was sent away. The officials were extremely rude and non cooperative. I think the system should be made better

— Sunil Dutta, IT professional

Unorganised process

I recently got my Aadhaar card made and the experience was pretty fine. I had carried all my documents with me. However, I noticed that the officer to people ratio was very low. There were only a bunch of officers to cater to many people’s requests. So I had to wait for very long. Moreover, I felt the entire process was quite disorganised. Most of the staff had random lunch hours and they would come late and leave early. What else can we expect? Other than that, everything else was in place but the long waiting hours and the general experience made me realise that if by any chance I could avoid a trip to the centres I would take it without batting an eyelid.

— Sidhant Agarwal, product designer

Serpentine queues

I recently applied for an Aadhaar card at my workplace where the Aadhaar enrolment centre was set up temporarily. I won’t say the experience was a bad one because the excruciatingly long hours I spent on a single day was nothing when compared to the usual time period. I reached the venue on a weekend at about 9:30 am, very well expecting a huge turnout. But I was faced with a serpentine queue and I didn’t know where it actually ended. After waiting for almost one and a half hours, we got our documents verified which was a big relief. But, we had to wait for six to seven hours further until our turn came, for the remaining procedure. Some people, mainly due to some ‘connections’ got an unauthorised entry from the back door to get their work done out of the line, until one of the applicants got to know about this and ensured that everyone follows the rules. Other than the biometric information, the demographic information usually takes a long time as you need to be extra careful to ensure that the officials don’t make any wrong entries. At the end of it, we got an acknowledgment receipt and I am hoping I get my card within the next two to three months. Only then I would say,”It was all worth it!”

— Prapthi Hegde, MNC employee