AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 3217 - Panel on Aadhaar-RIC conflict met only once

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, April 7, 2013

3217 - Panel on Aadhaar-RIC conflict met only once

Panel on Aadhaar-RIC conflict met only once

Dalip Singh NEW DELHI: April 16, 2013 DH News Service

Ministry concerned over slow pace of UID project

A 15-member group of ministers (GoM) constituted by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh two months ago to sort out conflicting voices in the Cabinet over providing resident identity cards (RIC) and 12-digit Aadhaar number has met only once.

The Union Home Ministry now fears that the ambitious project might take a beating due to the slow pace of governance.

After issuing more than 20 crore Aadhaar numbers last year, the UPA government is back to the boardroom to sort out confusion among ministers between Aadhaar and RIC, which is critical for national security.

The sources said the first meeting of the GoM headed by Defence Minister A K Antony on March 13 failed as Cabinet ministers and special invitees hardly discussed anything substantial.

Officials fear that since the issue is not on the top of the agenda for UPA ministers, it is likely to miss the 2014 deadline for handing over RICs and 60 crore Aadhaar cards.

It is learnt that the Registrar General of India, tasked to prepare RICs, gave a presentation to the GoM informing them that Section 14 A of the Citizenship Act, 1955, makes it mandatory to equip citizens with cards which would contain personal details.

The decision to set up a GoM just to sort out the differences is intriguing to the officials as only in January last year, the Cabinet had cleared the home ministry proposal for identity card and Aadhaar numbers, which are not conflicting exercises.

The Cabinet note of January 27, 2012, had clearly stated that RICs would have Aadhaar numbers embossed on them, which means that it would be merely a number people will possess.

The RIC was supposed to be issued to citizens who are 18-years and above.

The confusion could be because the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), headed by Nandan Nilekani, is carrying out the task of providing Aadhaar numbers to citizens since September 2010.

There have been differences of opinion between the home ministry and the UIDAI on functioning, especially on the overlapping of their efforts and serious glitches in collection of data, apart from huge funds being spent by them.

Officials said they had explained it to the GoM the need to push the scheme which has security ramifications, as it would be one of the instruments to weed out infiltrators.