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, May 4, 2013

3278 - extract from pg 9 Demands for Grants (2013-14) of the Ministry of Planning



http://164.100.47.134/lsscommittee/Finance/69_Final%20Planning%20Report.pdf

extract from pg 9  Demands for Grants (2013-14) of the Ministry of Planning 

II. UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION AUTHORITY OF INDIA (UIDAI) 

2.1 This Scheme is a Planning Commission initiative which envisages assigning 
a unique identification number to each resident in the country for better monitoring 
and targeting of government‘s social welfare schemes and poverty alleviation 
initiatives. It also aims at eliminating the need for multiple identification mechanisms 
prevalent across various government departments. 
2.2 A provision of Rs. 2,620 crore has been allocated in BE (2013-14) for Unique 
Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) and a major part of the budget provision for 
Rs. 1,040 crore is earmarked for ‗Enrolment Authentication and Updation‘, out of 
which an amount of Rs. 1,000 crore has been earmarked under the head ―other 
charges‖.
2.3 The Committee in their 42
nd Report (15th Lok Sabha) on the 'National 
Identification Authority of India Bill 2010' had inter-alia given their observations on 
number of issues and urged the Government to reconsider and review the UID 
Scheme and also the proposals contained in the Bill with all its ramifications and 
bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament.
2.4 The Committee in their 53rd report (15th Lok Sabha) expressed their concern 
as to how the Government was still continuing with the implementation of Aadhar 
without the legislative approval and had allocated Rs. 1,758 crore for the Scheme for 
the year 2012-13. The Committee, therefore, urged the Government to urgently 
address the issues identified/pointed out by the Committee in their report. 
2.5 The Committee in their 62nd report (15th Lok Sabha) reiterated their earlier 
recommendation and desired that the Government should urgently address the 
various shortcomings/issues pointed out by the Committee in their earlier report and 
bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament.


pg24,...

UNIQUE IDENTIFICATION AUTHORITY OF INDIA (UIDAI) 
5. The Committee in their earlier reports had urged the Government to 
reconsider and review the UID Scheme and also the proposals contained in 
'National Identification Authority of India Bill 2010' with all its ramifications and 
bring forth a fresh legislation before Parliament. The Committee note that 
although 15 months have lapsed after presentation of its report on UIDAI, the 
Government have not yet brought any fresh legislation before the Parliament. 
The Committee are concerned to note that during the last three financial years 
(upto January, 2013), a huge sum of Rs. 2342 crore has been spent on the 
Scheme and Rs. 2620 crore has been allocated in BE 2013-14, out of which 25
Rs. 1040 crore is earmarked for „„Enrolment Authentication and Updation‟ 
pending legislative sanction of the Scheme. The Committee strongly feel that 
in the absence of legislation, Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) is 
discharging its functions without any legal basis. The Committee, therefore, 
insist the Government address the various shortcomings/issues pointed out in 
their earlier reports and bring forth a fresh legislation at the latest in the next
session of Parliament. The Committee would also like to know the number of 
aadhar cards issued during the last three years vis-à-vis target set therefor 
along with the number, nature and redressal mechanism of complaints and 
punishment awarded in the matter of issue of cards. The Committee would 
further like to be apprised about the cost per card incurred by the 
Government.
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