AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 3289 - The Illegality Of Aadhaar Project Is Questioned In India Courts: Is Indian Government Sleeping?

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

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

3289 - The Illegality Of Aadhaar Project Is Questioned In India Courts: Is Indian Government Sleeping?

The Illegality Of Aadhaar Project Is Questioned In India Courts: Is Indian Government Sleeping?

Aadhaar project of India is one of the most controversial projects of Indian government. In fact, from time to time legal and technical experts of India have been suggesting that Aadhaar project and UIDAI must be scrapped.

Although the futility of Aadhaar project of India and UIDAI is very apparent yet for purely political reasons Indian government is still clinging to Aadhaar project. The truth is that Aadhar project of India is unconstitutional and even UIDAI and Indian government is well aware of the same.

No matter what UIDAI and Indian government says the purpose of the Aadhaar project is the Indian government, Aadhar project and UIDAI are hiding truth from you. There are unconstitutional and illegal biometrics collection practices happening in India that clearly violates the constitutional freedoms of Indian citizens. The bottom line is thatbiometrics collection is unconstitutional in India.

As on date, the Aadhaar project of India is not governed by any law and parliamentary oversight. Aadhar project of India is always portrayed as a welfare scheme. In reality, Aadhar project and UIDAI have evil intentions. In fact, Aadhar project and UIDAI are the most evil projects of India till now. What is more surprising is why this e-surveillance and big brother project has not been scrapped by the Prime Minister’s office (PMO).

Indian government must also keep in mind the related problems. For instance we have no dedicated data protection laws in India, privacy laws and rights in India, data security laws in India, cyber security laws in India, etc.

India is increasingly facing serious cyber attacks. Recently, the computer systems of DRDO and security officials were breached and sensitive files were leaked. Further, it is also well known that Internet is full of unprotected and unsafe devices, SCADA systems and computers. The cyber security infrastructure of India is also not in a good shape. The offensive and defensive cyber security capabilities of India have still to be developed. In these circumstances managing the cyber security of biometric data collected by the Aadhaar project and UIDAI is next to impossible.

Even the cyber law of India is weak and ineffective and the cyber law of India requires an urgent repeal. A public interest litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Supreme Court of India so that regulations and guidelines for effective investigation of cyber crimes in India can be ensured by Indian government.

If we analyse the Aadhaar project in this background we can safely conclude that Aadhaar project is a sure recipe for disaster and Indian government is forcing the same upon Indian citizens and residents for political reasons. So strong is the desire on the part of Indian government that it has also failed to understand that constitutional freedoms are at stake.

It has been reported by media that several cases have been filed in various courts questioning the security aspects and the legality with regard to Aadhaar cards. In November, the Supreme Court has already issued notices to Ministry of Finance, Planning Commission and the UIDAI on a PIL by a retired judge of Karnataka High Court questioning the bypassing of Indian Parliament by Indian government by going ahead with the distribution of UID numbers.

Now another PIL has been filed in the Bombay HC last week questioning the lack of safeguards in the Aadhaar cards. The court directed the UIDAI and the Centre to decide the matter within three months.

In another case, the Punjab and Haryana HC has issued notices to the Centre and the Union Territory Administration where the UID card was made mandatory for registration of vehicle and getting driving licence. However, this stands cancelled now.

Even the Parliamentary Standing Committee has found the project full of uncertainty in technology as the complex scheme is built upon untested, unreliable technology and on assumptions.

The response of Indian government is still awaited in all these cases but it is not difficult to predict its response as Indian government cannot give a rationale and satisfactory justification to an anomaly of this magnitude and nature named Aadhaar project.