AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 3357 - For direct benefit in 2014, govt gets cracking on cash transfers

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

Thursday, May 30, 2013

3357 - For direct benefit in 2014, govt gets cracking on cash transfers - DNA

For direct benefit in 2014, govt gets cracking on cash transfers

Wednesday, May 29, 2013, 10:07 IST | Place: New Delhi | Agency: DNA

Manan Kumar

Low on the credibility front, thanks to various scams, the Congress led UPA government has got into a tearing hurry to push Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme and keep its hope alive for a comeback in next general elections.

The government wants to rollout DBT scheme in all the 78 target districts of Phase II from July 1 so that it can have enough lead time before general elections to drum up its success in the rest of the country. Top on its target are 13 key districts of UP, Bihar and Gujarat.

The Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), monitoring the DBT scheme almost on a day-to-day basis, has tasked the Office of Registrar General of India (RGI) and the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) to go cracking and get the list of all the beneficiaries of various DBT schemes of targeted districts directly from the district authorities and registrars first and leave rest of the work of enrolling others and digitalizing their data etc. for a later date.

District commissioner of a target district told dna that he is witnessing unprecedented scaled up alacrity from Delhi for past 15-20 days and has been asked to provide details of the camps organised, day to day enrolment progress and updated list of beneficiaries in different DBT schemes.

“This is for the first time in my career I have witnessed such hectic activity monitored directly the central government. But the task seems very tough as we have no clue how the Centre would ensure proper seeding of beneficiaries with Aaadhaar number, do de-duplication of enrolled beneficiaries, open their bank accounts and seed it again with Aadhaar and ensure right payment to the right beneficiary in all the 26 DBT schemes. It’s a tall order and needs more time and better logistics,” said the commissioner.

The idea is that a success of “Aap Ka Paisa App Ke Haath” in these key districts can spread the word across the country and change the fortune of Congress party, a Congress party insider said.

So strong is the conviction of succeeding through DBT that the party has belied words of caution from various stakeholders including banks and some government officials. They have raised objections, including security concerns, regarding bulk seeding of beneficiaries’ accounts with Aadhaar numbers.

“The government does not seem to be in a mood to listen. It is looking at the DBT scheme as a panacea for all the ills it has got. Like MNREGA, the mantra of 2009 success, it is banking upon DBT to succeed in 2014,” said sources.

An example government’s “tearing hurry” could be seen through Petroleum ministry’s recent announcement of launching of DBT for LPG scheme in 20 districts.

Even though the homework of generating Aadhaar numbers and seeding them with bank accounts of the beneficiaries has not been done, an eager ministry has put the onus on LPG consumers to immediately get an Aadhaar number, open a bank account with it and provide the number to LPG distributors.

What next
The government wants to rollout DBT scheme in all the 78 target districts of Phase II from July 1 so that it can have enough lead time before general elections to drum up its success in the rest of the country.

Top on its target are 13 key districts of UP, Bihar and Gujarat.

The PMO is monitoring the DBT scheme on a day-to-day basis.