AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 3466 - Aadhaar not mandatory to benefit from EPFO schemes

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, June 29, 2013

3466 - Aadhaar not mandatory to benefit from EPFO schemes - First Post

Aadhaar not mandatory to benefit from EPFO schemes

Jun 28, 2013

New Delhi: Now EPFO’s over five crore members need not necessarily have Aadhaar numbers to avail the benefits of PF body’s schemes as these are excluded from Centre’s Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) programme.

“The schemes under EPFO and ESIC have been excluded from the list schemes identified for implementation of Direct Benefit Transfer,” a labour ministry letter to EPFO’s Central Provident Fund Commissioner stated.

Aadhaar logo. Image courtesy UIDAI

Subsequently, the EPFO head office issued an office order to discontinue submission of monthly report on the progress of the work under the DBT scheme by regional offices.

At present, the money is transferred through NEFT and cheques. The scheme was excluded from the DBT scheme mainly because it was for distributing subsidies and grants and PF money is not a subsidy, an official explained.

Earlier this year in January, the Employees’ Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) has asked the field staff to ensure the collection of data (Aadhaar) in respect of member joining on or after 1 March 2013 on a monthly basis and in respect of existing members by 30 June 2013.

According to the office order issued then, in case an employee does not have the Aadhaar number, the employer can issue an Enrolment Id (EID) as per the guidelines of the body. This EID would be converted into Aadhaar number later on, the order had said.

The body had also decided to seek the Aadhaar numbers of its pensioners through the banks.

Later in February this year, after drawing flak from unionist for the move, the PF body decided to put on hold the decision to make it mandatory for new members joining EPF scheme to provide Aadhaar number as credential for enrolment from 1 March 2013.

The EPFO order circulated in February had observed that getting the Aadhaar was a time consuming process and the (UIDAI) scheme covers only 18 states.

The remaining states are covered by the Register General of India under the National Population Register which would be digital database of country’s residents.

EPFO had envisaged replacing members’ account numbers with their Aadhaar numbers to avoid inconvenience to people as they had to apply for transfer of PF money to new accounts while changing jobs.

Now, EPFO is working on creating a central data base where all members would have a permanent account number and would not require to transfer PF accounts.

Besides, this will help EPFO members, particularly construction workers, who often change their jobs or contractors.

However in the meantime, the body is about the start centralised online clearance of provident fund transfer and withdrawal claims. This will allow members to apply online for the purpose and onus of verification of the detail of applicants would be on EPFO.

PTI