AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 4438 - NPR and Aadhaar

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

Monday, July 29, 2013

4438 - NPR and Aadhaar - a confused process

July 22, 2013

NPR and Aadhaar - a confused process

R.Dhinakaran

R. Dinakaran heads the Internet edition of The Hindu Business Line and writes on technology and social media.

As all (or at least most) of Government schemes and plans go, the enumeration process of Aadhaar and NPR is being carried out in a manner in which nobody seems to have any clue about what's happening or is being done.

There are enumeration camps, but neither the Government nor UIDAI has bothered to inform the people of the location of the camps. The Aadhaar web site is silent on the location of the camps. UIDAI too has not bothered to update its site. For instance, the districts list under Tamil Nadu has just one – Puducherry (which is a Union Territory).

Though the camps are functioning, the privacy concerns have not been sorted out. The Government does not seem to be bothered at all. In fact, the question in the Aadhaar form asking for ‘Information Sharing Consent’ (see picture) has ‘Yes’ by default. You realise it only after you get the acknowledgment slip in your hand after the process is over. And by the time it is over, you are so exhausted that you want to get away from the place that you don’t really bother about the small check mark that takes your consent for sharing information for granted.

Isn’t there supposed to be Aadhaar forms to be filled up, which will ask for our consent for ‘information sharing’? No. There are no forms. Your data from the NPR enumeration done a few years ago is taken for Aadhaar and is pre-filled in the system.

Do you have any doubts about NPR, Aadhaar or the process itself? If you have, you have to live with it. The enumeration camps are run by the contracted agencies and there are no senior officials present to clarify your doubts.

Now that both Aadhaar and NPR have been merged, are the camps for Aadhaar or NPR? Looks like it doesn’t matter anymore, because of the merged data, but the acknowledgement slip given after the enumeration has the e-mail ID and web site address of the Census Department. If you have the NPR enumeration slip and an identity document such as the ration card or driving licence, it is enough.

NPR and Aadhaar have discounted the fact that people live in apartments, too. If you try to give your apartment number (well, the card is going to the mother of all address/identity proofs), you are told only the ‘house number’ will be recorded.

Though you are told that “any correction” has to be carried out within 90 days, a message posted at the enumeration centre gives you a friendly warning: “No Corrections”. Yes, now you have to hunt for the place where they will make corrections, if any, including insertion of the apartment number.

Now, is Aadhaar mandatory? What about NPR? Isn’t it mandatory for all citizens to register for NPR? One report says that if you have registered for NPR, and not for Aadhaar, you will anyway get a card. And because NPR and Aadhaar data have been merged, does it mean that you are automatically registered for Aadhaar if you are in the NPR list? Some say yes, some say no. But none of the officials is sure. Neither are we.

Keywords: Aadhaar, NPR, Aadhaar forms, identity card, census department,