AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 4449 - UIDAI-NPR turf war puts DBT scheme in limbo

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, August 8, 2013

4449 - UIDAI-NPR turf war puts DBT scheme in limbo - New Indian Express

UIDAI-NPR turf war puts DBT scheme in limbo

By Yatish Yadav - NEW DELHI 28th July 2013 09:06 AM

Photos

The UPA Government’s game changer Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) scheme is turning out to be a casualty of bitter turf war between two institutions tasked for enrolling beneficiaries, hurting government’s plan to target maximum population ahead of the 2014 general election.

And the slow enrolment process has prompted the Prime Minister Office (PMO) to intervene in the matter.

The two institutions -- UIDAI, headed by Nandan Nilekani, and NPR, which comes under Registrar General of India, -- are collecting biometrics of people across the country. While the UIDAI began the process in 2010, the NPR was entrusted with the biometrics coverage of 19 states only last year.

In April, the PMO had summoned both UIDAI and NPR top brass to discuss DBT phase-2 in 78 districts including Rae Bareli and Amethi, parliamentary constituencies of UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi respectively.Government sources said that the UIDAI put the blame squarely on the NPR for delay in issuing Aadhaar numbers claiming that it did not receive the data from NPR to reach out to the targeted beneficiaries.

Surprised by UIDAI’s offensive, the NPR justified the progress saying it received the mandate only in 2012 and is trying hard to cover all the allocated areas.

“The PMO brought truce between the warring institutions and asked both the sides to cooperate and focus on DBT on priority basis. The PMO conveyed the message that the focus of biometrics enrolment is only beneficiaries. The general enrolment process for rest of the population will continue at its own pace,” sources said.

“The NPR already uploaded 10.64 crore enrolled data collected from 19 states to generate Aadhaar number, but the UIDAI was able to execute only 6.20 crore packets till July first week. Data of Almost 3 crore 44 lakh is waiting to be executed by the UIDAI. In fact, they tried to cover up by shifting the blame,” he added.

Moreover, involvement of multiple agencies and departments makes the entire process very complex. He said currently the DBT scheme is being handled by at least nine ministries with the help of district administration and various other departments at local level. With inclusion of old age, disability and widows pension, a total of 29 welfare schemes will be covered under the DBT scheme.

“80 to 90 per cent enrolment is almost complete for the 26 schemes in DBT phase-2. Enrolment for 3 pension schemes may take some time as administration is yet to finalise the list of the beneficiaries.At the same time, Central Public Sector Undertakings, entrusted for biometric enrolment, will have to upload the data of Aadhaar numbers. Hopefully by August-September this entire process will be over,” he said adding that 5 terminals each were put up at tehsil-level for biometrics enrolment to expedite the process.

For most ambitious LPG subsidy through Direct Benefit Transfer, only 50 per cent LPG customers were enrolled for UIDAI Aadhaar.

“There is a lot of ground to be covered as only 14 per cent bank accounts were connected with the unique identification number,” he said.

The PMO is concerned as many beneficiaries’ bank accounts did not connected with their Aadhaar. And in DBT phase 1, only 12 lakh beneficiaries had bank account numbers connected with Aadhaar.