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

Friday, September 13, 2013

4604 - UPA’s showpiece cash plan flops in Cong bastion - Hindustan Times

UPA’s showpiece cash plan flops in Cong bastion


Chetan Chauhan, Hindustan Times  New Delhi New Delhi, 
September 11, 2013 - 

The UPA’s showpiece direct benefits transfer (DBT) plan is struggling.  Poor Aadhaar enrolment clubbed with lack of banking facilities is coming in the way of the anti-poverty programme.

Numbers are telling. Two months after the roll out in Rae Bareli, the constituency of Congress president Sonia Gandhi, only `1,400 has been transferred in Rae Bareli. The district has 6,000 people enlisted for the National Social Security Programme. Only one person has seen cash transferred to his account.

In Etawah, the native district of Samajwadi chief Mulayam Singh Yadav, only `4,200 has been distributed among four of the 10,000 people who are part of the national security programme. 

Low penetration of unique identification, or Aadhaar, numbers -- to which the cash benefits are linked -- is the reason why so many people are missing out.
The DBT programme is aimed at sprucing up public delivery by replacing subsidies in kind, such as cooking gas and fertilisers, with cash compensation, to be delivered straight into a recipient’s bank account.

Describing it as a “game changer”, the Congress even came up with Aapke Paise, Aapke Haath (your money in your hand) slogan to sell the scheme. But at the pace at which it is moving, it may be a while before the game changes and certainly not before the 2014 elections.

HT had reported on August 20 that fewer Aadhaar numbers and a large number of unbanked beneficiaries were among the bottlenecks identified by the prime minister’s office during a review.

Latest data, procured under the Right to Information Act, shows not much progress has been made after the anti-poverty programme was launched in a staggered manner on January 1.


The government has, so far, transferred only R64 crore through Aadhaar Payment Bridge — the foundation for 28 welfare schemes.
Initially, the plan was to bring all government welfare schemes under the DBT by March-April 2014. The sluggish pace of makes the deadline difficult to meet.

Not willing to give a time frame, DBT mission director S Sunderasan said it would be unfair to judge the progress in six months as it was a “historical process” results of which would take time to show.

The programme’s poor performance is best illustrated in a letter by Jharkhand chief secretary RS Sharma, who was earlier director-general of Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI), to financial services secretary Rajiv Takru.

“For successful and speedy implementation of DBT, we will need faster action and communication on seeding and uploading from the banks’ end,” Sharma said.

Sharma was talking about Jharkhand, but officials say the problem is common to most of the 121 districts where the programme has been launched. 
In Jharkhand’s capital city Ranchi — one of the first districts to be covered under the programme — the total money transferred is less than R1 crore.
Delhi’s North West district has a poor record of `2.46 lakh.

Many states like Kerala, Tripura and Andhra Pradesh have raised red flags. Lack of funds to meet implementations costs, inadequate business correspondents — those who disburse cash to people who do not have bank accounts — and banks poor performance have been identified as problem areas.

- See more at: http://www.hindustantimes.com/India-news/NewDelhi/UPA-s-showpiece-cash-plan-flops-in-Cong-bastion/Article1-1120407.aspx#sthash.bLJqLZsv.dpuf
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