AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 4606 - Aadhaar rush

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, September 14, 2013

4606 - Aadhaar rush - The Statesman

Opinion

The Statesman
13 Sep 2013
Aadhaar rush

While the Government of West Bengal’s new-found alacrity in the matter of issue of Aadhaar numbers to citizens may seem understandable, it is indeed surprising that Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee and her Home secretary have chosen not to visit the basics of the project whilst urging District Magistrates to complete the process of enrolment by 28 February 2014.

As disclosed in a series of incisive reports published in this newspaper, the UID project has no legislative sanction and is proceeding only on the basis of administrative fiat. It is marked by horrible confusion, to the extent that even ministers at the Centre seem unsure if it is mandatory. There appears little concern that it is being used as a device of exclusion and one that holds out a threat of invading privacy of citizens. There has been little informed debate on even the need for the process; the reasons advanced for its adoption when it was first launched appear quite distinct from those that have made it seem the monster it now does. While governments in states where the Congress rules could be expected to toe New Delhi’s line, it is surprising that Miss Banerjee’s regime is embracing the project without so much as a raised eyebrow. Surely, the libertarians in West Bengal haven’t laid their heads down in the nearest cemetery!

There are several questionable aspects to the Aadhaar project. The processes followed to collect data are under a cloud with the efficacy of both biometrics and iris recognition having come under the scanner. Questions have been raised about links of the agencies selected for data-gathering. As pointed out in these columns, hasty enrolments have led to exclusion rather than inclusion and the latest instruction from Writers’ to complete the process within the next five months throws up the risk of more such mistakes being committed.

With the process outsourced, there is little accountability. But the most critical aspect of the exercise that West Bengal has decided to embrace is that it does not yet have sanction of law. Indeed a draft Bill was rejected by Parliament’s Standing Committee of Finance with the scathing observation that it was “riddled with serious lacunae and concern areas” having, as the Committee noted, “been conceptualised with no clarity of purpose” and “being implemented in a directionless way with a lot of confusion.”

The Committee had decried as “unethical and violative of Parliament’s prerogative” the manner in which the Aadhaar project was being implemented while legislation was being debated. All these facts are in the public domain and Miss Banerjee’s government cannot feign ignorance. After the Committee rejected the Bill nearly two years ago after castigating nearly all its provisions, the Centre chose to keep it in cold storage. Surely that is reason enough for Miss Banerjee to address New Delhi on a basic requirement ~ legislative sanction ~ without rushing her DMs to meet deadlines.