AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 4702 - SC rap welcome, but Aadhaar fight continues

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, September 30, 2013

4702 - SC rap welcome, but Aadhaar fight continues - DNA

SC rap welcome, but Aadhaar fight continues

Tuesday, Sep 24, 2013, 12:59 IST | Place: Bangalore | Agency: DNA

Malavika Velayanikal

Activists and others who have been opposing Aadhaar want UID project to be scrapped

Many Bangaloreans are gladly saying “I told you so!” since the Supreme Court on Monday ruled that the Unique Identification Card cannot be mandatory to avail benefits of government schemes.

There have been several active campaigns against Aadhaar, and some of the campaigners, besides petitions, have even filed suits against the government on the UID project. For them, the SC ruling has come as a welcome move. It is the first step towards halting the faulty project, they say.

Colonel Thomas Mathew, one of the first to file a civil suit on this in early 2011, vows that the fight is far from over. “The SC ruling today is the first step in the right direction of course. But we will continue our fight. We had asked the court to put a stop to this Aadhaar project. Instead the SC has said that the registration for the identity card was purely voluntary and government departments cannot demand the card in order to provide a service.”

WHERE’S THE LEGAL SANCTITY?
There is no law or ordinance regarding Aadhaar. “If the government links ration, LPG or scholarships to Aadhaar, what right to food or right to education do we as Indian citizens claim to have?” Colonel Mathew asks. “If a stranger asks for your name and address, you do not give, and yet you willingly run to fly-by-night operators to submit your biometrics. Did you check who will make use of your information? Which company made the instruments which recorded the biometrics? Will your data be used by other countries? The public are stupid to give all their information to contract employees who are there today and gone tomorrow,” he rues.

The reason why he filed a suit instead of a PIL, he says, was to expose the fraud and corruption involved in the whole process.

WHO GETS THE DATA?
“Everything about it is wrong. The government has been misleading the public about it. It entrusted the process to two companies, L1 Identities Solutions, which was bought by Safron and renamed as Morpho Trust, and Accenture Services, both of which have been mired in fraud. Both of them have been found guilty on several counts and had to pay huge penalties.

Nandan Nilekani was given ID Limelight Award in Milan for his work on the UID project. A key sponsor of the award was Safron Morpho. How can we trust them with such sensitive information?” senior advocate BT Venkatesh, who filed the suit for Colonel Mathew and Somashekara, asks.

He defines the UID project as a “criminal conspiracy by the state”.

The suit was dismissed once, and the appeal on it will be heard in October. “All the people involved in this project should be sent to jail,” he says.

NOT A PENNY MORE
Vinay B, an urban reform researcher, who has been actively fighting for the Say No to UID Campaign, says that Monday’s SC ruling proves that “the government has been misleading people.

By making citizens feel threatened that they would lose out on benefits if they do not have an Aadhaar, the government has treated people badly. They spread so many misconceptions about this project. For example, most people believe it to be a card, when it is just a letter. The whole UID exercise shows how people need to be aware. I hope the people will take the government to task now,” he says.

Crores of rupees have been spent on the project already. Not another paisa should be spent on it anymore, these campaigners say.