AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 4752 - The UID Crisis: Don't waste it

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, October 3, 2013

4752 - The UID Crisis: Don't waste it - Business Standard

Surabhi Agarwal October 2, 2013 Last Updated at 20:42 IST

The UID Crisis: Don't waste it

The next catastrophe to hit UID will be on breach of privacy, which will happen sooner than later

Tech czar and soon to be politician Nandan Nilekani joined Twitter last week and already has some 650 plus followers. The man shunned all forms of social media during the last four years as the chief of the unique identify (UID) or Aadhaar project. So this sudden change in strategy is being considered as symbolic of his future avataar. There aren't many people who doubt Nilekani's intentions to contest elections, anyway.

At UID Authority of India (UIDAI) headquarters, officials were just coming to terms with the possibility of a Nilekani-less UID project when the Supreme Court dropped a bomb by directing government to not mandate it for availing citizen services. Interestingly, the order last week coincided with UID’s third anniversary of rolling out the first UID number in Tembhli district of Maharashtra in the last week of September 2010.

Without doubt, the government has been jolted out of its momentum by the Court order. From working on a break-neck speed to meet deadlines under the direct benefits transfer (DBT) initiative, user departments are not even sure if the mandatory linkage with UID is legal anymore. Nilekani's team has got into the rescue mode, already. The UID Bill being pushed for a fast clearance and the petition for a review of the Supreme Court's order is being readied.

But, it is not the first time when the UID headquarters are dealing with a major crisis. In its four year existence, the several wings in the Jeevan Bharti Building in Central Delhi have become used to courting controversies. But, the charade should stop now. The Centre should take this current crisis as an opportunity to put paid to all ideological, structural and legal issues against the UID project for once and all.

Here are a few questions to mull over.

Question 1: UID is a voluntary scheme and doesn't give proof of citizenship as it is meant for all Indian residents. The national population register (NPR) which is being created under the home ministry is also for all residents and not just for citizens. It also uses the UID technology as the backend but unlike UID it is mandatory and legal. Why?

The government needs to come clean on the intention behind both the schemes. It should either divide their roles coherently or merge them into one. This way it will save itself considerable trouble post the Supreme Court order. The NPR -- since it is mandatory and legal -- can be the front end for the direct benefits transfer scheme and since it is linked to the unique identity or Aadhaar number at the core, the databases can be de-duplicated and the money can be easily transferred just like the way it was being done when linked through UID.

Question 2: Why does somebody who is on a deathbed needs a UID number to write a will or is the person who has registered his/her marraige using the number more married than the one who has registered it without the number?

Yes, one could argue that the potential benefits of linking all government services through a unique number are enormous. But, in the short-term, the government should realise that the infrastructure of Aadhaar is limited currently and it is trying to overhaul the century old governance mechanism of the country in a jiffy. So states like Delhi government which have mandated the Aadhaar number for availing the smallest of public utility services should give up on a few brownie points that they could earn with the party high-command and think about the hassle they are causing the general public, especially when the polls are just about the corner.

Instead, the Centre needs to get its thinking heads together and draw up a list of services which should be linked to the UID number in order of priority. Better to target the technology on welfare schemes with a high percentage of leakage than wasting crucial resources on something like marriage registration in the beginning. The positive press in derived from a large scale benefits will outstrip the negative reactions caused by a few disruptions here and there. Yes, LPG is one such scheme which will benefit hugely from UID linkage but who stands to gain the most from the savings-- the government and not the citizen right now. So, the centre needs a strong test case which will give directly benefit the citizens in a profound and measurable way. The public distribution system, anyone?

Question 3: Even if the government passes the UID Bill in the next session of the Parliament, who takes care of the privacy issues? Isn't my data with UID being referred to by various government agencies for verification and service delivery? What if they create a profile based on my transactions or some user agencies misuses my data?

The UID Bill takes care of the penalties and contingencies in case of any misappropriation with regard to resident data only if it takes place within UID. However, to make sure that other government agencies which are linking to UID are also taking the necessary precautions to protect the sensitive data, a privacy Bill was contemplated. It has been almost three years that the Bill has been mooted. It has been drawn and redrawn several times since, but the Bill looks nowhere near completion yet. So, the government needs to fast track the privacy bill and ensure that it is passed within a year or so. Otherwise, the next catastrophe to hit UID and the government will be on issue of breach of privacy, which will happen sooner than later, you can take it from me.

Read more on: Twitter | Uid | Aadhaar | Nandan Nilekani