AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 4838 - Aadhaar is key to public sector reforms: Nilekani

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

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

4838 - Aadhaar is key to public sector reforms: Nilekani - Rediff

Rediff.com

Aadhaar is key to public sector reforms: Nilekani

October 15, 2013 08:07 IST

One out of every two Indians would have Aadhaar number by the middle of 2014, UIDAI Chairman Nandan Nilekani has said as he underlined the unique attributes of the identification system that will lead to public sector reform and governance transformation.

"Aadhaar number is a very different kind of ID system. It has certain properties that no other ID system has," Nilekani, who is due to deliver Australia India Institute (AII) oration on 'India's Transformation: The Role of Information Technology', told PTI.

"It is a unique number which is very useful in removing duplication of those in the list of beneficiaries. It reduces the diversion of benefits and only genuine people receive benefits," he said. However, he did not comment on the Supreme Court's interim ruling which announced Aadhar number as a non-compulsory ID.

Stating that apex court's stand was a subjudice matter, Nilekani stressed that the Aadhaar number was beneficial for a variety of reasons including financial inclusion, direct benefit transfer, identity and subsidy reform.

"It can be used as a financial address and linked to it one can have a bank account, send money to another Aadhaar number, get access to public services and also use it for an online authentication of ID for service delivery," he said.

"It has very unique attributes which no other ID system has and I think it is the key to public sector reform and governance transformation," Nilekani commented. "We have already issued 450 million Aadhaar numbers. In September alone, we issued 25 million Aadhaar numbers and by middle of 2014 we should be able to issue 600 million," he said.

"This means that one in two residents in India will have Aadhaar," he said. He it is a cost effective scheme and less than Rs 3,000 crore (Rs 30 billion) have been spent on it till now.

"It is a cost effective scheme with long term gains. We have already done a lot of work in cash transfers. We have done more than 10 million cash transfers for various services like LPG subsidies as well 10 million online authentications. We have over 30 millions bank accounts that have been connected to Aadhaar numbers."

He further cited the last year's National Institute of Public Finance and Policy study paper which had estimated that Aadhaar could save around Rs 110,000 crore (Rs 1.10 trillion) of the government expenditure by 2020 on various public service scheme.

"There will be a small recurring cost involved, for example, updates like change of addresses and online authentications. However, cost to run that will be marginal as compared to long-term gain," he said.

Natasha Chaku in Melbourne