AADHAAR RELATED ARTICLES: 4958 - Aadhaar poses no threat to national security: Collector

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, January 10, 2014

4958 - Aadhaar poses no threat to national security: Collector - Padmakumar K

Aadhaar poses no threat to national security: Collector

- Padmakumar K

Story Dated: Thursday, November 14, 2013 20:7 hrs IST


Kottayam District Collector Ajit Kumar, IAS

Kottayam: A directive from the Supreme Court some time ago said that Aadhaar number should not be made mandatory for obtaining subsidies on LPG cylinders.

However, gas agencies are still demanding the card to link it to the consumer's ID. With so much of confusion on the issue still hanging in the air, what has the district administration done to tackle the situation? Kottayam District Collector Ajit Kumar, IAS, talked to Manorama Online on the various aspects of Aadhaar card. Excerpts:

What is the confusion about Aadhaar card and its linking with a bank account?

Basically, this is part of a scheme called Direct Benefit Transfer (DBT) whereby the subsidy or benefit for any person will directly go to his/her bank account from the Government of India. For that, you need your Aadhaar number. In the case of LPG connection, the agency will link your consumer ID with your bank account and your Aadhaar number. That would involve three vital information about the customer. When the Government gives you the subsidy on nine cylinders a year, it would directly get credited to your bank account because the three vital data pertaining to the customer has been linked. The amount of that subsidy will keep changing every year, though.

As far as registration for Aadhaar is concerned, 20 lakh persons in the district are found to have already registered for Aadhaar, while the population of Kottayam is around 19.21 lakh, which means 103 per cent have been registered as per record. But, the fact is there are still people who haven't registered. This means there is some duplication. The pace at which it's moving indicates that we'll be able to sort it out very shortly.

Coming to the question of confusion, it has been raised by those who haven't yet been issued the Aadhaar number or those who have the Aadhaar number, but have not yet been seeded as CTC (Cash Transfer Compliant) customer.

But the Supreme Court had ruled that Aadhaar is not mandatory....

The Supreme Court has said it is not mandatory now. But may be in future, it could become so. Anyways we are not wasting time. There are 4.74 lakh LPG consumers with Consumer ID number and we have 35 main gas agencies. Out of which 20 are IOC agencies and the rest are BPCL, HPCL, etc. Each gas agency serves from 10 to 15,000 customers on an average. So far, 1.73 lakh customers have been seeded. The rest will be completed very soon.

With December 1 being the deadline, what will be the scenario thereafter?

Now, people who are not seeded are getting LPG on subsidised rates. Those who are seeded are getting the subsidy in their bank accounts. As an initial step Rs.435 goes to the account of each seeded customer as advance. But from 1st December, all will have to pay the unsubsidised rate for the LPG on delivery. I have directed all the gas agencies to get the Aadhaar number by then and to forward it to the banks. I have also asked all the distributors to publish status reports through the media in case any confusion crops up. But I hope that all the LPG consumers in Kottayam will get seeded by November 30.

But, if there is a delay in issuing the Aadhaar number, the UIDAI has to address it. And I have asked all the 73 Gram Panchayats to make the process smooth. I have also directed the Akshaya centres that if a person is ailing, Akshaya people may go to his/her house and get him/her registered. If there is no bank account in his/her name there should be an account in a post office.

What is your take on apprehensions about threats to national security and the prospect that people's privacy could be compromised because of misuse of Aadhaar cards?

In the first place, it's not actually the card that matters. It's the number, a 12 digit number, which is important. It is used to avail of benefits from the government - not only the subsidy on gas but a range of other government benefits like old age pensions, widow pension, minority benefit schemes, educational scheme etc. What is unique about the Aadhaar number is that if you're entitled to the benefit of different schemes of the government you need not go to different offices for that. With just one Aadhaar number linked to the bank account number all the benefits will go to that account. The government of India is intending that the benefits should go to the right and the deserving person.

As far as misuse is concerned there are also other details like bank account which has to be matched to get the benefits from the government. So I don't feel there is any threat to national security or a person's privacy as such. Actually, there is a change going on. Usually panic grips people whenever a change takes place and we are now engaged in change management.