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, January 18, 2014

5014 - Aadhaar drive: Ill-equipped enrolment centres, lack of info irk Chennaiites- TNN

Christin Mathew Philip, TNN Dec 17, 2013, 05.05PM IST

CHENNAI: Poor arrangement and lack of information are playing spoilsport for the census department's enrolment drive under the National Population Register (NPR) scheme for Aadhaar.
Demographic details and biometric parameters — fingerprints and iris images — are collected by a private contractor. Records say 52% of the residents in Chennai have been enrolled under the NPR so far. The recent Supreme Court ruling that Aadhaar should not be linked to domestic gas subsidy has bought a relief to the residents.

The department had earlier said permanent enrolment centers would be opened starting in October, but not single centre has been opened so far.

M R V Krishna Rao, joint director of census operations, has said they can open permanent centres only after crossing 70% enrolment. "We are now planning to open permanent centers in each zone by January."

In Velachery, enrolment drive for Aadhaar has come to a standstill after a private operator engaged to collect biometric data from residents stopped work over non-payment of salary.
P Krishnamoorthy of Nethaji Colony Residents Welfare Association in Velachery said that the census department had failed to inform the residents about the enrolment camps. "We were waiting to enroll under the National Population Register to get an Aadhaar number. The private contractor had also left because of the non-payment of salary from the department. So we don't know how to register under the NPR and to get the Aadhaar number."

Rao said, "Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) had given the subcontract to a private firm, Swisstec, to collect biometric data in Velachery. But Swisstec had failed to pay salaries to their workers. We had also informed BEL to appoint a new firm to continue to the enrolment"

Many residents complained that Aadhaar enrolment of census department in the city was ill-equipped and a failure. "The census department has made Aadhaar enrolment more cumbersome to the public because of the inadequate awareness. There was no information about Tamil Nadu on the websites of NPR and UID. The contact number which was provided by the census department was rarely attended by the officials concerned. Even senior citizens and disabled people were forced to stand on long queues at the enrolment centres from early morning" said V S Jayaraman, a resident of T Nagar.

The census department had recently conducted a door-to-door enrolment drive for residents associations in some areas in the city. Krishnamoorthy said they had collected signatures from nearly 300 members and sent them to the census department to conduct an enrolment camp for them. "But there is no response from the census department so far".

However, the joint director of census operations said, "We have received more than 2,000 applications from various residents associations across the city. So it is difficult to conduct such camps to each residents association."

Sources said shortage of mobile vans caused a setback to the census department's plan to conduct doorstep enrolments. The lone van at its disposal is allegedly being used for VIPs and their relatives. An official in the census department confirmed to TOI that they had conducted a door-to-door enrolment drive in several VIP households.


Several other cities have better facilities to help the elderly and the disabled for Aadhaar enrolment. In Mumbai, mobile vans are provided to cover old age homes and homes for the disabled, while Bangalore has exclusive centres for such people.