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

Sunday, January 19, 2014

5041 - The Aadhaar connection - Statesman


The Aadhaar connection    
sunipa basu    

I am suffering from an identity crisis at this age when I am nearing 70 and have retired from active service for several years. It was with ease that I filled up the UPSC form with my personal details - daughter of Dr. S.R. Gupta; home town - Ranchi; Nationality - Indian. When my appointment was published in the gazette which in Hindi is the impressive Bharat Ka Rajpatra, I thought that my identity was well established and settled once and for all. In fact I have attested several certificates and passports in that capacity.

Life was uncomplicated in those days. The office deducted your income tax which you attached along with your returns. During elections you stood in the queue at the voting booth where neighbours knew you well. With time came the PAN card and the Voter Id card which became your badge of honour. With the digital age when you became mobile and began using digital devices these cards assumed Frankenstein proportions. While it is true that almost everything can be done online at the last destination one has to produce the photo ID card to confirm that "you are you". Your friendly bank will every now and then ask for your KYC (know your customer) which means producing your PAN card, Voter card or even better your Passport. The frequency of this identification parade goes up as and when a scam hits the headlines. The positive fallout is that photo studios and photocopying shops do brisk business. Earlier your hand bag contained your keys, your purse and your specs now I make it a point to have my ID card, PAN, voter, ration and mediclaim cards along with several copies of my stamp size photograph. 

You never know when you may need any one or all of them.
But matters come to a head with the announcement of the UID or Aadhaar Card which was supposed to be the mother of all cards. To give due credit to the authorities camps were held in different localities to fill up the requisite forms and take your biometric photo and finger prints. But as luck would have it I missed out on this camp as I was out of station. And thereby hangs a tale. I promptly decided that since I have already lived more than three fourths of my life without Aadhaar I could survive the rest without one. This was the happy situation till the government decided to make Aadhaar the basis of its ambitious DCTS or the direct cash transfer scheme that was meant to give its citizens a taste of real democracy or the freedom of choice. I for one belong to that regressive group that revels in not having to make a choice, though my status as a well educated working woman who had a love marriage belies that. I did not have much of a choice in any of these matters including marriage since it was the one and only proposal that I received. 

Be that as it may things turned serious when the DCTS was applied to cooking gas and Aadhaar was made the basis for it. Hundreds of people like me queued up at the Borough office which soon ran out of forms. Like health and the weather Aadhaar has become the universal topic of conversation among family and friends. The trials and tribulations of getting one, the agony and ecstasy of the journey became the stuff of legends. From all the stories pieced together I could gather that the process was pretty elaborate since the enumerator has to check your residency and leave a slip as to when and where your photo and finger prints have to be taken. If I am out of station I may miss the bus again. So as I chugged out of Howrah station I had that sinking feeling of being a nameless, faceless, stateless person. Our vedic rishis may have found the answer to the fundamental question of "who am I in this vast universe" thousands years ago. I for one am still struggling with my identity in this mudane world.
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