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

Monday, January 20, 2014

5060 - Despite apex court order, IOC proceeds with Aadhaar-linked DBT - The Hindu

BANGALORE, January 5, 2014
Updated: January 6, 2014 15:09 IST


DEEPA KURUP

Once DBT starts, there is no other method to avail of subsidy: IOC official

Despite an interim order by the Supreme Court disallowing the government from making the Aadhaar number mandatory for accessing State subsidies and benefits, Indian Oil Corporation (IOC) Ltd. continues to inform consumers that they will not get their LPG subsidy if they do not seed their Aadhaar-linked bank accounts to the IOC database.

SMSes and publicity material released by IOC in the past week indicate that the company is going ahead with the Union government’s deadlines for the Direct Benefit Transfer scheme for LPG. While the deadline for Udupi and Dharwad districts has been extended till January-end, the “grace period” for Bangalore Urban will expire on March 1.

Over the past week, LPG consumers have been receiving frequent SMSes requesting them to submit their Aadhaar number to their LPG distributor and their bank, with “no further delay”. Though the SMS does not state whether or not this is mandatory, frequent messages have been instilling a sense of urgency and panic among consumers. Further, several consumers told The Hindu that, upon enquiry, distributors had been telling them that they would have to forego their subsidy amount (for nine cylinders a year) if they failed to register their details with the IOC database. Once the DBT scheme is enforced, the IOC will migrate customers entirely to the new system — that is, consumers will have to pay the market price, and the subsidy amount will be credited to their bank accounts.

‘No other method’
Senior IOC officials said that while the oil manufacturing company was desisting from making statements on whether or not this was mandatory, in effect those whose details would not be seeded to the database would not be able to avail of the benefit. “Basically, once the DBT scheme starts there is no other method to receive or avail of the subsidy. As of now, there is no alternative method,” said R.K. Arora, executive director, Karnataka State office. He pointed out that in rural areas several other subsidies were already linked to Aadhaar, and the DBT scheme was at 100 per cent in Tumkur and Mysore districts.
As of January 1, an IOC official said, only 30 per cent of LPG consumers in the Bangalore Circle had ‘seeded’ their accounts to the IOC database, while in Udupi and Dharwad it was roughly around 50 per cent.

“We are not claiming it’s mandatory, and currently all companies have submitted an affidavit seeking the order be reconsidered. Meanwhile, we have just asked people to submit the details to the distributor as soon as they can,” the official said. He added that IOC was likely to keep extending the deadline to “be on the safe side”.

Meanwhile, there is confusion among consumers on the issue. Krishnan Pillai, a resident of R.T. Nagar here, said Aadhaar numbers were being delayed, and there was huge anxiety among people. “Last week, I saw an advertisement that implied that I will lose subsidy if I don’t submit my number. Is the Supreme Court verdict not applicable?” he said. Sumitra Gupta, a charted accountant from Majestic, said distributors were telling them to “ignore news report on the Supreme Court verdict”.
“This is arm twisting,” she said.

‘So-called voluntary’
Sunil Abraham of the Centre for Internet and Society, a Bangalore-based NGO that has been part of the anti-Aadhaar campaign, said IOC was “pushing the boundary”. “From the very beginning, people have been objecting to the so-called voluntary nature of the scheme. It’s unfortunate that the will of the Supreme Court in its interim order on such as a critical component of our citizenship is also being ignored,” he said.