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, February 24, 2014

5173 - Aadhaar data sought in AP Techie murder probe - The Hindu

MUMBAI, February 5, 2014
Updated: February 5, 2014 16:14 IST


Aadhaar data sought in AP Techie murder probe 
RASHMI RAJPUT

For the first time the Aadhaar scheme, the unique identification project that maintains a database of residents containing biometric and other data, will be used by an investigating agency to probe a criminal case. The Government Railway Police (GRP), which is in parallel probing the murder of the 23 year old software engineer from Andhra Pradesh whose body was found in a swamp off the Eastern Express Highway on January 16th along with the Mumbai Police, plans to approach Aadhaar enrolment centres in Mumbai requesting them to share their database with them.

Explaining the plan, the police says, they have approached the network providers whose towers are close to Lokmanya Tilak Terminus (the train station where she alighted before going missing) and Bhandup, a central suburb of Mumbai from where the victim's body was found. The police have sought a list of numbers from which calls were made and received between 4.45 am to 6am on January 5th. The police then plans to feed these numbers in the Aadhaar data system and get the identification details of these numbers. They will be then matched with the man seen in the CCTV footage, the police said.
In December last year, the victim who hailed from Machilipatnam in Krishna district in Andhra Pradesh had gone to her hometown to celebrate Christmas with her family. She took a train back to Mumbai on January 4th but went missing on January 5th morning after alighting at Lokmanya Tilak Terminus.
Last week the GRP procured the CCTV footage from LTT. In the footage at 4.55 am on January 5th morning, the victim is seen alighting at platform number 3 of LTT but instead of walking straight to the exit she is seen taking a turn and walking towards the common waiting room looking for someone. Minutes later at 5.11 am she is seen between platform number 4 and 5. At this spot she meets a person who is later seen wheeling her trolley bag for around 15 feet. All along the victim is talking to someone on the mobile phone while the other person is carrying her bag and both are moving towards the exit gate.
This person seen in the footage whose identity is yet to be ascertained is seen wearing a white collared half-sleeves T-shirt and blue denim. He is between 38 to 42 years of age, well built, bald and has a moustache.
The police who are yet to get a breakthrough claims, this might be a tedious route but will act as irrefutable evidence in the court of law.
The GRP has also sought help from the Regional Transport Office (RTO) and will scan the photograph of the man seen in the CCTV grab along with the victim minutes before she went missing with those in the RTO record.
“We suspect the person seen in the footage to be a fleet cab driver. We have approached the RTO on the premise that he might have procured a licence. The Cyber wing has enhanced the resolution of the picture and this will be scanned with those available on RTO database," sources told The Hindu.
Earlier this week, the Mumbai police had detained a close friend of the victim suspecting his role in her murder. But the police has allowed him to go after recording his statement.
"He has been able to clear some of the doubts that made us treat him as a suspect. We have not given him a clean chit yet, but for the time being we have released him after recording his statement," sources added.
Keywords: Mumbai, Techie murder, Lokmanya Tilak Terminus, CCTV footage, Aadhaar data, GRP, Mumbai police
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